Page 71 of Read This Before the Villain falls in Love with You

"How many people had that information?" I lean forward, locking onto Costa.

"Six," Costa reveals, his jaw setting grimly. "Including two men in this room."

"Then we have a mathematical problem," I murmur, scanning the perimeter of the table.

"Names," I demand, slamming a fist onto the table hard enough to rattle the water glasses.

"That's the problem," Costa explains, holding up a single finger. "We don't have names. We have a pattern. And patterns without names make everyone at this table suspicious of everyone else, which is exactly what Bellini wants."

Matteo, who is supposed to be standing quietly by the door pretending to be furniture, mutters just loud enough for me to hear, "This is worse than the almonds situation."

I ignore him. Barone doesn't.

Barone jabs a thick finger toward Matteo like he's noticing him for the first time. "Who the fuck is this?"

"My cousin," I say. "He's allowed to be here."

"He's allowed to keep his fucking mouth shut," Barone growls, "which he apparently isn't."

Matteo raises a hand in polite defense from the back wall. "To be fair, nobody told me almonds were a controversial choice. I can switch to cashews if it lowers the blood pressure in here."

A couple of the younger dons actually laugh at that, real laughs, the kind that crack the tension in the room by a fraction. Even Fabbri's mouth twitches. Barone looks like he's aged a year in the last four seconds.

Barone looks around the table for support. "Can we return to the part where three families are being courted by our fucking enemies and nobody here seems alarmed enough?"

"I'm alarmed." I hold his gaze until he looks away. "I'm just not screaming like a child about it, because screaming doesn't fix leaks. It just tells those pathetic bastard we noticed."

Costa nods slowly, looking relieved that someone has finally stopped shouting. "What do you propose, Luca?"

"A full audit. Every shipment route rebuilt from scratch, need-to-know basis only, no exceptions, including for people at this table who think their bloodline exempts them from suspicion."

Barone's jaw tightens. "You're suggesting I'm fucking compromised?"

"I'm suggesting everyone is compromised until proven otherwise. That includes me. That includes my own family. Nobody gets a pass because their last name is old."

Barone points his burning cigar tip in my direction. "Careful. That kind of talk makes allies nervous."

"Good. Nervous allies double-check their own house before they come knocking on mine." I lean back, crossing my legs and folding my hands over my knee.

"You act like you own every brick in Sicily," Barone grinds out through clenched teeth.

"Only the ones currently standing," I reply evenly.

Costa finally nods in grim agreement, resting his heavy elbows on the mahogany blotter. "Luca is right. An audit is the only clean way through this. Anything less and we are fighting a war on two fronts, one visible and one we cannot see."

Fabbri leans back, arms crossed. "And if the audit turns something up. Somebody in this room, somebody with a seat at this table. What then."

"Then that person answers for it the way anyone answers for betraying the Brotherhood." I trace a cold glance across every face. "No exceptions there either."

Nobody argues with that out loud. A few faces go carefully blank, which tells me more than an argument would.

Barone pushes his chair back, the legs scraping loud against the floor. "You're asking us to hand over our books to a man who kidnapped the wrong woman off a London street and then apparently kept her."

The room's attention swings to me like a searchlight. Matteo makes a small strangled sound near the door that might be a laugh he's trying to swallow.

"That situation," I reply, keeping my expression entirely flat, "has nothing to do with the audit."

"Doesn't inspire confidence, is all I'm saying." Barone smirks, scanning the table to see if anyone agrees.