A Thousand Cuts (Underworld Kings)

“And it hasn’t worked.”

“No. It hasn’t,” I agreed.

Vincentius straightened his spine. “I expect you have a plan.”

“I would call it a last resort,” I amended.

“I’m listening.”

“We cut him off. Not completely, but we take away every single business responsibility he has currently. The money too. That stops until he can bring about something legitimate. Grow the fuck up.”

Vincentius digested my words. He despised this. Despite the fact he was a hard man, one of the most ruthless to walk the earth, wouldn’t hesitate to kill a man if need be, he still wasn’t ready to hurt his son.

“Whatever you say,” he said finally. “This is your family now.”

My brows furrowed. “No, Don. It will always be your family. And I’m going to make sure Lorenzo doesn’t destroy it. Find a way for him to be worthy of his family name.”

The Don didn’t answer.

Because we both knew I couldn’t make promises like that. We both knew it was more than likely I’d have to kill his son in the coming months, if not weeks.

As soon as the Don left the room, I made changes. I canceled all of Lorenzo’s credit cards. He still would have one personal one, with the Don paying the bill on it. Whether or not that would continue was not my decision.

He would always have money.

But it was taking away his power, his authority at the ports, his ownership of the bar he liked to drink at, the men that worked under him, those were the things that would make a statement. My men and women worked quickly in taking this all from Lorenzo, he had few friends within the organization, his recklessness and arrogance the reason for almost everyone hating him. They pretended they didn’t because of his name, because they were loyal to me and they knew they’d answer to me if they gave him what he deserved.

I knew many would relish serving out his punishment, and that everything would be done before the day was out.

It wasn’t long before Marco came. I’d known he would. He was my Consigliere. He handled all of the dirty business, ran a lot of the day-to-day and worked closely with Lorenzo. I suspected he cleaned up a lot of messes before they even made their way to me. He had a soft spot for the boy. He’d known him since he was born, had fought for him when the Don made the choice for me to succeed him. Things had been tense between us for many years. He was old school, he believed blood should always rule. If not Lorenzo then Gabriel or Lukas, two of the Don’s closest nephews. Both men might’ve done well if given the title, but likely would’ve fucked things up. Gabriel liked women too much and let them suck him dry. He was on his third wife, and she had him by the balls and was currently fucking her tennis coach.

Lukas was straight up fucking insane. Cold. Ruthless. Sadistic. It might’ve worked to ensure no one betrayed the family again, but no one would love him. No one would respect him the way he needed to be respected. I didn’t believe that I had anything redeeming inside of me in order to be loved by the family, but for some reason, I had the love of the Don. The respect.

And I’d worked tirelessly for this family for years. I’d risked my life countless times to make sure every member was safe, that we held control. I’d saved the Don’s life many times, Marco’s life as well. Despite the fact I might question whether I was worthy enough of this position, I knew I was the best choice with the options we currently had.

Marco knew all of this, but he kept his head in the sand. He was a good man, his heart large when it came to the family. It irritated me to no end, but I kept him in his position not because he was good at the role but because he was well loved. It was important to keep the old school members of the family, out of respect. Although he had the ability to be a cold-blooded killer and would murder his own son for the good of the family, he was quick to smile and affectionate with everyone he trusted.

It took him a long time to trust me, but he respected his Don no matter what.

However, it was clear when he stormed through the door that this was not going to be a happy meeting.

“You’re making a mistake,” he seethed, moving a chair to lay his hands flat on my desk. “You’ve crossed a line.”

I leaned back, raising a brow at him. Although he might’ve disagreed with me over the years, over the way I changed the direction of the family, investing heavily in tech and crypto currencies, while selling off the dying businesses that were merely sentimental, he never came at me with blatant hostility. Whatever I had done had hit a nerve.