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“You look good, Dad.” I complimented his black pinstripe suit, even though the double-breasted cut accentuated how thin he’d gotten.
“I’m waiting for my fucking hair to fall out.” A shame if it did. At sixty, his hair was still mostly golden blond, the only thing that reminded me of the strong man from his youth.
Watching Nate get out of an Escalade made my heart skip a beat. With his strong jaw, he looked so much like my father and yet they could not be more different. I breathed in relief to see he wore his long hair in a ponytail. He looked neat and professional in a navy-blue suit and pale blue dress shirt. I wished he wore a tie, but the business look he had going on today wasn’t who Nate really was.
“Hey, Nate.” I rose from a wing-back chair when he came into Dad’s office.
“Hey, you.” He hugged me and my legs went weak as tears built up, fearing if I started an internal family war, I may never see him again.
Nate nodded at Vale and Gil, but looked anxiously at Kato, who mirrored my father’s look of annoyance.
I felt Dad’s blood pressure rise the moment Nate came in. I didn’t help my own cause for taking over Domenico Holdings by falling apart in his arms. It gave me peace that I’d made the right decision. I just needed my brother and father to come to terms that Nate would never work for us. Then I could lay all my cards on the table. All I wanted was for my father and brother to bury their differences before he left the country and died in my mother’s arms. It would give Nate some peace in the years to come.
“Pop,” Nate said to my father, and tried to shake his hand. “Thank you for seeing me ahead of the annual meeting. I know you’re busy.”
My father sneered, “No need for fake pleasantries, Nathaniel.”
Here we go.
Nate lowered himself smoothly in the velvet upholstered wooden chair in front of Dad’s desk. “Good, no love lost then because you won’t like what I’m about to say.”
“Is that so?” Dad sounded amused for a change.
“I’m done with the lies. I want out. If you don’t tell people I’m not next in line to take over your business, I will.”
Dad played with his pen and glanced at Kato, who took his usual position against the bookcase. “That’s not happening. Where is that woman?”
Looking uneasy all of a sudden, Nate said, “She’s in California.” After a breath, he then said, “And I’m staying in California. I only came here to tell you something else.”
I pinched the hem of my dress, preparing for a blow. “What’s going on, Nate?” I worried he’d drop some kind of bomb my father couldn’t handle.
“The thing is, Pop, Lacey and me...” He kept his eyes on my dad. “Those pictures you saw on Instagram were accurate. We’ve... I’ve let her take two other guys into her bed.”
Kato, Vale, and Gil each snickered. After hissing at them for showing disrespect to my brother, I said to Nate, “So those pictures of Lacey and...”
“Jaxson. She’s sleeping with him too. And her ex-husband. And I enjoy letting her sleep with them. Watching her. Watching them having sex with her at the same time.”
Once the shock factor wore off from how blunt Nate chose to be with our father, I blinked, taking in his words. Lacey, his...fiancé had two other lovers besides Nate. I immediately remembered making love with Sebastien in his car and Anthony sitting there watching us. A vision flashed at me, picturing him joining us. What I thought would have made me cringe, made me soaking wet.
Shit, where did that come from?
Nate and my father went back and forth more, him riling Dad up. That’s how much he wanted out. Trying to make my father snap and disown him for disrespect and nothing else. Still, I couldn’t get Nate’s words out of my head. Lacey had three lovers. I pictured being laid out and adored by Sebastien and Giancarlo—who I would never leave out if I had a choice. Even...Anthony. I needed all of them on my side if I wanted to stay in charge. If I were to rule.
If that’s what it took.
After trading more insults, Nate shot from his seat. “Seriously, I’m not the heir apparent anymore. I’m out.”
Dad narrowed his eyes at Nate. “You’re not out unless I say you’re out.”
My heart pounded as dread filled me. My father wasn’t letting go. My plan would fall apart because my father would never leave the country if he thought...
Dad rose and Kato dropped his hands from behind his back, snapping me to attention. Dad rounded the desk with Kato on his six. “You’d give up your family, your sisters, and your mother for a whore?”
Nate’s left eye twitched.
Oh shit...I smoothed my skirt, ready to stand. Ready to intervene, and then I saw the light in my father’s eyes go dim.
The disappointment gutted my dad from the inside out. “A shitty king you’ll make. We fuck whores. We don’t marry them.”
It happened so fast. One moment Nate looked shaken and next, he dove to get his hands around my father’s neck. Kato moved quicker though, throwing my brother to the ground. I screamed and my instincts had me out of my chair to help Nate, but Vale and Gil held me back.
“Don’t,” Vale whispered. “Kato’s a fucking animal. He’ll hurt you, Becca. Even if he doesn’t mean to.”
I buried my head in Gil’s thick bicep, unable to bear seeing my brother’s beautiful face beaten to a bloodied pulp with Kato’s meaty fists.
Stop!I screamed on the inside this time. He’s a singer. He needs his voice. Poor Nate choked, trying to breathe, thrashing on the floor so violently I heard it. Feeling sick, I turned around. My shaking hands gripped my thigh. Feeling the holster under my skirt and my gun resting against my leg, I yanked my dress up, unable to take this anymore.
With my Ruger drawn and pointed at Kato, Vale and Gil grabbed their guns. Gil loved his Magnum and cocked it back. The clicking broke the silence of Kato beating the crap out of Nate.
Waving my gun, I yelled, “Get off my brother!”
I gasped when Kato pulled his Sig Sauer on me.
Animal.
I stared him down. I was sending my father away, and this motherfucker wasn’t going with my parents if he could turn on me so easily.
Narrowing his eyes at me, he took his foot off Nate’s neck.
My poor brother rolled over and vomited all over my father’s expensive carpet. This was not how I expected this meeting to go down.
“This is over. He’s out, Dad. Let him live his life,” I said, waving my gun at Kato.
Dad said nothing and left with Kato following him, surely pleading his case to stay in his good graces after pulling a gun on me.
I holstered my gun and dropped to the carpet to hold Nate’s bloodied chin. “Oh my God. Vale, get him some ice. Gil, washcloths. Hot. Now.”
“Yes, Becca,” Gil answered.
I helped Nate sit up. “Don’t...don’t let Mom see me like this.”
“No shit. She’ll kill Dad.” My hands shook, not knowing what to address first on Nate’s face.
“Here, Becca.” Gil handed me a scalding wet washcloth.
I gently wiped away blood trickling onto Nate’s lips. “It’s just your nose. Does it feel broken?”
“Yeah,” Nate coughed.
“Gil, please get my mother out of the house. I don’t care what you have to do.”
“Yes, Becca.” He left and Vale came back with ice.
My poor guards looked so shaken. They protected us from the enemy. Not each other.
“Okay, listen to me because I don’t have a lot of time.” Using an icepack from Vale, I leaned it against Nate’s left eye. “Dad’s going down.”
Nate pulled the ice away and glanced at Vale.
“They know. Both of them. I’ve been approached by the FBI. Dad and his associates have stepped over the line,” I told my brother.
“Not surprised.”
“No, this is bad, Nate. I don’t want to elaborate. It’s best you don’t know.”
I’d learned to look the other way from so many questionable documents I had to review and deposits I had to move around, reminding myself we didn’t invent these messes. We just profited off a system of corruption, one that had been built one hundred years ago. Maybe more.
“Jesus, did Pop put you in danger?”
“Not me, directly. The FBI wants to make arrests soon. Dad doesn’t know any of this. If I didn’t step in, you were never going to be king because there wouldn’t have been a throne.”
“You’re putting Pop in jail? You’re turning state’s evidence against him?”
“No. After I tell him what’s going on, I’m sending him and Mom to...” I realized I couldn’t fill his head with those details. “I’m sending them to a country without extradition. I already have a house for them set up. They’ll be safe there. And have plenty of money to support them comfortably.”
“What about Christina and Camille?” he asked about our sisters.
“Nothing. They have no ties to the business. And Dad made good matches for them. Their husbands aren’t shady, but they have protection too.”
“What about you?”
“I have my guards. I’ll be fine. The case against Dad is rock solid if they get their hands on the evidence I found. We’re going down if they do. I have to convince...” I stood up and walked over to my briefcase. “I’m hoping when I explain what’s been going on to the associates’ sons, they won’t retaliate. Here.” I took out an envelope from my briefcase and handed it to Nate.
“What’s this?” he asked me.
“Your inheritance. The check is dated two months from now. In case I have to liquidate all of Mom and Dad’s personal assets, Nate. The FBI prosecutes in absentia these days.”
Shaking his head, Nate pushed the envelope back at me. “I don’t want this. It sounds like you’re gonna need all the fucking money you can get to keep yourself safe. I have plenty of money, Becs.”
“Keep it. If I need you, I’ll ask, deal?” I kissed him on the forehead and cupped his chin.
“Deal.” He breathed. Is Domenico Holdings going under? Nate asked with pain in his eyes. I’m the fucking firstborn of this family. The only son. I’m carrying on the Domenico name.
Our name meant something to him and that warmed me.
“I’ll be working to make sure the legit side of our businesses survive without it being known they were associated with this wicked one I found.” Reprehensible was more like it. Julian had made me see Domenico Holdings in a light I hadn’t before. As an employer to thousands, good people, I didn’t want to put out on the street. “Where are your sunglasses?”
He reached into his suit jacket. “Right here.”
“Put them on. Before you start to swell, say goodbye to Mom.”
On a strained breath, he asked, “I won’t ever see her again, will I?”
“There’s something else, Nate.” I swallowed, knowing the words said out loud would crush him. “Dad’s got pancreatic cancer. He’ll be dead in six months.”
Nate’s face went blank. Clearly, the news shocked him. Although, I wasn’t sure how much sympathy he’d have for a man who just sicked his bodyguard on him. I understood. Seeing the lengths Dad would go to in order to get what he wanted, shattered my view of him more than it had already.
God, what was I getting myself into?
Clearing his throat, Nate said, “So you’re saying in six months, Mom can come home?”
“Exactly. I’ll make sure they’re protected. Dad gave me unbelievable control, Nate. I have other documents and secrets to trade for my protection.”
“Do you... Do you have anything against me, Becs?”
“No, my sweet brother. I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m only going after monsters.” I hugged him and said, “Go home to California, Nate. Go be with Lacey and the life you want to live. You’re free.”
And you go, Lacey! Three men. Wow.
Through the window in my father’s office, I watched Nate kiss my mother goodbye by his car. Mom wasn’t stupid. She knew he was hurt, but she was smart enough not to get between a mob boss and his disgraced son.
“Do you really think your plan will work, Becca?” Gil asked me, wiping blood off the carpet.
“It has to, doesn’t it?” I hoped the two men I grew up with, and the other I knew deep in my soul as decent guys, would be just as appalled as I was hearing about Sunrise and MATOHN.
That designer date rape drug would hit the streets of Manhattan, L.A., and Miami in less than sixty days.
The FBI convinced me. I would convince Anthony, Sebastien, and Giancarlo to stand up to their fathers and dump Sunrise.
I just prayed this didn’t blow up in my face...
