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“What?”
“Jesus fuck.” Santino sat up in his seat. “She just told you. Luca didn’t seduce her or do anything inappropriate when we were in high school. Donata made it up because…” he paused to glance at her, offering her a kind smile, “she wanted to prove to him that no one would care if they got together.”
“What he said.” Donata sipped from her glass. “Luca was innocent.” She was so fucking adorable when she squirmed like that. Telling her friends the truth wasn’t easy.
“Innocent then anyway.” I smiled at her.
Her cheeks turned even redder when she realized that now all the lies she’d ever told about me were true. “Your lesson plans? You made all my lies come true.”
“What’s done is done.” I reached for her hand.
“You two knew about this?” Rex glared at Santino then Enzo. “Why am I the last one to know?
“I found out a few days ago.” Enzo shrugged.
“Why?” Santino pointed at Rex and Enzo. “This is why. Look at your damn faces. You assholes can be so judgmental. Donata told me when it happened.” He winked at her. “I was the one who encouraged her to tell the truth. At least to Signoria Vittoria. I heard Dad talking about how she was already planning a tragic accident for Luca.”
“I’m so sorry.” Donata peeked at me from under her eyelashes. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“I know.” I kissed her hand. “Now that that’s out of the way, could you explain why they’re here?”
In truth, whatever plan she had, I was more than willing to play along. My chest ached every time I considered the idea of not having her here with me. Uncle Jimmy wanted me to marry her. But I was certain he didn’t mean for me to keep her forever. If we didn’t do something about him now, he would never let us live our love, which left only one option, Don Gallo had to fall.
“Our plan is two-fold.” She beamed at the entire table. Now that she wasn’t under fire anymore, her confidence had returned, which meant so did her Machiavellian ways. “Don Gallo is under the impression that he can use me to get more power.”
“He’s a don. What more does he want?” Rex asked.
“He wants your dad’s seat at the head of the table.” I met his gaze, and for a moment, considered telling him how his father was planning to marry Donata to form an alliance with the Salvatore family. But since I wasn’t about to let Don Valentino have Donata, I didn’t think it was worth our time to bring it up now. I had to focus on the real threat here. “Uncle Jimmy wants to be king.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Rex tossed his napkin on the table.
“Seems that’s all everyone wants lately.” Enzo reached for his champagne and took a long swig.
“Okay. Focus.” Donata gave Enzo a meaningful look.
When Donata had told me the tension between Enzo and Rex had gotten worse, I didn’t think it’d be this bad. They were both like coiled snakes, waiting to launch at each other. I still remembered how close they were in high school, how they were ready to die for each other. That was the thing about the Society. It had the ability to eat away at your good intentions, or in their case, a brotherly bond.
“What do you need us to do?” Santino reached for a pastry. “When you texted last night, you were so cryptic.”
“We have to be very careful. If Don Gallo finds out we’re planning something against him, he will kill us.” Donata’s gaze shifted to me.
The “kill us” part only referred to me. Everyone at this table was the next in line to be Don. They couldn’t be touched. Not without some serious repercussions anyway. But me? I was disposable. A fact Uncle Jimmy reminded me of every chance he got.
“His plan is simple but effective.” I decided to tell them the truth about what Uncle Jimmy was planning. “He wants me to marry Donata and take over Signoria Vittoria’s seat at the table. With me as Don, he believes he’ll have the ascension votes.”
“It would still be three votes against his two votes.” Rex leaned forward. Now that he understood his father’s position as king was in danger, we had his full attention. “The Alfera seat and vote is frozen in my father’s favor. Dad is sure as fuck not going to vote against himself. That only leaves the Buratti vote.” He met Santino’s gaze.
“The old man has not gone insane yet. He won’t change his vote. Who the hell knows what Gallo is planning.” Santino shook his head. “We need to take this to the king.”
“Not without evidence,” I said.
“That’s why we need you. It’s Luca’s word against a Don. We don’t have evidence that he’s planning a coup. But we might be able to prove he’s dealing in human trafficking. Aunt Vittoria will be all over that one. I know that for a fact. Maybe it’s not enough to strip him of his title, but he’ll, at least, be put on a very short leash.”
“I have to say.” Santino chuckled. “I have missed Donata’s convoluted plans. I’m in. What do we do?”
“We’re pretty sure...” she paused to shoot me a warning look. In her book,pretty surewas substantial evidence, “Don Gallo is running a sex club for the rich and depraved. Now, before you compare it to the Crucible, Enzo can tell you it’s not the same. We…” She faced me, silently asking the question: was I ready to talk about Ava?
Donata was right in thinking that guilt was the main reason I was obsessed with solving Ava’s murder. Her killer was out there, living a life he didn’t deserve. I wanted to make him pay for what he did to her.
