The Matriarch Ring

Chapter 4 A Gentleman in the Shadows

The alarm wailed while Dante's guards stared at the doorway. Victor had brought the Surgeon, his most feared enforcer. The man's reputation had reached the Rossi ranks years ago.

Both guards recognized him before he took his first step.

Neither man gave a warning. Victor knocked the first g*n aside while the Surgeon caught the second guard at the wrist. Metal struck bone twice.

They caught both guns before they hit the floor. Both guards went down unconscious. It took less than three seconds.

Dante stood alone beneath the red screens. A minute earlier, he had called for guards and expected the room to move for him.

Now his terminal displayed *EXILED*, and the two men who answered lay at his feet. He opened his mouth, then shut it.

Victor put one of the guns on the floor and looked at me. He didn't offer his hand or ask whether I was all right. He tipped his head toward the open hall.

I walked out. He followed close enough for me to hear his steps, while the alarm kept sounding around Dante.

We said nothing on the drive to the Moretti estate. The heater ran. Rain on the bulletproof windows broke the city lights into red and gold streaks.

By the time we crossed into Moretti territory, my hands had stopped shaking. Victor saw me unclench them and said nothing.

The Moretti estate had stone walls, guarded gates, and old paintings in every corridor.

Victor led me to his private study. Dark shelves covered two walls, and a fire burned low in a broad stone hearth.

The room smelled of leather and wood smoke. He poured an old whiskey for the Surgeon. My glass held warm water.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Know what?"

"I drink warm water when my head is spinning."

"The Rossetti-Falcone summit, three years ago. You negotiated the truce while Dante took the credit. You drank warm water all night." Victor took the chair across from me.

"You also left the shrimp untouched. You're allergic to shellfish." He stated both facts and waited.

Dante had attended that summit. He sat beside me, pushed the grilled shrimp toward my plate, and complained that I wasn't eating. The allergy had once put me in the hospital.

I had moved the plate myself and gone back to the truce papers. From across the room, Victor noticed. He remembered for three years.

I wrapped both hands around the glass. The water was warm enough to drink without waiting, exactly how I took it after a long negotiation.

"Sit, Elena," he said. "You have a few minutes before we need to work again."

I settled into the leather chair by the fire. "What happened?"

"Dante called an emergency session of the Joint Council for tomorrow at noon."

"On what grounds?"

"He'll claim you had a breakdown," Victor said. "He'll call the Peregrine Protocol an act of madness and use last night's summit as proof that jealousy drove you. Then he'll ask for permanent control of every Rossi territory, with no proxy limits left."

Dante would give them a jealous fiancée who had lost control and a sensible man ready to take over. The council had removed leaders for less.

Every truce and shipping route depended on stability. Most of the men in that room didn't care whether the calm in front of them was staged.

My grip tightened around the glass. "He'll fail."

"Yes," Victor said. "Tomorrow, you address the council."

At noon, I would take my father's chair before Dante could claim it again. I would speak under my own name.