Page 7 of The One
“I’ve never seen Antonio so livid. He might pull his gun and blow the poor girl’s brains out, just to appease the Contis,” Rom jests. Though watching the three of them, it’s a possibility.
“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere,” Tiero says, as Santino, our head of security and my brother’s faithful shadow, steps up next to him.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“Making sure there’s no bloodshed.”
I nod. “Yeah, good idea.”
Though we usually avoid meddling in family affairs, making sure Antonio calms down before acting will benefit everyone.
I watch Tiero’s retreating back, Santino and a team of loyal soldiers close behind, ready to protect him. He needs it too. He’s been making more enemies lately, mostly among the loyal soldiers of our rivals, whom he’s been steadily eliminating over the past few weeks.
There’s a lot of bad blood pulsing around us. Integrating the territories and people we’ve taken over is facing heavy resistance and is going to be a slow process. No one is under any illusion about that.
Security around Tiero and me is being ramped up for the foreseeable future.
It’s frustrating not being able to go anywhere without an entourage, but it’s become a necessary evil.
Attacks on us are more frequent since Tiero’s ‘cleanse’ began. But he’s determined to wipe out anybody who poses a threat to Ella, especially while she’s missing.
The bounty on her head has quadrupled since she ran away. And when it comes to her, he’s not taking any chances, ever.
We took out our main adversary a few weeks ago. It was a once-in-a-lifetime coup for Tiero and me.
Our family has been waging war with the Molinaros for generations.
Niccolo Molinaro killed our father and made Tiero’s life a nightmare when he first took over.
Hiding behind his army of men, he was untouchable for a long time, but when he attempted to kidnap Ella twice and almost got away with it, Tiero was more determined than ever.
We hunted him through half of Europe, taking over his empire in the process.
When we finally caught him, the coward chewed a cyanide capsule and killed himself right before our eyes.
With his dying breath, he promised the war wasn’t over. To stir up trouble, he implied I had a hand in this mess.
Molinaro knew how close Tiero and I are. He obviously wanted to plant seeds of doubt in Tiero’s mind and fracture the bond between us.
He won’t succeed.
Tiero knows I’d never betray him. He’s the only family I have left. I’d do anything for him, die to protect him.
Still, Molinaro’s words linger in my mind.
‘Your little brother will be your undoing. Even without him, I still have a few surprises up my sleeve. And my death isn’t one of them.’
What surprises?
“What time are we leaving for Rome?” Romeo asks, drawing me from my thoughts.
I lift my arm, pulling back my sleeve to check my watch.
“Six o’clock, but we could move it up. I doubt the reception is still on.”
“No, don’t. I’ll stop by Agneta before she jets back to Sweden and I never see her again.”
“Which is how you like it.”
