My jaw tightens. “And we’re just supposed to take her word? She’s a club girl, maybe looking to flip sides. This could be a play to get close. Or get protection.”
I see the tension in Axel’s shoulders, but he bites his tongue.
Before he can respond, Pop leans forward. “I can answer that.”
I narrow my eyes at him. This secretive shit doesn’t sit right. Nitro and Axel already told me he’s been moving in the shadows. Now he wants to talk?
He reads me like a book. “Don’t give me that look, son. You wanna lead, fine. But you’ll need to learn when to listen. So shut up and hear what I’ve got to say.”
I say nothing, but the fire in my chest is damn near uncontainable.
“I’ve been in contact with Sam and Gabriella.” He holds up a hand before I can explode. “No—calm your ass down and listen.”
I’m barely holding it together. The fact that he’s been this deep in without cluing me in? Unforgivable. But I keep my mouth shut and my eyes locked on his.
“As I was saying, I’ve been working with Gabriella to figure out how deep this shit goes. And it’s deep. Real deep. It’s been building for years—hell, decades. All it needed was a spark. We were the target. We still are. But now we know who and what we’re dealing with.”
He scrubs a hand down his face. And for the first time, I looked at him––really looked at him. My old man looks tired. Not soft, not broken—just worn. But behind his eyes, a fire burns.
“Before your mother and I got together, she lost her family. Moved to Sacramento, started over. But it wasn’t that simple.” He gives me a look that says.This is only the beginning. “Back then, our chapter was new, just getting off the ground while making connections, but still, we were making moves. Us coming here and moving heavy created beef with the Keepers. We thought we handled it. We thought the war was over before it started. We were wrong. We apparently only won a battle, a bloody one, but not enough to cripple them completely. They’ve been waiting—just biding their time. And now, their beef aligns with the Salvatores’ agenda.”
He slams his palm down on the table. “They think they’re gonna kill two birds with one stone. Not on my fucking watch.”
His fury’s out in the open now. Raw and unfiltered.
“Let’s back up,” he says, voice low, jaw clenched. “Let’s talk about your mother… and her history.”
His hands tighten on the table. That’s when I know—this is personal. Really personal.
“Your mother is originally from New York,” my father begins, voice low. “Her family ran with the mafia—her father was a made man, her mother the daughter of one. They married, settled in New York… until everything exploded. While they lived there, your aunt, your mother's sister, caught the eye of Don Stefano Salvatore, a twisted fuck. She rejected him at every turn. But he was obsessed with her, so instead of accepting that she didn’t want his ass, he kidnapped her and did who knows what to her.”
I catch the flicker in his eyes—the crack in his armor.
“She was held for a year,” my father says, voice low. “Abused. Tortured. Her family did everything possible to get her back, but nothing worked. Desperate, your grandfather brought his family back to San Francisco, hoping the Barones would step in.” He pauses, jaw tight. “Before they could and with the noise your grandfather was making…” His eyes darken. “It cost them. Your mother’s sister—” He swallows. “She was dumped on the family's lawn like garbage. That was the turning point.”
The room’s dead silent.
He drags a hand through silver-streaked hair, the weight of his words settling on his shoulders. There's no flinching when he finally meets my gaze—just cold, hard truth.
“Your mother… she snapped. Grief turned to vengeance. She went back to New York alone. Got close enough to Salvatore to end him.”
I don’t move. Don’t breathe.
The air in the room shifts. Legacy. Blood. Wrath passed down like heirlooms. I stare at Pop.
Ma?
She’s always been fierce. Steel in silk. Butthis? This is cold-blooded and calculated in a way I never would have expected from my mother. I look over at my brothers, and they are both wearing similar shocked expressions as I am. Pops keeps going.
“Before she could make it home, someone figured out what she had done. A hit was put on the entire family. The Barones got wind of it, but it was too late. Her parents were murdered. Your mother and her baby sister were the only ones left.”
He releases a long breath.
“Gabriella said the Barones kept their word. They hid your mother. Changed her name. Moved her out here. That’s when I met her.”
He tries to smile, but I’m not there yet. I’m still stuck on the image of my mother alone, grieving, becoming something ruthless enough to end a Don.
And surviving the fallout.
