Chapter 2 - Poison in the Well
It was Marcus, Rossi’s long-time chief of security and personal consigliere. He stood in the doorway, a cruel, mocking smile playing on his lips, holding a suppressed pistol at his side.
"I must admit, Julian, you always were remarkably sharp," Marcus said softly, his American accent smooth as silk and dripping with venom. "I didn't expect you to figure out the feeding trick so quickly. The doctors were paid very well to claim the boy had a rare digestive failure."
Julian Rossi slowly stood up, keeping his body positioned between Marcus's gun and the nursing mother. His white shirt was stark against the dark vest, his jaw clenched so hard the muscles jumped beneath his skin. "You were starving my son."
"It was the cleanest way," Marcus replied with a nonchalant shrug. "A grieving mafia Don makes mistakes. A broken king is easy to dethrone. If the baby died of 'natural causes,' you would have burned yourself out hunting ghost enemies, leaving the Rossi crime syndicate wide open for a takeover."
"Who paid you?" Julian demanded, his voice dangerously quiet, every inch of his towering frame radiating restrained murder.
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"Does it matter?" Marcus sneered, raising his weapon. "You're not leaving this room alive to ask them anyway."
Before Marcus could pull the trigger, the young woman on the armchair acted. With a gasp of desperate rage, she grabbed the heavy brass table lamp beside her and hurled it with all her strength toward the gunman.
