Oath of Sacrifice (Deviant Doms 4)

I watch him be taken out in stunned silence.

We all do.

Then it hits me.

I’m staying home.

CHAPTER SIX

Rosa

We stand in silence as the fading sounds of sirens disappear. I wipe my tears and quickly get myself together. I can’t fall apart, not now.

“Of course they had to make a fucking show of it,” Mario mutters, shaking his head. “They couldn’t just arrest him.” He swivels his gaze to Santo. “Why’d they take him?”

“How the fuck do I know?” Santo snaps, but his eyes are bright, and my mind still hasn’t caught up to what Romeo said before he left.

Santo’s staying right here.

He isn’t leaving for Tuscany.

“Because you’re the one who’s the brains behind everything,” Mario says, running his fingers through his hair. “You’re the one who knows what’s happening before we do.”

I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but it sounds like there’s accusation in his tone. Does he suspect Santo knows something he isn’t letting on? I bite my tongue to avoid snapping at him. I won’t let my family descend into chaos and bickering because we’re stressed.

Most of them have been arrested at one point or another, and most of the time with good reason, but none of us has ever seen the Don taken since Romeo’s assumed the throne as Boss.

I choose willful ignorance when it comes to what my brothers do, what all made men do. But I have a basic understanding. I know Mario’s skilled at all things techie, Orlando’s the group heavy and enforcer, and Tavi, as Underboss, consults with Romeo on all internal operations, but his keen mind is also behind everything. He’s often the group strategist, similar to Santo.

Santo, however, is skilled intellectually, and often sees one move ahead of everyone else. He’s also the one that may not have a conscience, which gives him a decided advantage.

I know this is why he was in Tuscany. Even though he hasn't told anybody the details, I know that he saw something nobody else did, a threat to the family that hadn't come to fruition, maybe. I’d bet he even suspected Leo was a traitor long before we knew he actually was.

I wish I knew why he was in Tuscany. I have a niggling suspicion that…

No. No, I won’t go there.

It’s none of my business.

There was a time when I wanted to learn everything, to know every decision made, penny paid, and deal signed with whatever stakes they chose. But I regretted that choice. Since I couldn’t control damn near any of it, I was only left frustrated and often angry.

So I’ve written myself out of my brothers’ work. And even though I love my family with all my heart, I don’t follow where they lead.

But now… now we’re reeling from a devastating blow.

Santo paces and Tavi takes a call, likely from the lawyer. He turns his back to us and talks in a low voice.

“I know this,” Santo says, his deep, gravelly voice commanding the attention of the whole room. “Romeo is innocent. I know he ain’t perfect, but I know he’s kept his hands fuckin’ clean.”

“How do you know that?” Orlando asks.

Santo scowls. “Because he wants to have a baby with Vittoria. He doesn’t want to risk anything that will take him away from home, not now.”

Vittoria was once pregnant with a child, soon after their marriage and before Orlando’s, but she lost the baby early on. And they haven’t been able to conceive a child since. It’s something we rarely speak of. Santo understands this.

“So I’m thinking, then… that Romeo was set up,” Santo says. His words fall like a gavel. “Someone wants him out of the picture, don’t they?”

Mario’s jaw tightens, and his normally jovial expression hardens. The brother that stands before me isn’t a boy anymore, but a man, and has been for some time. It only took me a while to see it.

“Yeah,” Mario says, and I can see him piecing things together, though not at the same rate as Santo. Santo, always one step ahead.

Finally, Dario speaks up. He clears his throat as if to get everyone’s attention, but he doesn’t need to. With a simple syllable, his voice commands the room. I don’t know his role yet here, but as a newly made man, I’d guess he begins as one of Romeo’s Capos.

“I know I’m new here, but I feel the same. Someone wanted Romeo out of the way. Someone wanted us ruffled. Maybe someone who knows I’ve been inducted, and that Elise is having a baby, someone who knows we’re solidifying the power of the Rossi family.” He frowns, and his gaze swings to Orlando.

“Right,” Orlando says.

The pulse in the room is heated and angry, as if we’re sitting on a ticking time bomb. Santo looks to Tavi. “Tavi, thinkin’ we should convene at The Castle. Lock everyone down. Cancel the flight tonight, re-assign every motherfucker here. Yeah?”