Page 116 of Isabella

67

NICCOLÒ

“Your dad should’ve landed at this point, right?” Matteo asks from his seat across my desk from me.

“Yes, he landed a few minutes ago.”

“And he said he was going to call you when he’s on his way?”

“Yes, Matteo,” I say, annoyed by his impatience.

He’s about to open his mouth to say who knows fucking what but is cut off by the ringing of my phone. I glance down at the screen before sliding my gaze back up to his. I nod at him, letting him know it’s my dad calling, and he sits up taller in his chair.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Just landed. I’ll be there in about an hour. Panebianchi there yet?”

“No, I told him to meet me here at eight thirty so you and I could talk and go over how you want to proceed. That way we’re on the same page.”

“Good, good. Debrief me when I get there, and we’ll go from there.”

That’s what I just fucking said.

“Sounds good,” I say, and without a goodbye, he hangs up.

“He’ll be here in an hour,” I say to Matteo and Enzo, who’s taking up the seat next to him.

Matteo nods. “You said his location is shared with you?”

“Yup.” I pull up the app on my phone and slide it over to Matteo.

Enzo leans over to get a look at the screen and chuckles as he sits back in his chair. “Izzy know you have her location shared with you too?”

“I’ve had her location shared with me since CU.”

Matteo glances up at me. “Really?”

“Yes. It stopped working when she blocked me, but as soon as she took me off her blocked callers list, I was able to share her location with me again. You can never be too safe, right, Matteo?” I say; he knows exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to tracking the woman you love.

He slides my phone back across the desk and says, “Nope. Never,” and if I’m not mistaken, I’m pretty sure I see the makings of a smirk form at the corner of his lip.

“When he gets here, just give me a few minutes to explain to him that I’m taking over the family and have the full support from all of our capos to do it. Then after that, you and Enzo can do whatever you’d like with him.”

Matteo nods and Enzo says, “You want him going out knowing you outsmarted him?”

“I want him to know that I’m not taking overjustbecause you guys are getting rid of him. He’s spent years saying I’ll never be the leader this family needs, but the problem with my dad is that I’ve always been a great leader. He’s just been too selfish to see it.” I want to see the realization hit him that I’m taking away the only thing he’s ever cared about.

It’s been nearly an hour now, so I check my phone to see where my dad’s at.

“Looks like he just pulled up,” I say to Matteo and Enzo who perk up from their phones. “You guys ready?”

“Of course we are,” Matteo says.

“Alright, wait in the room next door until my signal.”

“Right, and what’s the signal again?” Enzo asks, knowing I haven’t told them yet.

“All I care about is seeing it in his eyes when I tell him I’m taking over for him. You’ll know when it happens because he won’t be able to contain his excitement about it.”

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