Page 81 of Poison Vows

“Should we bring him in dead or alive, sir?”

Tension freezes my body to subzero temperatures.

“Who is Syrus working with?” Grandfather questions.

“That… I haven’t been able to uncover,” Vaughn says hesitantly.

“Didn’t you just say he’s working with our enemies? After all these decades, there’s no organization or family that has the right or the standing to be classified as our enemy. They’re allnothing!” the old man bellows. “So, again, who is he working with?”

I almost chuckle. Vaughn, despite his intellect, is still far from being expertly cunning.

The only ones worthy enough to be Grandfather’s enemy are the Beaumonts, the family he loathes deeply.

“I’ll find out, Grandfather,” Vaughn says seriously.

“Forget it,” Grandfather says in a deep, disappointed voice. “If you don’t know how to do something with a resolute attitude then don’t attempt to do it at all!”

Grandfather’s admonishments are always hardcore, but with age, he’s grown worse.

“Today, the Family gained impressive spoils from the retribution order,” the old man states proudly.

This kind of praise doesn’t sit well with the other jerks in the room, so the maligning campaign starts almost immediately.

“Yeah, about that, what happened? Why did we exact revenge, and for whom?” Giovanni demands angrily. “This has never been done before since you’ve been in power,Padre, but Alessio gave the order without discussing it first.”

Here’s attack number two.

“Alessio’s behavior is very presumptuous lately, with no regard for the rest of the Family. Is he trying to takePadre’sposition?” Emilio adds.

The instigation from Emilio and Giovanni could win an Oscar for best duo.

As always, these are the cheap tricks they like to play to build up the momentum they need for the final blow.

“An explanation is needed for this!” Giovanni demands.

“The order was necessary,” Vaughn suddenly cuts in. “Given the identity of the person that was attacked last night, there’s no way we could remain silent.”

An icy fury starts flowing in my veins as I listen to Vaughn’s stern voice, clearly angry over what happened to Angel.

While I understand that, what bothers me is that he has the nerve to act like it’s on him to avenge Angel.

As if she’s his. The fuck?

“Who are you talking about?” Angelo asks quietly, but Vaughn doesn’t answer that.

“Padre, Alessio’s actions still can’t be left unanswered! He’s obviously dangerous to you and the rest of the Family!” Emilio angrily states. “Born to a mere foot soldier, a worker of this family, how dare this spawn be worthy of the power he has, let alone be the heir?—”

A heavy palm lands on the desk as loud as thunder, shutting up the rest of whatever Emilio wanted to say.

This time, I scoff.

“Why did you stop him?” I ask the old man. “Still saving your foolish son for disrespecting the only rightful heir, your own daughter?”

Yes, my mother and father were never meant to be. Their relationship was a taboo of epic proportions.

How dare a skimpy, basic, no-name lawyer be the husband to the heiress of the Easton Family? It’s unheard of!

However, I’ve since made it a law that anyone who spoke about that in such a degrading manner would get my full wrath.

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