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“This is a private meeting, Riccardo. You are not welcome,” Gabriel growled from his head chair.
“Yet it is to discuss my family, is it not? Do I not get a chance to defend? Or is this commission no longer about representing all?” he sneered.
Max muttered under his breath, ‘Fuck.’ My breathing became laboured as I tried to hold my shit together.
“Okay, Leone. Is it true your son attempted to kidnap Giovanni’s wife, but instead took his sister, Elenora?” One man asked from across the table.
He straightened his back, letting go of the chair. “Yes. It is.”
A few of the men shook their heads in disgust while others smirked at the drama. “However, I don’t expect Giovanni has given you the full story.”
“And that is?” Luciano asked.
“That we have signed our allegiance to Diego Barbieri and his son, Alessio Barbieri. We now work for them. Our businesses are entwined and we go by their orders.”
The room broke out in panic, men shouting and directing questions over each other as I dropped my head to my chest.
“You traitor,” I heard one man shout. “You just brought the South to the North for your own greed!”
Riccardo held up his hands, silencing the room. I glared at him over their heads, but he ignored my presence, which was only aggravating me more. “I did what was best for my business and my family. You will all be given the same opportunity when the time is right.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I roared, advancing on him with my fists clenched. Luciano stood up and blocked my path to the asshole.
Riccardo ignored me and directed his next words to the room again. “Yes, we took Elenora, but she is not in our care. She is on Southern soil with Alessio Barbieri.”
The room broke out again, worry and anger in their voices.
“I swear to God, Leone. I will not rest until every single member of your family is six feet underground!” I roared. Max grabbed my arms to hold me back.
“Enough!” Gabriel shouted, slamming his hands down on the table. The whole room looked at him as he glared at all of us. “Do you have any idea what you have done to the North, Leone? You have broken a treaty of peace that affected every family in this room. That is punishable by death.”
My breaths were coming out in heavy pants as I shook Max off me and stepped back.
“The Barbieris sought us out. They wanted a peaceful alliance. I married my son to Diego’s daughter and we started to discuss business. They have given the North more by investing in our family. We are thriving with their support. That is all they want. A united Italy to thrive.”
“But you gave up your power to do it? You are just their lap dog now, Riccardo. You have no control over your own family, business, or decisions. Everything has to go through them. And all you do is spend your day licking Barbieri ass. Where is the glory and pride in that?” I shouted, causing him to look at me with anger. I smirked when I saw how true that was in his eyes.
“Yet, who now owns Venice? Who is this close to taking Trieste from you?” he hissed.
“The Barbieris,” I growled. “You would have never achieved it without them and that will eat away at you until you die.”
Feeling his control slipping, he moved his gaze across the room. “You all have a decision to make. Back Giovanni and you will become personal enemies to the Barbieris. Or do nothing. Stay out of this and let fate take its course and you will be rewarded in the end.”
“You really think you can get away with this?” I hissed as he walked towards the door. “You really think that breaking the treaty of peace was worth it?”
“I do,” he smirked. “Because I get to watch you fall.”
“No, you won’t,” Enzo snarled from behind me. I turned just in time to see him grab his gun out of the back of his trousers before he pulled the trigger. My eyes couldn’t keep up with the speed of the next few seconds and I blinked down at Riccardo’s body, a gunshot to the head. Chairs scraped across the floor behind me as men jumped to their feet to see what had happened, but no one spoke. I stared back over at Enzo, who was still holding his gun, pointing at the place he had fired, but his eyes were on the dead body in front of him.
“What the fuck did you do?” Max gasped, gripping his hair in his hands. I was too shell-shocked to even speak. To even think. Enzo Aiani had just murdered Riccardo Leone in front of the commission.
“Oh, cazzo,” Trey, the Aiani representative muttered under his breath.
“You said it yourself,” Enzo lowered his gun and turned to Gabriel. “He broke the treaty of peace between the North and the South and that is punishable by death.”
No one spoke as I held my breath and looked around the room. Every man was either staring down at Riccardo’s body or looking at Enzo in disbelief. If he wanted to make an impression at his first ever commission meeting, he had certainly achieved it.
“That is true,” Trey nodded. “I say we vote on whether there was just cause for his death.”
