Page 21 of Blood Lust

Sitting in my office that was two floors below my penthouse, I stared out the window at Millennium Park and the dark water of the lake. I felt a kinship with that water. We were both deep, dark, and full of secrets.

This was my home. My city. Nothing happened here of a nefarious nature that I didn’t know about—well, very little. Which was why this latest development pissed me off. That we had sustained such a loss was unacceptable.

My older brother was slipping if he hadn’t caught it immediately. That, or he knew, and he was keeping secrets from me. Neither option made me happy.

Though I was ruthless, I was also fair. I’d inherited those traits from my father and grandfather. My grandfather had been a cruel, cultured savage. My father had been an unforgiving leader but never impulsive. He was—as he’d taught me to be—fair when it warranted.

For nearly twenty-three years, I’d known there was the possibility I would take the reins from my father one day. I’d been groomed and prepared every day of my life. Sometimes, I was jealous of my brothers because they didn’t carry the weight of our family legacy quite the way I did.

At thirty, I was one of the youngest dons in allLaCosa Nostrafamilies.

My ringer sounded. Pietro looked up from where he sat on the couch, fucking with his phone.

“Yes?”

“We’re on our way in. ETA ten minutes. Coming up the private elevator when we arrive,” my most trusted soldier, Georgio, announced.

I strummed an agitated rhythm with my fingers as I went over what I had to do. I sighed quietly enough that he didn’t hear me.

“Very well.” I ended the call.

“Gabe, are you really going to—” my right-hand man, Pietro, began before I cut in.

“Pietro—don’t. You know this has to be done.” He dropped his chin at my words but bit his tongue and simply shook his head.

No one else would get away with questioning me. But Pietro was my childhood friend and my bodyguard. We’d known each other since before either of us was potty trained. Yet, even heknew that he was never to question me in front of anyone. In private, we had a lot of deep discussions that would never see the light of day.

Antonio Tuscano was being brought before me to answer for his transgressions. Despite my fury, I hated this as much as Pietro did. Antonio had been around for as long as I could remember. He’d been a soldier back as far as my grandfather’s reign. My great-grandfather and his grandfather had been like brothers.

That was the only reason I’d kept him around. He’d been loyal to my family for years, but he had a history of gambling to excess which made him a liability. We didn’t like liabilities. I remember the night when I was young my grandfather had beat the absolute shit out of him because he had been told to quit gambling but hadn’t listened.

I’d lost touch with him personally, but I’d kept him around out of respect and because I hadn’t had any issues with him since taking over.

There was a knock on my door. Pietro answered it and stepped to the side to admit Georgio and Antonio.

“You may leave,” I told Georgio, who silently nodded. There was no mistaking the flash of pity in his gaze as he closed the door behind him.

Staring out the window, I let Antonio stew in his sweat as he stood in the middle of the carpet that was placed over thick plastic. I’d gone through several of those rugs.

Finally, I turned my attention to him.

He looked like shit. Dark circles ringed his eyes and his clothing looked unkempt—not the image I wanted portrayed.

“So did you win on Saturday?” I asked as I flipped my letter opener tip to end on the desktop.

“Um, yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“What about last night?” I quietly and calmly waited for his reply.

“Yes, um, it was a good night.”

“Antonio, you are fully aware that I don’t like liars—and I like thieves even less. There’s nothing I don’t know. See, I know you made your collections from my businesses yesterday, but you didn’t make the deposit.” Slowly, I canted my head as I cocked a brow.

Antonio shifted from foot to foot. “I had some matters to take care of, but I was planning to bring it by after lunch.”

“Oh? Well, where is it?” I lifted a hand and held it palm up as if waiting for him to place something in it.

“Georgio said you wanted to see me, and I didn’t want to—”

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