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One did not kill the leader of a syndicate in their home. It wasn’t dignified. Normally, we earned the honor of a warrior’s death, but O’Bannon could suck a dick if he thought being a two-faced asshole was getting him a grave on the battlefield.
No, he’d die screaming in his massive mansion with no one around to save him.
“He’s a leader of a faction,” Gabriele eventually said.
“Which is why we’re intentionally taking him out in the most disrespectful way possible. He fucked up, going behind my back to Cash. The least I can do is return the favor. Or should I not show our strengths? Should I not remind the others in the city of who actually runs it? Tell me, Uncle, how far do you want this war to go? Because I, for one, want it over before we lose something we can’t come back from.”
“You’re right,” he agreed, bowing his head slightly. “Whatever it takes to end this.”
Dominic ran them through the plan, and with some minor tweaking, we were in business. My uncles gathered their things, but I raised a hand before they could leave.
“One last thing before you go. Keep this to yourselves.”
“And Cameron,” Leo suggested.
“The people in this room only.”
Leonardo’s face tightened. “He’s a capo, same as us. He has the right to know.”
“He does, but he’s grieving.” I swallowed hard to ease the sorrow in my chest. I wanted to shout at them, to tell them all the truth, but I couldn’t. Not without proof. “He’s also healing. Until he’s back on his feet, I want him left out of it. This is our fight.”
I could tell they didn’t agree, but the plan hinged on Cameron being unaware. If he warned O’Bannon, we were headed for an ambush we wouldn’t make it out of.
“Trust me when I say it has to be this way.” I’d never asked them directly for their trust. Not like this. After my killing Joaquin with no real trial, they were leery of me. I could see it in the way they shifted in their chairs, but eventually, they gave their agreement.
Relief should have filled me, but all I felt was dread.
The capos filed out as Moore and Tennessee filed in, and my chest clenched tight.
My friends sat patiently at the table, muscles taut with the tension in the room.
Whether I had evidence that Ace was telling the truth—other than Nate’s agreement, of course—I couldn’t leave us vulnerable. From a security standpoint, I had to tell someone. Still, I couldn’t say it.
“Let me do this for you,” Nate whispered. I shook my head. Cameron was my family. I would be the one to seal his fate.
“Cameron is compromised.”
The words ricocheted around the room, and Moore clenched his fists together. There was a bleakness in his eyes, a desperate plea. Hope. “Blackmailed or?—”
“Willingly,” Nate said solemnly. It was another dagger to the heart for all of us, and Moore dropped his head to stare at his lap.
Part of me hoped my cousin wasn’t at fault, but that was love, wasn’t it? It always blinded us. With Nate, it had made me believe he wasn’t hiding things. With Cameron, it left me clinging to the idea that this was all a mistake.
Neither was true, and yet I wasn’t sure I could forgive my cousin like I had Nate. He’d betrayed me to protect his family, but I was Cameron’s family. In blood and in heart. That should have come before everything else.
Tennessee gaped at us. “What? What happened?”
When Tennessee and Moore had fallen in love, many in the family had balked at the idea of their relationship. The mafia had always been rife with homophobia, and our family was no different. My cousin was the first man to stand at their sides and shut the others down. He was the one who battled with me to make my position clear—they were staying.
Cameron was one of Moore’s closest friends. And he’d sided with Cash against them.
“How long?” Moore growled, nearly vibrating with rage.
“We don’t know.”
Moore stood up to pace, but Tennessee stared at the wall as if it could give him all the answers. I knew the feeling. Finally, he swallowed all his feelings down and looked at me with steely determination.
“What now?” It was clear even saying that much hurt Tennessee.
