But then I had to stop myself.
I terrified blue-eyed brunette apparently had the ability to rattle me. She’s been invading my thoughts all day.
“Why don’t you just make that pretty little thing you been fucking for years your wife already?” he added trying to shock me with what he knew. “Finish what you started?”
Like I gave a fuck.
“What’s your point, Gio?” I asked. “I doubt I’m here because you care where I stick my dick.”
His face turned red with anger. Gio’s plan to raise me to become a man befitting the rule of the Benetti Empire backfired when I stopped being scared of him. He wanted people to fear me, but he wanted me to still fear him.
I didn’t.
I didn’t fear shit.
“I called you here to let you know that you will take over when I allow it, Luca,” he spat. “The reins will be handed down traditionally when I am ready to step aside and not a moment sooner. So, you can dispense with your ill-advised plan to oust me beforehand. Don’t make me have to remind you, and the rest of the organization, of who I am.”
I laughed. The man had no fucking clue who he was dealing with. He also had no idea that me taking over wasn’t some evilly hatched plan that I came up with in my underground laboratory like some mad scientist. Three years ago, his men started coming to me, not the other way around. The Holy Trinity’s reputation was exceeding that of Giovanni Benetti’s, and people wanted to follow where the power was. And the power has slowly been shifting over to me, Ciro, and Phoenix over the recent years. The catalyst had been when Francesca came back and married Phoenix. Everyone who mattered knew she was the missing link to us taking everything over. And now that she was back, people wanted the shift to happen sooner, rather than later.
“And don’t make me have to remind you of who I am,” I tossed back. “Of what you made me.”
Gio stood up from his chair, slapped his palms on his desk, and eyed me with pure fury. “You dare to threaten me?”
I straightened to my full height and stared down at Gio. “I dare anything fucking thing I want these days, Gio,” I answered, contempt dripping from every word. “Feel free to step up and stop me, if you think I’m getting out of hand, though. By all means.”
Gio straightened and pushed the only button he knew I had. “That’s going to be your downfall, Luca,” he said. “You think you’re untouchable. And maybe you are. But The Son and The Holy Ghost are not, now, are they?” I could feel the blood in my veins ice over in cold ferocity. “And let us not forget the lovely Francesca Manci-oh, correction, Fiore. Is she untouchable?” I knew what Gio was doing. He was pointing out what he thought were my weaknesses. And weaknesses were a cardinal sin for a leader.
He was wrong, though. Ciro, Phoenix, and Francesca weren’t my greatest weaknesses. They were my greatest strengths. I trusted them like they were an extension of myself. I also knew they could take care of themselves. My trust in them was unshakable.
I crossed my arms over my chest and arched a brow. “Yes, they are. Yes, she is,” I confirmed. “But if you want to test that, then, by all means, go after Phoenix’s wife. It’ll just push me into taking over sooner than expected because you’ll be dead. And whatever is left over of your body will be handed over to her brother. If that’s how you choose to leave your legacy, don’t let me step in your way. It makes no difference to me how this goes down.”
He looked like he was going to have a stroke. Gio knew he was out of his league, and he was trying to hold on to a few more glorious years, kind of like an athlete past his prime.
I dropped my arms and eyed the poor bastard. “Don’t ever call me for this bullshit again,” I told him. “If it’s not Benetti business, don’t waste my time.” I turned and started walking out the door.
When I placed my hand on the doorknob, he said, “It should have been you.” He didn’t give a chance to ask what the fuck he was talking about when he continued, “Francesca Mancini should have been a Benetti.” I stopped and turned to face him. His words confirmed what I’ve known all along.
He’s always known where the true power of The Holy Trinity came from.
“No, she shouldn’t have been,” I countered. “Francesca was always meant to be a Fiore. She’s always belonged to Phoenix.”
“Then you’re a fool,” he bit out.
“I’m not the one who can’t see what’s in front of him,” I replied, and walked out the door.
As awful a human being as Gio was, he did believe in every man needing a good woman. His mistake had been in choosing a weak woman though. But I suppose that’s what his generation needed at the time. The elders came from a generation where their women were treated well, but they had their place. They kept the home and minded the children and let their men be men. Their value was placed on their homemaking abilities and not much else.
I didn’t feel that way. I believed strong men needed strong women by their sides. I believed that whatever a strong man could accomplish on his own, the right woman could multiply that accomplishment by ten. Nothing made a man believe in his own masculine power like that of owning a powerful woman. Any fool could control and manipulate a weak female. Only the most cunning of males were able to take a strong woman and make her theirs.
Sensio, my personal guard, was waiting for me outside. Normally, I drove myself around, but when I met with Gio, I usually wasn’t safe behind the wheel of a car. There was
