Chapter 153

“Clear!” Frankie barks out, indicating that the only person there actually is Tony with his hands up.

Christian grabs his brother and hauls him into the room, slamming the door shut after him. “What the hell are you doing, Tony!?” he shouts, sending his little brother stumbling aside with a hard shove to his shoulder.

“What the fuck are you doing, Chris!?” Tony shouts back, spinning to glare hard at his big brother. “You told me you weren’t going to kill dad! What the fuck is going on!?”

My mouth falls open a little as I press myself back against the sink, but Christian, Nico, and Frankie all keep their faces blank. I fail in this, I know – my surprise in Tony’s new knowledge all over my face. But I snap my mouth shut, hoping that if Tony did see it that he takes it as general surprise in his sudden, loud arrival.

“What are you talking about, Tony?” Christian says, his words low and dangerous as he takes two steps forward to loom over his brother.

“I’m talking!” Tony counters, his voice still high and frantic. “About Riccardo Bonetti showing up at the house this morning for a friendly cup of coffee and casually dropping that last night you had him meet you at a warehouse! Where you made a fucking deal to cut dad down and split the spoils between you two!”

I work very, very hard to keep my face blank, but my hands tighten on the side of the counter when I realize what happened – that Bonetti did to Christian precisely what Christian did to his father: leveraged the offer and took it to a better source.

Fuck. Fuck – this is not part of the plan!

“He did…he did what!?” Christian gasps, standing still and staring at Tony, his shock clear on his face. But again – from Tony’s perspective, is it shock at having been caught in his betrayal? Or shock at totally new news?

“Tell me right now, Chris!” Tony snaps, shoving Christian hard in his panic. “Did you, or did you not, order a hit on our father!?”

Christian bares his teeth at his little brother and lets out a low growl, shoving him back even harder.

“Don’t ever fucking touch me, Tony,” Christian snaps, taking another step forward to loom over him. Tony cowers, taking a step back. “Of course I didn’t order a hit on our father – he’s our fucking dad. I would never do such a thing.”

I blink in shock at the ease with which Christian lies – and how incredibly convincing he is about it.

“But then –“ Tony stutters.

“Obviously, Bonetti is up to something!” Christian says, casting his hand out to the side like it’s the only possible solution. “Somehow he found out about the hit dad placed on him –”

“What!?” Tony gasps, completely shocked.

“Yeah!” Christian snaps, turning his head to glare hard at Nico and Frankie. “And considering that there were only a very few people in the room when he did…we’re going to have to ask some tough questions, aren’t we?”

I turn my head and look at Frankie and Nico, who convincingly cower, looking anxiously at each other. Obviously Christian is making this all up to cover his own actions here – but god damn it they’re all good actors.

Quite suddenly, I’m horrified at this realization that my husband is such a well-practiced liar. What…what could he have told me that wasn’t quite true?

But no. He wouldn’t.

“But why the fuck would he do that!?” Tony bursts out, shaking his head, still not getting it.

“To save his fucking skin!” Christian shouts, snapping his attention back to Tony. “To throw our entire family into such disarray that he has his chance to make an escape, or his own move!”

Tony looks to the side, thinking about this, hesitating – and I have to admit, my estimation of him falls a little bit. I mean, I wasn’t very impressed before, but the ease with which he is convinced by Chrisitan’s dismissal of the point…

“Tony, get the fuck back home,” Christian snaps, grabbing him by the shirt collar and hauling him towards the door. “I need you to do serious triage here – you need to go convince dad of the truth!”

“Why can’t you do it!?” Tony gasps.

“Because he’ll fucking shoot me on sight right now!” Christian shouts, shoving Tony hard towards the door. “You know I would never do this, Tony! You have got to go convince dad of that fact!”

“God damn it, Christian,” Tony grumbles, scowling and stomping for the door. “Why the fuck did you have to even start trying to make your own family? Why couldn’t you have just fallen in line, kept the peace?”

“Because I actually have ambitions, little brother,” Christian says, scathing. “Ambitions from which you are going to benefit from quite nicely – now get going! This is a fucking emergency!”

Tony groans but does as he’s told, storming back through the door and down towards the elevator. The door slams behind him and we all stare for a few moments, quiet, at it. I open my mouth, intending to ask what the hell we do next, but only a little dismayed squeak comes out.

Christian holds out a hand towards me, begging for silence. So I wait, and cast my ears out, trying to figure out…

But then I hear the ding of the elevator which indicates that Tony is getting in. And then the soft shush of the doors sliding shut. Two more beats pass and Christian opens the door again, confirming that Tony is gone, before slamming it shut and turning to stare at all of us.

He’s breathing hard, his shoulders heaving, glaring around at the three of us.

“Chris,” Nico says, stepping forward with his hand out towards him. “Do not be hasty –“

“We have to get out of here,” Christian snaps. “Dad could have just sent Tony as a way to confirm that we’re actually fucking here. We have to – we have to fucking go.”

My whole body tenses as I see how anxious Christian his – how out control. His eyes move quickly from side to side as he tries to rapidly come up with a new plan.

“Let’s just take a minute,” Nico says, very quietly as Frankie takes a few steps closer to me. “And come up with a plan.”

“Oh, we have a plan,” Christian says, his eyes snapping up to meet Nico’s. “Bonetti fucking betrayed us, Nico – sold us out to my father, flipped the script I handed them. And as he knew, there were fucking consequences for that plan.”

Without another word, Christian storms towards me in the kitchen. I flinch away, frightened of the power in him now, the rage in his eyes that doesn’t let him see anything else. But he doesn’t even acknowledge me, instead grabbing a knife from the block next to me and turning hastily, starting to storm towards the two bedrooms on the other side of the penthouse.

I gasp when he’s halfway across the room, finally realizing what is happening.

“Christian!” I scream, pushing myself off the counter and dashing after him, not even thinking about what I’m doing and acting on complete impulse. “Christian, no!”

Frankie, desperate, calls my name after me as I dash into the hall just as Christian disappears into my old bedroom. But I barely even hear Frankie, my entire focus only on what’s happening in that room.

Christian – he’s taking long strides, but they’re no match for my full-out sprint.

He’s in the room, raising the knife at his side, staring down at the hostage, just as I throw myself across the room and in front of Calvin.

“Stop!” I shout – I beg, I plead. “Stop, Christian! You can’t kill him! I forbid it!”