Page 147 of Savage Enemy

She squirmed, but I held her more tightly against my chest.

“I want to send our son away.”

Harsh words to hear, but it had to be said.

Every syllable weighed like a ton of bricks on my heart while the sentence lingered in the air between us.

“What?” Val asked, her voice cracking.

“Not forever. I want him to attend a private boarding school where he’ll be safe.”

“What?” she repeated. “No. He’ll be safe with us. We’re his parents. No one could possibly keep him safer than you.”

“Something happened while you were gone.”

“Does this have to do with your finger?”

I nodded. “What do you know about the Commission?”

She blinked up at me. “Why?”

“Because I took my father’s seat.”

“Why, Stefano? That’s not at all what you wanted.”

“I didn’t have a better option. The finger was punishment for breaking the treaty when I came to see you at the ball. Their pound of flesh for me going to Chicago.”

“Apparently flesh has increased in value since the treaty was written,” she snarked.

I kissed her forehead and moved my lips to her temple.

“Yeah, I was about to do it again, and they knew it, so they made me an offer. If I joined the Commission, they would sanction any further actions I took in Chicago.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I could come get you without losing a limb. And they promised me an army. The council’s CEO wants the treatyabolished. He believes Chicago should be taken under New York’s control.”

Val shook her head, her hair brushing my chest.

“If he thinks that’s possible, he hasn’t been to Chicago.”

I ran my hand down along her spine.

“You might be right, Angel. Either way, I signed the papers, and I’m now a member of the Commission’s leadership. Then Edgardo Lordi told me it would take weeks to plan the mission, but you would have been gone by then.

“I did make that point very clear, but it didn’t matter. He put me in a position where if I came to Chicago on my own and lost, he could wipe his hands of it. But if I was successful, then?—”

“It would give him an opening to take the city.”

“Yes.”

“So what are we going to do about it, Stefano?”

“I’m going to kill him. I’ve been planning it for years. He’s the man who murdered my father and brother. But he’s cunning. And not only smart, but also strategic. Going after him is going to be very dangerous.”

Val sighed. “I guess if he wasn’t dangerous, he wouldn’t be head of the Commission.”

“I’m concerned he’ll use my love for you and Enzo as a weakness. He won’t hesitate to come after my heir.”

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