Page 66 of The Gangster King

My sister should be here.

“Where’s Gianna?” Lucy, one of the daughters asks, glancing around. “I was hoping to catch up with her tonight.”

Just as I’m about to answer, I hear a voice behind me.

“Yes,whereis Gianna?” Leo Baldoni says.

“Leo!” Adelina cries and I reach out my arm so she cannot move an inch. Leo’s eyes follow my movement and then lift to mine. We stare at one another and in my peripheral vision, I see his men move in closer.

Nick and Jono do the same.

“You know the rules,” Micky Cabone says, sipping the dark golden liquid in his glass. There’s little effort in his tone, but as the oldest don in the five families, no one questions his authority.

Certainly not Leo.

And neither will I, despite being a newly crowned capo.

The rules are the rules. So we relax, our shoulders drop and the men around us step back an inch.

Beside me, Adelina is still tense.

Leo flicks his gaze back to her. “Are you okay?”

I wait for her reply, my jaw taunt but her silence is too long, and Leo glares back at me.

“He hasn’t hurt me.” Addy quickly says.

Too fucking late.

I take her hand, and she presses against my arm, surprising almost all of us.

“You need to come home.” Leo demands, his eyes darting back and forth between us.

Meanwhile, I’m soaking up the warmth of her body. Whether she’s trying to appease me or her brother, I don’t know. I don’t care.

“Soon,” Adelina replies.

“Bring Gianna with you.” He turns to me. “Then we can negotiate.”

That’s not how things are going to play out.

And he’s not in any position to be making demands.

I take a step, moving my body in front of Adelina’s, regretting the loss, but needing to put a physical barrier between them.

Leo is not taking her.

He is not in charge here, and it sounds like he needs to understand exactly how things are going to go.

“When you have a family ring on your finger, then you can make bold demands, Leo. Until then, I recommend you run back to daddy and tell him to come and give me his condolences as the other families have done.”

Fuck you.

Addy tightens her fingers around mine, knowing I’m poking a dangerous bear. Not more dangerous than me. Sure, Leo is no small man—around my size and a deadly gangster in his own right—but he has far less authority.

There is a hierarchy to this world and the only way you remain at the top is by defending your position. This isn’t the fucking British royal family.

I watch his chest swell as he seethes, and his ego takes a hit.