Page 62 of Prince of Malice

“Look, I can explain,” I begin, not quite having an explanation ready for when I next have to speak.

“Oh my god,” my mother gasps. “What happened to you both?”

“It was the Grecos,” Luca says. “They attacked us.”

“What?” Gianni says through gritted teeth. “Sore losers.” “Sore losers?” I ask, sharing a confused look with Luca.

“Antonio’s backed out of his deal.” Gianni scoffs.

My eyes widen. I can’t believe it. Our plan worked. It actually worked. I turn to Luca again, showing off the most joyful smile and making me almost completely forget about my family just a few steps away preparing for their interrogation.

Even after everything we’ve had to deal with together, the things that they know of at least, why would we be spending the night together, traipsing around my family home, and stealing looks with one another?

“Do you know why?” Luca probes for more information.

“There was some kind of coup last night. Someone tried to take power from him, but the rest of the family didn’t want anything to do with either of them anymore,” Gianni explains. “Antonio looked weak for letting someone else try and take control, and the would-be usurper was nothing better than a backstabbing snake for trying it.”

“It worked,” I murmur under my breath. “I can’t believe it.”

“What did you say?” Gianni asks.

“I… Well, we…” I stutter out, not knowing the right way to say it. I look back to Luca to see if he wants to take the lead, but all he does is nod along to my ramblings. “We,” I assert. “We dealt with them last night.”

“You did what?” my mom asks, her voice shaking slightly as she decides between worry and anger.

“There’s no way.” Gianni almost laughs. “How could you even manage that?”

“Dominic’s a lot smarter than you give him credit for,” Luca says.

I put my hand out, trying to settle Luca before he takes it any further. He’s certainly gotten more daring, especially when it comes to fighting my battles with me, but Gianni is a whole different type of game. I'm even scared of pissing him off.

“Last night, they tricked us again,” I admit. “They got us exactly where they wanted us and that’s when they did…” I gesture to our myriad of cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

“I can’t believe you could do something so idiotic,” Gianni jeers.

“Let him finish,” Luca jabs again.

“Don’t talk to me like that.” Gianni scoffs.

“Gianni…” Mom scolds.

Finally, they all go quiet again. “Turns out the man who was working with the Grecos was actually Angelo,” I confess.

“Angelo, as in your friend?” my mother clarifies.

I nod, still not over the betrayal. “He’s Antonio’s son.”

My mother covers her mouth, holding in a shocked gasp.

“I know I screwed up by not realizing, but last night, we managed to turn the two of them against each other, and that’s why they’ve imploded,” I ramble through my explanation.

“Yeah,” Luca exclaims. “He’s the one that fixed everything. My dad wanted you guys gone, but Dominic kept us together.”

“And how do we know that for sure?” Gianni challenges. “How can we know that Salvatore won’t just let our family fall to the bottom as well?”

“We don’t,” I respond. “But more fighting won’t fix anything; It never has.”

“We’ll talk to my dad,” Luca promises.

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