Page 20 of Revenge & Ruin

There’s a groan, and then, “Fuck you.”

My head snaps to the culprit.

Alessandro has his arms crossed on the table, his head buried within them. The last time I saw him, he was already drunk out of his mind. The hangover clearly isn’t doing him any favors now.

“Did the future of the Guild cut into your beauty sleep, Alessandro?” I counter smoothly.

This earns me a few chuckles from the group.

He twists his face to look at me, seemingly only capable of cracking one eye at a time. “You could have given a guy a warning.”

“You think I had a warning?” I snap. “I found out I was to command the Guild the moment the rest of you did.”

This leaves a beat of stunned silence. “How can that be true? You were his second, his best man, for fucks sake.”

There’s the scrape of a chair, and Marco finally takes his seat. “I think I speak for all of us here when I say that this news does not instill much confidence in your capacity for leadership.”

I quirk an eyebrow. “Perhaps, Marco, you mean to say you would not have been so ill-prepared had Rocco namedyoudon.”

“Well,” Marco coughs. “It was never my ambition. Given the timeframe, perhaps I would be able to come up with a strategy within the week.”

“A week?”

He nods.

I look around the table, meeting everyone's eye. “Would a week satisfy you all? Do you believe any one of you could complete a strategy for the Guild within a week?”

There’s a grumble of general consensus.

It’s Dante who speaks up next, a smirk already on his face. “Is this the timeframe you expect us to give you, Teo?”

I smirk back. “Of course not.”

“You want longer?” Alessandro sneers.

“No,” I reply as I open my laptop and hit send. “I won’t need any time at all.”

A chorus of pings and vibrations reverberates through the room as everyone checks their phones, tablets, and laptops.

I watch in satisfaction as each person reads the message with increasing disbelief.

“What you have just received is a thirty-five-page document on the first phase of our new trajectory,” I declare.

“To dismantle Giuliano Moretti’s list,” Marco finishes for me, eyes wide as he scans through the document himself.

I nod. “The list has put constraints on our operations for too long. As of today, our first priority is to undo the damage that has been done.”

“The old guard won’t agree to this,” Alessandro mutters, having finally lifted his head up from the table. “They’ve benefitted from the list too much.”

“The old guard is no longer protected by the list,” I say. “Today, they will all be retired.”

“Including me?” Marco asks, and the tension in the room immediately rises.

I regard him for a moment. “Would you say you’ve benefited from Giuliano Moretti’s protection?”

“I’d forsake that if it means we can burn that damn list to ash.”

I smile, and the room lets out a collective breath. “Second order of business: Amos Rubio and the cartel can no longer trade on Guild territory. Including the Electrix club on fifth.”

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