Page 4 of Prince of Malice

“I’ll take care of him,” my brother Gianni says to Salvatore’s brothers who are still holding me.

“Sort him out,” one of them says before finally letting me go as I writhe away from their grasp.

Gianni pulls me further from them and claps his hand around the back of my head. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Ouch, why’d you do that?” I yelp.

“To knock some sense into you, apparently. What were you doing back there?”

“He was the one being disrespectful. Go hit him!” I retort.

“He didn’t make a scene by throwing you around the room, did he?” Gianni scolds. “It shouldn’t be my job to have to keep you out of trouble.”

“Then why do you? I was fine back there!”

“Sure you were. Getting manhandled by your step-uncles is fine to you? And I have to do it because you won’t do it yourself, moron.”

“Geez, just relax. I’ll behave.”

“You better,” he threatens, flexing his back and walking off.

Looking back over my shoulder, I catch a glimpse of Luca as he’s ushered into another room to give him a check-up. His façade drops for barely a moment as he shoots me a smirk.

Something in me shifts. I don’t know what it is, but watching him smile at me just feels strange. I do my best to shake off whatever feeling it is; it doesn’t matter.

It’ll be different next time. He won’t always have them to protect him, and then I’ll be the one left laughing.

2

LUCA

Istand in front of the mirror, knotting my tie in place, and doing my best not to notice my father's looming figure behind me in the reflection. He’s always been the type to stand behind me, looking over my shoulder. Unfortunately, it’s never to support but to judge me.

“You spend far too much time in front of those,” he nags.

“I want to look good for today. This is for our image, isn’t it?”

He turns away from me, and I try not to dwell on his lack of response, despite my whole reason for asking the question in the first place was just to see if he’d prove mecorrect. Ignoring his repetitive footsteps resounding off of the tiled floor, I return my focus to my tie. The knot needs to be perfect. Undoing it, retying a few times over just to make sure that every part of my outfit is exactly right. Still, every time I fasten it again, it feels the exact same as it did before, no matter how differently I do it.

Despite today being my father’s idea, from how he’s been acting for the last few months, it isn’t nearly what I had expected. There aren’t many guests attending the wedding, even with two large families with wide networks of friends and associates coming together. Regardless of my father’s vast wealth from generations of the Valenti family business, little money has been spent on the occasion. And in spite of his need for control and micromanaging everything that’s happened in his life for as long as I can remember, he’s barely said a word regarding the wedding since the plan to marry Sofia Rossi was first hatched. Positive or negative, I at least expect him to say something.

Yet here he is, still just standing behind me. He has not put any extra effort into himself this morning than he has on any onebefore it, and by the look of him waiting here, he doesn’t plan to.

“Why are we here today, son?” His voice carries the expectation of the correct answer.

I burnish the knot. “So you can marry Sofia Rossi.”

He takes a moment to respond. “On the surface, yes, but there’s more to it.”

“Of course. Our families have been fighting, and it was taking a turn for the worst.” I take a deep breath. I need to show him that I know what I’m doing. “However, after the wedding, the Valentis and Rossis will be united and have no choice but to cease their rivalry.”

He hesitates again. I don’t understand where I went wrong.

“That’s only one facet of this plan. To be a true leader and strategist, you must always think on multiple levels, be steps ahead of the rest.”

I know this. I know I’m not ready yet, but I won’t ever be unless he stops talking down to me.

“There’s an extra step to this plan. Another outcome that’s to our benefit.” Yet again, he pauses. Is it only for dramatic effector to patronize me? “Between the Valentis and the Rossis, who’s the weakest link?”

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