“I’ve already got my tux pressed and my shoes shined. Is there anything else we need to discuss? Because we finalized those plans—”
“Are you going to be bringing her?”
Would this ever end? “You mean, Bonnie?”
“Whatever her name is for now.”
“It’s Bonnie.”
“We’ll see in a couple of weeks, though, right?”
My eyes grew hard. “Why don’t you tell me why you're really here to talk?”
He rested his arms against the chair. “You know Dad’s going to be pissed if you bring her along to that party. Right?”
“And why would he be pissed?”
He shrugged. “Because she’s not your wife and, for all he knows, she’s an implant from a family hellbent on destroying all of us. Why would they want that kind of reminder at their fiftieth anniversary?”
“Well, you let Dad know that if he can’t handle her being there, he can handle me not being there.”
Giovanni’s expression flickered with surprise as his lips turned up. “You’re kidding, right?”
I returned my attention to my papers. “When do I kid, Gio?”
He leaned forward. “Dad is going to see red, and Mom’s going to have a heart attack if you bring that woman to their wedding party, Iz. Do you really want to do that to them?”
I didn’t bother looking at him. “It’s either both of us or neither of us.”
He sighed and leaned away. “We have to provide a unified front at this party. You know damn good and well the kind of people who are going to be there. We need to show them that, despite what the streets are saying—”
“I don’t live by what the streets are saying!” My voice bellowed over my brother’s head as I snapped my eyes to his. “I don’t listen to the gossip of others. I don’t take into account anything anyone says unless I trust them, or I’m paying them for recon. Understood?”
Gio licked his lips. “She’s got you by the balls, doesn’t she?”
“I’m not entertaining this line of talk any longer.”
“Why? Because you can’t lie to me about it? Or, because you take pride in it, and you don’t want people to know that?”
I slammed my pen down. “Out.”
“Why don’t you just own up to what’s happening, Iz? You’re slipping. You’re growing soft towards that woman. Especially if you’ve already fucked her.”
I shot up. “Out. Now. Before I throw you out myself.”
He chuckled. “Holy shit, you have fucked her.”
I came around my desk. “You’re done. This conversation is over.”
My brother held out his hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! New threads, brother mine. Don’t muck them up with your dirt.”
My vision dripped red. “I don’t have time for public displays of anything. I have an empire to run and a mystery to suss out, and I need to concentrate.”
Giovanna smirked, shaking his head as if confused. “And again, I remind you that isn’t an option. Just because you don’t listen to what the streets say doesn’t mean we don’t. Mom and Dad aren’t liking what’s constantly being presented to them. They’re about to do away with you. And if you bring her to this party? You know damn good and well they’ll remove you from that seat.”
Would they really go that far? Or was this just Gio pushing buttons? “No one can take my seat without challenging me. Dad officially stepped down three years ago, and he handed everything to me. That’s what you can’t stand. That’s why you’re always in here, rattling off at the mouth whenever you’re in town. Visiting, my ass. You’re here for a personal reason, but you won’t achieve it off the back of Bonnie and me. Understood?”
He grinned. “Man, she must’ve been a good lay.”
I gathered his lapels in my fist. “Get out.”
“Don’t bring her if you don’t want to kill Dad at his own anniversary party.” He just wasn’t giving up. “Because if you do bring her, he’ll challenge you for the seat. Mark my words. And then, you’ll actually have to make a ballsy decision. Think you’re ready for it?”
My nostrils flared. “Security!”
My office door burst open, and there stood three burly men, ready to whisk my brother away and throw him into whatever dumpster he’d climbed out of.
He shrugged me off before I could toss him their way. “Iz, I get you’re under some serious pressure right now, but you have no idea the kind of evil you’ve invited into your own damn home. All Mom and Dad want is a strong front at their anniversary party to show other families that we won’t be shaken by this nonsense. This is the kind of thing that will—quite literally—save us from future attacks because people view us as weak. And you want to decimate all of that for what? A girl you who was supposed to kill you per her uncle’s orders?”
“She didn’t, Gio.”
He scoffed. “And that’s what you’re basis is?”
My security guard spoke. “Boss?”
I held up my hand. “My basis for what?”
Gio took a step toward me. “For ruining everything this family has worked so fucking hard for. The respect. The fear. The resentment. The friends. You’re willing to throw our one chance to prove we’re stronger than ever into the garbage disposal to be chewed up and spat out because you want to bring Bonnie? Because of some girl?”
I made eye contact with one of the guards. “You can take him away now.”
My brother’s jaw fell open. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
I returned to my desk and made a dismissing gesture with my hand. “Take him away.”
My guard’s voice filled the room. “Of course, boss.”
Giovanni started yelling. “You’re going to ruin this. You’re going to ruin us!”
Did he think he could handle this seat? “Whatever.”
“You’re going to ruin this family forever, Israel.”
“Sir?”
I turned around at the sound of my secretary’s voice. “Yes, Miss Caswell?”
She held out a Manilla envelope. “This just came. Got it scanned and tested. It’s clean.”
I motioned for her
