Page 46 of The Red Queen

Only one was stupid enough to remain in Giovanni’s path.

Fucking hell, he was going to be late for his meeting.

He stopped in the center of the dance floor, strobe lights flashing over and around him, the music thumping a distracting beat.

“Antonio,” he acknowledged his son.

“Padre.”

Giovanni laughed, a chilling sound, then glared at his son. “You dare to call me father this night?”

“Like it or not, you are my father.”

Giovanni eyed the bandage across Antonio’s nose. “You touched what was mine and got your face slapped, didn’t you?”

Antonio’s cheeks suffused with a satisfying red and his hand twitched as though it was everything he could do not to touch his shattered nose.

“You have great taste in women,padre,” he said sarcastically.

“I do,” Giovanni agreed, enjoying the image of Desi punching Antonio more than he probably should have. Then he changed the subject. “You tried to kill me.”

Antonio attempted to look shocked but didn’t quite manage it. “Yet you are still here.”

“As are you,” Giovanni mused. “Uninvited, I might add.”

Antonio bowed his head. “To take your place in the Savino chair if you could not attend.”

Anger rushed through Giovanni at the brazenness of his son’s betrayal. He supposed it had been years in the making. Antonio’s hatred for his father and disdain for the Savino name were out in the open. Giovanni preferred it that way. Now they knew where each man stood. Or they would once Giovanni was done explaining.

He pulled his gun and held it to his son’s forehead. Several people gasped and one woman screamed, rushing from the scene. Giovanni ignored everyone except for his son. The child who had come from his loins.

He would have to pay a fine for pulling a weapon on neutral territory, but it would be worth it to put the fear of God in his useless, selfish son.

“Are you going to kill me,padre?” Antonio asked, his eyes gleaming with a maniacal energy, as if daring his father to pull the trigger.

“I will kill you one day,mi figlio.” He handed his gun to Dino, then gripped Antonio’s head, pulling him forward and placing a kiss on his forehead before releasing him. “This is a promise.”

Giovanni took his gun back and re-holstered it before striding from the dance floor. As he passed Antonio, his red-faced son snarled, “Not if I get you first.”

Giovanni ignored him and continued through the club, passing through the back rooms until he arrived at the meeting venue, a wide stone balcony facing the blanket of lights that was Rome. A large table graced the center of the floor, surrounded by enough chairs for each head of the family. Security stood across the entire terrace, at every entrance, and down the stairs leading into a garden beside the building.

As they entered the balcony area, Giovanni and his men checked their guns. There would be no weapons at the table, which didn’t necessarily mean there would be no death. Most of the attendants could defend themselves bare-handed. There had been more than one blood bath at neutral territory meetings.

“Giovanni!”

He turned at his name and smiled a genuine smile as his good friend and rival, Antony Leduc, made his way over.

“Tony, I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Hasn’t anyone told you France and Italy are two different countries? Go back to your homeland and leave the big business to the real Italian men.”

The other man chuckled. It was an old joke. Antony had been born in Italy to a French father and Italian mother. His mother’s father had been head of one of the oldest families in Sicily and Antony had taken over when the old man had died two decades earlier. Though many of his countryman had been skeptical, Giovanni had been smart enough to make an alliance.

“I hear you are causing problems in Rome, old man.”

“Not too old to make this city whisper my name in terror, am I?” Giovanni showed his teeth as he smiled and reached for a drink, rushed to him by a server whose job it was to know who was who, who preferred what, and keep all glasses filled at all times.

Antony frowned, growing serious. “If you need help, I am always available. You took me under your wing at a time when I could have easily sunk under the weight of the other families.”

Giovanni shook his head. “All is well, my friend.”

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