Page 18 of Assassin Daddy

‘Us even having this meeting means that all three of us are in the firing line,’ Michael chuckled, his dark sense of humor never too far away. ‘We might as well go all the way on this. But you need to make the call, Matteo.’

Matteo knew that this was a big moment.

The reality of the situation was that keeping Kyan safe in the city was impossible. No amount of changing his identify or hiding him away would ever truly guarantee his safety. Alphonso might not accept the photo as proof, and even the slightest doubt in his mind might mean that Matteo would have spies on him for the foreseeable future.

No, the truth was that the only way to keep Kyan out of danger would be to take Alphonso out.

‘It’s agreed,’ Matteo said. ‘Alphonso has to go. We’ll only get one chance, and even then, we might not live to see the aftermath.But if we kill the king, then it will mean that Kyan’s life is no longer in danger.’

‘Death to the king,’ Michael said. ‘And here’s to a new leader, whoever he may be.’

‘Indeed,’ Faustino said. ‘The Fendi family must stay on top. This is business and personal too. It’s our time, men. A new Fendi power is rising.’

With that, the three men toasted their coffee and nodded solemnly.

There was no going back now.

What started as Matteo’s desire to keep an innocent boy safe from mortal peril had turned into something else altogether.

Whether Matteo would be the man to take the Fendi crown remained to be seen, but he knew one thing… life would never be the same again, and it was all down to one sassy, sweet, and perfectly pretty boy by the name of Kyan Coole.

With a clear, but nonetheless highly dangerous, plan in mind, Matteo headed straight back home after his meeting with Faustino and Michael.

Matteo hadn’t doubted for one moment that his two cousins would be ready and willing to help him, but equally he would have understood if this was one step too far. The truth of the matter was that plenty of people had tried and failed to go against Alphonso Fendi in the past – and not a single one of them had lived to tell the tale.

Alphonso might have been past his peak years, but that didn’t mean that disposing of him would be easy. Far from it, in fact. Alphonso had a loyal and lethal team of security who were well rewarded and knew that for as long as they looked after their boss, they would be living the good life.

Matteo readily accepted that getting to Alphonso wouldn’t be easy – and living to tell the tale would be even tougher. But the time was right. Even removing Kyan from the equation, Matteo sensed in his bones that this was the right thing to do.

It was a well-known wisdom in the Fendi family that toward the end of one boss’s reign, other senior men had to watch out for their lives. For all Matteo knew, his head might have been on the chopping block as Alphonso grew increasingly worried about losing his crown.

Matteo took a moment to compose himself as he stood outside his townhouse. He wasn’t sure how much of the plan he was going to reveal to Kyan, and instinctively felt like he should keep Kyan on a need to know basis when it came to the details.

‘Hello, Matteo,’ came the voice from next to him. ‘Have you got workmen in your house today?’

Matteo listened and heard loud banging coming from inside the house. He had told Kyan to keep noise to a minimum for fear of any suspicions being aroused. Fortunately for Matteo, it was only Mrs. Goldstein, and she had given him the perfect premade response too.

‘Good morning Mrs. Goldstein,’ Matteo replied, smiling at his middle-aged neighbor. ‘Yes, I’ve had some trouble with my heating. Nothing a couple of good men and some heavy lifting won’t solve. Have a nice day.’

‘You too, Matteo,’ Mrs. Goldstein replied, merrily continuing on her daily walk with her chihuahua.

Mrs. Goldstein may have been fooled, but Matteo was suddenly in no mood for fooling around himself. Kyan had gone against his word and put both of them in serious danger. There would need to be consequences, and they would need to be firm enough to make sure that this never, ever happened again.

But as Matteo unlocked the front door and stepped inside, he was met with something far worse than he’d imagined…

‘What… the… hell?’ Matteo barked, his anger bubbling so quickly it was in danger of boiling over before the front door was even shut.

‘I…um… I was bored,’ Kyan said, doing his best to look as innocent as he possibly could as he sat on a metal tray with larges piece of cardboard plastered down the stairs. ‘I made a slide. Want a turn?’

‘What I want is a God damnedsafeword,’ Matteo growled, striding over toward Kyan with one thing and one thing only on his mind. ‘And just consider yourself lucky that it was only Mrs. Goldstein who could hear you outside and not some of Alphonso Fendi’s henchmen.’

‘W-w-w-what? Why do I need a safeword?’ Kyan asked, the guilty look in his eyes telling Matteo that the boy knew full well why he needed a safeword.

‘Because that butt of yours is getting a spanking it won’t forget in a hurry,’ Matteo roared, his anger in danger of boiling over. ‘Safeword.Now!’

‘Peach, peach, peach!’ Kyan said, his eyes wide and look of pure fear on his face. ‘My safeword is peach.’

Matteo wasted no time in taking Kyan by his shoulder and flipping him onto his front and laying him face down on the staircase’s thick carpet.

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