Page 62 of Savage Don

“This way, Don Byrne,” Maksim teases, turning to lead the way down the sterile hallway of Kilpatrick Inc’s sky-scraping top floor.

“What’s the read on the room?” I ask, just as we reach the large oakwood doors that lead into Aiden’s office.

“I haven’t been inside,” Maksim mumbles. “I’m not a boss. My job is to lead you here, not to bring you inside.”

Sometimes I forget my place, and other times I forget how that makes me different from someone like Maksim. Just last year, we were in the same position. It’s part of the reason we always show up early to meetings—we could never afford not to.

It was always our duty to prepare, to secure whatever location our superiors were meeting at. Now, I’m the superior, the Great Don, and Maksim is still Maksim.

I’ll make sure he gets his big day soon.

But first, I need to worry about holding onto what I’ve been given.

The second I step into the vast sunlit office, I know that I’ll be the subject of this meeting.

All eyes turn to me. The most powerful men in the underworld, and I’m immediately the center of attention. One way or another, it’s my ass on the line.

But I’ve stared down worse odds before.

“Boys,” I nod, taking the time to look everyone in the eye as Maksim closes the door behind me.

Royalty. Every single last one of them. Born into families who gave them the world. Even the ones who struggled early on always had loved ones ready to fight beside them.

The Kilpatrick boys had each other. Aiden. Nolan. Shane. They were never truly alone. Even without each other, they’d still have had the support of the man who started this all. Rian Kilpatrick. Their father.

This was always their destiny. They just had to take it.

Roman and Leonid Barinov, on the other hand, didn’t have it quite so easy. Cruelly ripped apart from each other as children, they had to figure shit out on their own. But still, before their family was fractured, they were reared in a palace, and taught to be proud of the greatness running through their veins.

Me, I didn’t get that assurance. My father used to say that our blood had been replaced with booze long ago. That’s why I rarely touched alcohol. That’s why I used to let my enemies cut and shoot me before I’d kill them. There was corrupted blood inside of my veins that needed to be spilled.

My children won’t have the same issue. Not if I can help it.

“I hear that Domenico Galli’s daughter is missing,” Roman knowingly teases, breaking the ice as I step into place.

The last time we were all together like this, I was given the title of Great Don. I was also given one year to weed out our Italian rats… or else.

Back then, I didn’t even think to hide my fixation on Francesca. But how much these guys know about my actual plan remains to be seen—I imagine it has to be blaringly obvious to most of them.

“Mafia princesses seem to go missing an awful lot around these parts,” I tease back.

That draws a unanimous chuckle from around the room. “Can’t argue with that,” Shane smirks.

Roman and him are the only ones here who aren’t married to some kind of mafia royalty. Those two laugh a little louder than the rest, but I can see that even the great Aiden Kilpatrick is amused by my comment.

Hell, maybe I’m not in as much shit as I feared.

Or maybe these men just like me. The Kilpatrick boys grew up with me as a central figure in their lives, after all. They want me to succeed, because we all know how harsh the consequences for failure are.

“Enough pleasantries,” Aiden says, raising his hand up to just below his chest. That grabs everyone’s attention.

He is the king of kings, after all.

“Yeah, let’s get down to business,” Roman grumbles impatiently.

I’m well aware that he has a newborn baby at home. Hell, all of these men have wives and families they would rather be spending time with. Even I’m having trouble pushing Francesca to the back of my mind, and we’ve only just officially met.

But boy, have we gotten to know each other quickly.