Page 69 of No Sweeter Poison

“It’s Barcelona.” Diego shuts the door behind him. “Apparently, Sandro is gathering support.”

“Support for what?”

“To overthrow us. Isn’t it obvious?” Lettie clips. “We’ve been too busy in the countryside playing Beauty and the Beast with the damsel in the villa.”

I cut her a look.

“O’Neil called from New York and said that the Walshes and the Collinses are competing against him for territory over there and in Barcelona. Rian and his family have been the dominant Irish branch in Barcelona for a while so Callum Walsh married his daughter to Aiden Collins. Now they’re both teaming up with Sandro after he promised them the seaside territory he’s set to ‘inherit’ from us.”

I bolt upright in my seat. “That belongs to Miguel Lopez. What is he, fucking crazy?”

Lettie’s attention slides over to me. “As you can imagine, Lopez is pissed and everyone else is confused. The families called for a meeting.”

I drag a hand down the length of my face. “Wonderful.”

“We have to be very careful with how we play this,” Diego advises. “We cannot afford to go to war with anyone.”

“And why not?” I snap.

He levels me with an icy blue gaze. “Because legitimate families don’t get caught up in gang wars you fucking pendejo.”

Admittedly, I walked right into that one.

“This would all stop if we back out. We’ve been trying to go legitimate for years and we still haven’t gotten to where Dad wanted us.” Lettie presses her lips together. “It’s time to accept that his dream died with him. We don’t have the vision for it or the dedication. We’re just doing it because it’s what he wanted.”

“Don’t say that.” I whisper. “What about Mom?”

The room falls silent.

Dad’s dream of legitimacy wasn’t the only thing keeping this crusade alive. I think, deep down, we all threw ourselves into it out of some misguided hope that maybe Mom would come back. If we left this life behind and did what Dad wanted then somehow, it would bring her back to us.

Lettie’s voice softens. “If it hadn’t been for Dahlia, we would’ve lost you yesterday. And then what will all of this have been for? We’re lucky Rian O’Neil got one of Walsh’s men to flip. Otherwise, he’d never have known another hit had been put on you. Walsh and Collins think that with you out of the picture, Sandro will be in control. And if Sandro’s in control, then they’ll get what they want in order to take down the O’Neils. Who’s to say the rest of the families won’t start thinking the same?

“We’re dragging our feet. Arguing over borders and territories and what’s legitimate and what’s not. All the while, our allies could be turning on us in the midst of their frustration and impatience. We have to give it up, Alex. We’re tempting fate like this.”

“Lettie has a point,” Diego adds. “If we cut our empire into pieces and give everyone the impression it’s okay to pick meat off the bone, it may get to a point where we can’t turn back. It’ll weaken us and what happens when the legitimacy falls through and we’re hit from all sides? Allies and enemies alike? Abuelo won’t be here forever and loyalty only runs so deep for people who aren’t blood.”

“Do you have such little faith in me?” I ask them. “You think I can’t do the job?”

“The problem isn’t your capability. It’s your desire,” my sister tells me. “This was always Dad’s dream. Not yours. And you’ve never been someone who could put their whole heart into something they truly didn’t want.”

Diego nods his agreement. “Like that time you almost married a backstabbing psychopath.”

Lettie huffs. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It doesn’t,” Diego points out. “I’m reminding him of what happened the last time he almost didn’t take our advice.”

Fair point.

“All right,” I hold up a hand to stall whatever argument is about to brew between the two of them. “All right.”

It’d have been one thing if I went to visit Moises and Bertha alone but Dahlia was with me. She could’ve been hurt, killed, taken. Though I can’t imagine any of those being much worse than the state she’s in now, traumatized and terrified with blood on her hands. I’d give anything to undo the last twelve hours of her life.

“I want a meeting with all twelve families.”

Lettie frowns. “So soon?”

I shake my head. “No…give it a week or two. They can’t see me like this.”