Page 45 of Thorns of Lust
Marchetti smirked.
“Oh, it’s possible.” I agreed, and one way to make it happen was by letting Amon take down his cousin and his brother, but that would mean that one of the men at this table would have to be condemned to death. “Let’s get inside and come up with a plan,” Marchetti announced.
“There’s no firepower inside,” Agosti declared and I nodded.
I’d keep my knife. It was all I needed to end every single one of these men. But they weren’t my enemy. Not today. Although if they even attempted to even hint about eliminating Tatiana, they would be.
Agosti entered the restaurant, leaving Marchetti alone with me.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
Was I okay? No, I fucking wasn’t. My own brother conspired with the Yakuza. If the men at this table learned of it, they’d easily believe that I was in on it too. Trying to switch sides. It was a known fact that the Yakuza had tried for years to take over the Thorns of Omertà. It’d give them power over Europe.
It was the last fucking thing I needed right now. And the fucking videos were back. Jesus H. Christ.
“Your woman okay?”My woman. It was the first time anyone had called Tatiana my woman. It felt right. It fucking sounded right. I nodded. “It was the right choice to keep her alive. But we need to get to the bottom of the videos.”
I eyed him suspiciously. Marchetti wasn’t the kind to easily change his mind. And he didn’t believe in second chances. What was his motive here? The bastard never did anything just out of the kindness of his heart.
Sensing my suspicion, he clarified, “We need to know exactly who was part of this conspiracy against us.”
I nodded. It was a sensible thing to learn, yet something about his idea of using Tatiana for it didn’t sit well with me. I’d filter whatever he needed to learn, but I wouldn’t let him question my woman.
Still, it was good to know Marchetti had my back. The agreement between us dated back decades. But it didn’t mean we were friends. Friends and the underworld didn’t go hand-in-hand. It was the vow of Omertà, and then family. Past that, nothing mattered.
“We should get this meeting over with.”
We walked into the building. The restaurant had a Mediterranean feel; the walls painted with motifs of vineyards, Roman ruins and statues, and the beaches of Sardinia. The tinted bulletproof windows blocked the view from the outside, and kept the elegance inside.
I took in all the men around the table. As expected, Enrico Marchetti, Giovanni Agosti, Aiden Callahan along with his brothers, Dante Leone, his half-brother Amon Takahashi Leone, also known as Bitter Prince, and Tomaso Romero.
Bitter Prince. An alias that stuck with him thanks to his bitter beginning.
“Gentlemen,” I greeted them all, taking inventory of the tension in the room.
Each representative from the five families in Italy was seated at the table. With the exception of Luca DiMauro who was represented by the Callahans. It might be a while before he decides to come around.
The Callahan twins moved to stand at the opposite end of the room. After the whole fiasco with Margaret Callahan and the DiMauro family, it was a surprise to see them here. They took a vow and represented their family as well as DiMauro’s. I’d wager there would be some years before Luca DiMauro agreed to have a civilized conversation with a few individuals here.
Turning my head, Amon’s dark exotic eyes met mine for a second. He tilted his head in acknowledgment, his silent vow that he hadn’t shared my secret with anyone.
If he had, Maxim would have been dead already.
“Konstantin,” Dante Leone said, standing to shake my hand. “Good to see you.”
The corner of my lips barely tipped up into a semblance of a smile. I’d prefer Amon in Dante’s seat, but the Italians were nothing if not traditional. Besides, Dante was the older brother, although only by a few days. The two couldn’t be more different yet somehow they got along. Go fucking figure.
Amon had connections in the east, and was not only second-in-command for Yakuza, but also an ally for the Leone empire and even the Thorns of Omertà.
Courtesy of his father’s extramarital affair.
He was an asset through and through. The Yakuza have been a threat since the inception of our organization. Their ultimate goal was to control the vast territories under us. So far they’d been unsuccessful and having Amon Leone with his one foot in their organization helped us keep tabs on them. If Amon ever turned his back on the Thorns of Omertà, we’d be at a serious disadvantage.
Dante resumed his seat and each of the others greeted me in turn.
Aiden Callahan was the last one. “I’m surprised to see you join the crowd,” I admitted. As far as I knew, the Callahans had no reason to linger in the shadows. Besides, most of the underworld already knew them and what they represented. Especially those twin brothers of his. Younger than Adrian, they tended to be on the wild side. God help the family who’d arranged the marriage of their daughter to one of those twins. She’d be getting more than she’d bargain for.
