REESE

chapter forty four.

Third Person POV:

"Time and time again you disappoint me, Alexander."

Alexander had been here before.

A table full of advisors, his title hanging in the balance, his three younger brothers forced to meddle in affairs beyond their years, their safety in their own house questioned instead of promised.

He had been here before.

He watched as Lodovico slowly took a sip of his scotch. The bottle was The Balvenie, scotch that was aged fifty years. Alessandro Di Genova's favourite drink. Lodovico was very blatantly making a power play, from the old Don to the new, he seemed to insinuate. Except that title belonged to Alexander and Alexander alone.

The advisor seemed calm, too calm but Alexander saw straight through his bullshit. Lodovico Greco was a cruel, heartless bastard who took great satisfaction in manipulating the very people he was bound by duty to help. Figuring out Lodovico's malice was easy when forced to be under the old man's watch. Alexander had observed the advisor for two years, and he knew that whatever supposed calm aura the old man was sporting now was bound to unravel quickly.

He just hoped that his family would survive the fallout.

"I don't fucking know what you want from me." The twenty-year-old drawled, trying to slowly and inconspicuously grab the gun he had taped under the conference table earlier today. Through his peripheral vision he could see Gavino, Maximus and Rocco slowly trying to do the same. They had an opportunity, a plan. The advisory council only met once a year. Last year Alexander wasn't ready, today he was. Now it was time to execute.

"You don't know what I want from you?" Lodovico slammed his hand onto the table, the resounding bang that came from his actions sent a wave of anxiety down Alexander's lungs but the young Don ignored the feeling. It didn't matter what he said now, the advisors would die today by his hands in his estate. Then he and his siblings would be free. Free from danger, free from the possibility of a coup, and free to run the Italian empire how they saw fit.

"I want a Don capable of running an empire!" Lodovico seethed. "I want experience to sit on the Italian throne, not innocence! I want--"

"I don't give a FUCK about what you want, Greco!" Alexander roared, his loud voice booming through the room. His heart pounded in his chest as every advisor sitting before him looked taken aback by his outburst.

Fury and violence shone bright in Lodovico's eyes but Alexander didn't falter. He was no longer afraid of the almighty Italian council before him. Two years ago, he wasn't in a good enough position to take over as Don. He needed every man in this room to vouch for him, to vouch for his eighteen-year-old self that was still reeling over the death of his parents. But he was no longer eighteen, he was no longer alone, and he no longer needed the support of this council. The council that held his brothers at gunpoint just to make a point.

He hadn't forgiven nor had he forgotten.

Strength felt better than weakness.

"I have had enough of your constant admonishment and disrespect." Alexander spit. "I am the Don, the first born Di Genova. You work for ME!" He glared at Lodovico, his eyes blazing with anger. "I do not care if you stood by my mother and father's side. I do not care that you have been an advisor longer than I have been on this earth. You are nothing when seated next to me Greco, it is time you realized that."

Lodovico slowly rose in his seat, his hand twitching to reach for his gun. "What the fuck did you say to me, boy?"

Alexander ignored his pounding heart and took a look around the room. Gavino, Maximus and Rocco looked at him, while every last member of the advisory council looked at Lodovico.