Page 97 of The Doctor

If only I was lucky enough for him to believe me.

“What are you doing?” Stephano was tapping at his phone screen. I tried to steal it from his grip, sure he was going to ruin this whole thing by calling someone to take me away. “You promised you’d help me!”

“What do you think I’m doing, brat?” He snagged both my hands in his, holding them away from himself as he finished tapping on his phone. “You really think it’s Cosimo behind all this?”

I huffed out a breath. “If you don’t believe me, why bother helping me sneak out?”

“Didn’t say I don’t believe you.” He glared over at me. “I want to know why you think it. What proof do you have?”

I hated myself in that moment. Hated that I hadn’t kept my chart from getting ruined. I fumbled around, trying to remember all the things I’d laid out.

“I overheard Cosimo talking to Zee,” I said, eyes zipping back and forth as if I was reading the notes I’d scribbled on the back of that paper. “He kept pushing him, asking if everything was okay, if he needed anything. He wanted to set him up with someone from Italy, make him get married and settle down.”

“Cosimo tried to take Zee away from you, so you thought you’d blame him?”

Scowling, I said, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”

Stephano released my hands, holding his up between us. “Go on. Tell me what else.”

“Giada Provenza said the same thing to Mom—”

“She wants to set her up?”

I glared at the stupid man. “She wanted to know if Mom needed anything. She said it the same way Cosimo asked Zee. And Sarah said Giada stopped by when Chaya was sick and kept asking the same thing. And then I saw Raoul talking to Dad.”

“Wait. Who are these people?”

My eyes burned and I scratched at my throat. “Raoul is Cosimo’s only son, and Giada is his wife.”

“Cosimo has three sons.”

“No, he doesn’t.” I turned in my seat to face my brother. “I made Zee make me a family tree of the Syndicate. Ida and Paulo’s dad, Benito, had an affair. Both Piero and Mario Provenza are actually Benito’s sons. But Cosimo doesn’t know. Or at least, he didn’t.”

Stephano narrowed his eyes at me, and I raced to go on.

“I think Cosimo found out. I think he’s a threat to not only his own family, but to the entire Syndicate. And I don’t think this is the first time.”

“Explain.”

“Benito was murdered with three of his lieutenants by some guys who didn’t like the D’Angelos running the neighborhood. They were kids, Stephano. Tell me how a bunch of teens and twenty-year-olds can take out the head of the D’Angelo Syndicate and his top three lieutenants without help. But it wasn’t just them. They murdered Benito’s wife, who was Ida’s sister. They murdered our grandfather, and Zeno’s father, and many other Syndicate men and women. And if Paulo would have been home a half hour earlier than he was, they would have murdered him too.”

“And then what?”

“Then Cosimo would have taken over the Syndicate. Look”—I shifted in my chair—“after Paulo and his friends took out the guys who were supposedly behind all of this, they had a meeting with the survivors. Zeno was there, and he said if it weren’t for his mother standing up and saying Paulo was the rightful heir, Cosimo and a couple of the other lieutenants would have put Cosimo in charge.

“And have you noticed the way Cosimo’s acted the past couple years? He’s always hated Fahrid Amhad, Eli David, and Santiago Medina. Three of Paulo’s lieutenants who had no connections with Cosimo’s family. Farhid and Santiago are dead, and Eli’s been sent away to Israel. Cosimo was always pushing for Raoul and Piero to become lieutenants, but Paulo chose Arik and Jet instead. And don’t even get me started on how much he hates Queenie and Jael. My God, the scowls he throws their way any time they’re in the room!”

“Clara—”

“I think Cosimo wanted the power of the Syndicate to lie within his family. He tried to take it by getting rid of Benito, and after not getting his sons into positions of power, instead watching these other men take over—”

“Clara—”

“—he decided he’d had enough. Top that off with Nadia and Mic coming home in direct opposition to his orders, I think he finally broke.”

“Fucking hell, brat! Would you shut the fuck up?” Stephano’s loud voice shocked me out of my rant. My eyes grew wide as my throat closed up. “You had me at Raoul and Giada! When the hell did you have time to put this all together?”

“Between classes,” I whispered. “It really wasn’t that hard.”