Page 107 of Fallen Rook

Her. Was he provoking me? Daring me to correct his assumption? Or was he just clueless?

“This person…” I was careful not to use Tom’s pronouns. “They’re special to me.”

“Keep her as a mistress.”

“They deserve to be more than that.”

His gaze flicked over to my face. The elusive darkness behind his irises warned me not to press forward.

We have a good thing going, I could hear his mind reasoning with mine. You stay repressed, and my kingdom lives to see another day.

Problem was, I didn’t give two shits about his kingdom anymore.

It wasn’t even about Tom. It was about me. Maybe Tomcat was right. These growing pains meant my roots were too thick, too solid, for the rest of me to be blown over by Luca’s every whim and impulse.

I wasn’t unsure anymore. I knew I was gay.

My brother ran a hand over his mouth. “What exactly are you saying?”

“I’m saying don’t put me in a position where I’d have to break ranks. Us and the Russians—it is time for war, not peace. This wedding should be canceled.”

“It is your duty to do as your don says, Enzo.” His tone sharpened.

“Not if my don can’t see the situation clearly. Then it is my duty as your right hand to let you know many in the Camorra think you should be dethroned if you don’t get your shit together.” I decided to just come out with it. Luca didn’t have any feelings, so I couldn’t hurt them. He did need to know what was what, though.

My older brother snapped his head up. “Excuse me?”

“You’ve been missing meetings. Not taking important calls. Whispers are running in Naples that the Ferrantes are in crisis, now that Achilles is back here and not watching everything closely back home. And the Bratva,” I said with a swallow. “Things are still hanging in the air with them. People don’t like the uncertainty.”

“We’re on Alex’s timeline. He acts like all is well and that he wants peace and an alliance marriage. I have to wait for word about his shipment into our port before I can blow shit up.” Luca scowled. “I’m on top of my game.”

“People don’t think that.”

“People can go fuck themselves.” His expression darkened.

“Luca…you lost the girl. Don’t lose anything else, yeah?”

For the first time since I’d known my brother, I saw his face twisting in pain. He recovered quickly, though, the hurt replaced with a zing of determination.

“I didn’t lose the girl, Enzo. Only a fool would trade true love for dirty money and endless death.”

“Am I to understand from this that you and Sofia are back on track?”

“We will be.”

My phone pinged inside my pocket. I tugged it out, my heart dropping all the way to my toes.

Tomcat: The dark spell’s still here, but so is my need to see you, if you want to come over.

He needed to see me.

Not wanted, needed.

And fuck if I was going to let him down.

I slid my gaze to Luca to see if he’d caught the name on the screen. Thankfully, Tristan edged toward us, probably also sick of the loved-up couples, and struck up a conversation about our operations overseas.

My thumbs flew over the screen.