Page 41 of Fall Before Her Throne

He nodded to each of the Heads. Sandrini stood, followed reluctantly by Rossi.

I stayed seated, with my leg still crossed over the other.

“I will give you time to consider. Three days.” He held up three fingers. “I will expect your answer by then. Thank you for your attention. I look forward to working with all of you.”

He and his men swept out of the room.

12

MAX

Isaid nothing on the ride back to the mansion.

What was there worth saying? Apologizing?

It wouldn’t make anything better.

It wouldn’t change the fact that Greco had the RICO case hanging over our heads. My bet was that he’d stuck his slippery fingers into law enforcement the moment he stepped inside the city—probably before he even traveled to the States. Now, it was leverage against us. If Leona didn’t answer his demands, he’d get her arrested—if he didn’t kill her immediately.

The future wasn’t looking good for me.

There was no reason for the Shadows to keep protecting me with this on the table. I expected Leona to hand me over and wipe her hands of the whole matter. She and her men would live. It was everything she wanted.

As soon as we made it back inside the house, a knife pressed into my back. I’d recognize that pinprick and pressure anywhere. I didn’t even need to look to know it was Ryuji. He’d been looking for an excuse to kill me, and now he had one.

I didn’t blame him.

Leona stomped ahead, arms crossed over her chest, while the rest of us followed. She dropped her weapons on the counter and kicked off her boots while the rest of the guys silently started disarming themselves—except for Ryuji and his knife. She whirled on me so quickly that I stepped back into the sting of Ryuji’s weapon.

“Care to tell us what the fuck that was about?” she snapped, anger flaring in her golden eyes. She glanced at Ryuji’s knife pressed into my back near my kidneys. “Ryu, put the goddamn knife away.”

“I’ll kill him.”

“I will kill him!” she shrieked. The rest of the guys froze around the kitchen, staring at her after that outburst.

The knife reluctantly pulled away while I stared at the floor, my teeth gritted together. My hands shoved into the pockets of these borrowed pants, and I shifted from foot to foot.

“You’ve been hiding a RICO case from us?” Her voice vibrated with anger. “You sat in that chair”—she pointed toward the living room—“and you told us you would tell the truth. And now we find out there’s a RICO case? That you were aware of?”

She paused, waiting for me to respond.

The entire room waited.

“You didn’t ask about it.” I knew they were the wrong choice of words before they left my mouth.

Her eyes flared wide. “How am I supposed to ask you about things I have no fucking clue about, Max? Tell me fucking how!”

A sudden headache laced through my eyes. I just couldn’t outrun it, could I? Luciano was always going to bite me in the ass, again and again.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “Your father told me about a RICO case the day I killed him.”

“The fuck?” Cas asked. “Luciano was fighting a RICO case?”

Obi’s nostrils flared and his fingers flexed, like he might be reaching for a weapon, before he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me. His heavy frown matched Leona’s. They were perfect for each other.

“And now that the Camorra know about it, we’re fucked,” Ryuji said as he braced his hands on the marble island bisecting the kitchen. “That shit will take us all down.”

“What was Luciano doing?” Cas shoulders hunched and his eyes furrowed in confusion. “Why didn’t he tell any of us about this? The Family needed to know if we were fighting a RICO case. We would have pulled our men in, questioned them, made sure that no one was turning on us.”