If the Bulgari thoughtIwas dangerous, they had no idea what kind of monster was standing beside me, just waiting to be let off the leash.
“What?” I spat, my gaze locking on Nico.
Diamond cut his hazel eyes at me, the silent expression enough to remind me to keep my fury in line. For now.
Nico hesitated, and that alone pissed me off even more.
My stare was enough to make him swallow hard before he finally spoke. “What’s the move?”
I dragged my gaze over the wreckage one last time, letting the destruction sear itself into my memory before turning toward my men. The past was gone, burned to ash, but the future was mine to take.
The room was silent and thick with tension. Every pair of eyes locked onto me, watching and waiting to hear what I had to say.
"Enzo is gone." I let those words hang in the air, so it could settle deep into the bones of every man in this room.
Some flinched, and some held their breath, and some looked like they were grieving, but the smarter ones barely reacted at all. Those who were hurt by my father’s death wouldn’t get time to mourn. Enzo didn’t deserve their fucking grief. That man had dragged this family through the dirt, drained our money, and weakened our power. Fuck him!
"The war is over, but don’t mistake that for peace. We lost men. We lost businesses. We lost money." My gaze swept across them, catching the way some of them tensed at my words. I leaned in, my voice cold and razor-sharp. "And now we rebuild, but not under Enzo’s rule—under mine."
The first ripple of unease flickered through the room, and beside me, Diamond moved.
He reached inside his jacket and pulled out his guns. Then, without hesitation, he stepped behind the first man whose face betrayed too much uncertainty, and a gunshot shattered the air.
Warm blood splattered across the floor, catching a few unlucky muthafuckas standing too close before the body hit the ground. Lifeless.
The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on. Diamond stepped over the corpse, wiped a speck of blood from his cheek with a casual flick of his wrist, then looked up.
“Anyone else got a problem?” I inquired, and no one made a fucking sound. "As I said, you’re no longer under Enzo's rule. You are under mine, and I won’t tolerate disloyalty or weakness."
Diamond moved again. Another step. Another shot. Another dead man.
The floor was turning red from the blood seeping into the charred remains of my club.
"Loyalty is not an option," I continued, my tone measured. "It’s the price of admission. If you stand with me, you stand with the future of this family. You stand with money in your pockets, with power in your grasp, and with your enemies buried before they even see the bullet coming."
I glanced at Diamond. He nodded once.
That was the signal.
One more shot. One more body.
This one barely even flinched when he saw it coming.
I stepped over to his corpse and crouched beside him, tilting my head. "You doubted me," I said, wiping a streak of blood off my cuff like it was nothing. "I don’t have room for doubt."
I stood, my eyes sweeping over the remaining men. Some were sweating. Others were eerily still, waiting to see where this was going.
"So let’s make this simple," I said, adjusting the cuffs of my jacket like we weren’t standing in the middle of a massacre."You will bleed for me, or you will bleed because of me. There is no in-between."
Diamond crossed his arms over his chest, his stare cutting through each man.
"Who’s got doubts now?" I removed my gun from my waist, letting my thumb rest on the safety. "No one? Good."
I turned my gaze to the rest of them. "We’re done playing small. We’re done letting other families dictate our next move. I will bring this family to new heights. We will rebuild, we will dominate, and we will own this city, but if any of you step out of line, or if I have to question your loyalty for one fucking second, then look around you." I gestured at the bodies. "That’s your future if you make the wrong choice."
Then, one by one, the words came.
"Don Dallas."
