Page 45 of Unfettered

“You can visit Cristian all you want, no matter who’s in there. No more hiding or running away from the others. I’ll spank your ass so hard you won’t sit for a week if I discover you’re limiting yourself because you’re hiding from people. That ends now, Allesandro. Understand?”

He gasps and nods. “Yes, Daddy.”

Once I've finished dressing, I press a kiss to his lips and then his forehead. “Text me and let me know what you end up doing. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

“Okay, Daddy…” He looks at me with a soft, vulnerable expression, and even though I can practically feel the words he wants to say, he doesn’t, not yet.

Leaving is hard, but I do, forcing myself away from him so I can get to the meeting I called.

I’m the last one to enter the conference room, and Leandro rolls his eyes when I shut the door behind me.

“About damn time. Late for your own meeting,” he grouses.

I raise a brow. “Oh, did you have a hot date?”

He doesn’t reply, just gives me an unimpressed look I don’t pay any mind to.

Addressing the Council, I say, “Thank you for hearing me out.”

“Of course,” Carter replies. “We respect your opinion, and take concerns very seriously. The floor is yours.”

I stuff my hands into my pockets and lean against the wall rather than take a seat at the table, letting all three Council members and their Voices, plus Leandro, have a clear view of me.

“You fucked up,” I say, my voice soft but loud enough to be heard by Jude. Pulling on every trick up my sleeve, I keep my face expressionless, my tone conversational, not displaying a hint of the danger I feel running through me.

All three Council members exchange looks before focusing back on me. “Care to elaborate…” Roman asks cautiously.

“Allesandro and Cristian.”

I let the words sink in, seeing mixed reactions. Pain, hurt, a little bit of anger, but mostly resignation crosses all their features—except Jude and Leandro, of course.

“I am highly disappointed in the way they’re being treated,” I continue before anyone can chime in. “At first, yes, lockdown, close monitoring, and even mild disdain was to be expected. But now? We’re allowing them back into our lives. Allesandro more than Cristian, yes, but still, you can’t have one without the other. They are as close as Roman and Lio are, yet they don’t get to show it because of their fucked-up upbringings and the chains you have put on them.” I pause, letting the shame set in before I press on. “I don’t blame anyone at this table—except my son, but that’s not unusual. Everyone has had other pressing shit going on, but it stops now.”

“What exactly are you saying, Tennant?” Keegan asks.

“That they’re integrated fully back into the family. No more provisions, no more stipulations, no more allowing them to feel like prisoners in their own home.”

Roman and Lio both wince. I don’t take pleasure in hurting them, but the part of me that gets off on the torture of others uncurls and soaks in their uncomfortableness.

“Did you know the men sneer at them? I’m sure the house staff do too. I know they give Sandro a wide berth when he’s in the kitchen. It ends now. I will take my people in hand—and get Ignacio on board. There will be a lot of retraining, and maybe even sensitivity training with Javi, because they know better. That they’re allowed to roam freely, that we’ve taken them back in, should have shown that they are a part of us, but it doesn’t. There’s a discord amongst our people.”

Vulnerability flashes across Roman’s face while anger burns in Lio’s. “We’ve been too isolated,” Lio says. “Fuck.” He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s been good for our mental health, and we needed the time to get better, stronger, but we need to be more active now.”

Roman nods. “Javi still won’t let me leave until I have more sessions with Connor, and prove I’m taking an active role in my recovery, but I will work on not hiding away.”

Carter grimaces. “I haven’t noticed anything, at least not to the full extent.”

“You’ve also had the weight of the entire Council on your shoulders while Roman and Lio prioritized elsewhere,” Keegan reassures him.

“Leandro knew,” I tell them—there’s nothing that little shit doesn’t know. “So did Jude.” I look at my lover, who doesn’t flinch under my stare. “I know you well, Agnellino. There’s no way you weren’t aware of the situation.”

“And what would have had me do, Ten? Add more to my list? Punt the problem onto Keegan, when my fellow Voice was handling both his job and his family? The problem was not a hindrance, so yes, I allowed it to slide more than I should have. And I apologize. I will apologize to Allesandro and Cristian as well, as I should have done more to stop them. Though I did make sure no one on their teams were compromised, because I was not going to allow them to go unprotected.”

Carter says, “It’s not your fault, Jude. As our Voice, you did what you should have—followed our orders. We’re the ones who said they needed to earn back our trust, that they needed to prove they deserved the chance we were giving them. We’re the ones who failed to change the order once the trial period had ended.”

“Il Padrone taught us that once the punishment was over, all was forgiven and the slate was wiped clean,” Lio says with a grimace. “We failed him and Cristian because we forgot that.” He hangs his head and Roman wraps an arm around his love in comfort.

“If anything, the one I’m upset with is Leandro,” I tell them mildly. “He’s the one who could have, and should have, brought it to your attention, but he’s a chaos loving asshole.”