Page 20 of Renata Vitali (The Five Syndicates)
Sophie Kinsella
Now that you’re friends with Miriam, she will bring her dad to you when the abuse gets too big to hide from him. They’ll ask you for help. You’ll convince them that dethroning Angelo is the only way.
I’d gotten the message from The Benefactor exactly two weeks after Renata arrived in Devils Ridge. I waited. Waited. Then, waited some more. I almost thought The Benefactor had gotten something wrong when Miriam and her father ambled their way into The Landing Strip.
The dark club shadowed Miriam, but I could see the shiner burgeoning on her eye. The closer she came, the more bruises I caught. She hid them with makeup and long sleeves, but I’d gotten good at recognizing abuse.
When they approached me, I stood and led them to Irene’s private room. The three of us sat on the leather, neither Miriam nor her dad Manuel talking.
I took pity on them. “He hit you again.”
My dad’s advisor Jacapo was a real nasty piece of work. When I was ten, he’d walked in on my father beating me and stayed to watch. It wasn’t a stretch to assume he was responsible for Miriam’s bruises.
Manuel glanced at his daughter before returning his gaze to me. “Yes. I don’t know how long Mir’s been hiding this from me, but even a second is too long.” His voice caught, and he paused. “It’s too long, Damian.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry this is happening to you, Miriam. You deserve better. But the options here are slim. If you flee, Jacapo will find you. If you kill him, you’ll end up in jail or Angelo will kill you both.”
Miriam tugged at the collar of her dress, a nervous tick I’d noticed a while back. “We were hoping you could go to your dad, and…” Her voice trailed off as I stood, turned around, and lifted my shirt. Her gasp echoed in the small room. “Oh, my God. Damian.”
It felt bittersweet to show my scars. People saw scars as vulnerability, but these were my choice. I let Angelo hit me. Not because I was weak, but because I could take it while I waited for my plan to fall into place.
I also found justice in using the scars Angelo gave me against him. They would be a useful tool in converting more De Luca members, starting with Miriam and Manuel. But I couldn’t go around lifting my shirt without cause. It would raise suspicions.
Maybe later, Angelo would slip up again and leave a mark somewhere visible. Somewhere people couldn’t ignore. Like a black eye people would ask me about and I could “reluctantly” attribute to Angelo. Show them how unhinged he’d become to his own son. Show them that, if they stepped wrong, this could be them unless I dethroned Angelo.
“Son—”
I was no one’s son, and I needed to make that clear. “I’m not showing this to garner sympathy. I’m showing you both my scars to show you the type of man Angelo is. If you go to him and tell him that Jacapo has been beating Miriam, he will not behave like another syndicate boss would.”
Manuel shook his head. “But—”
“He’s stuck in a different era, Manuel.”
“The other syndicates—”
“—have changed. Women are treated equally. They aren’t dismissed. The syndicates rarely resort to violence to resolve issues.”
Miriam’s eyes widened, and tears brimmed in them. “Why can’t that be us? Dad?”
Manuel turned to me. This was good. Yes, he’d been an obedient soldier all his life and perhaps looking for leadership in others came naturally, but the fact that he looked to me instinctually coupled with how well-liked he was in this syndicate made him a great ally. The Benefactor had been right. Again.
I reached out and touched Miriam’s shoulder. “The De Luca syndicate will remain the same so long as Angelo De Luca remains the same.”
“I-I…” Manuel reached out, squeezed his daughter’s hand, and cleared his throat. “I’m at a loss for what to do here. If we can’t leave and we can’t stop Jacapo, what do we do?”
I didn’t respond, instead waiting for them to come to the conclusion first.
A few minutes of silence passed before a hesitant Miriam stood up and turned to us both. Her eyes were a bit feverish, and she either looked determined or unhinged. “We take Angelo De Luca down.”
“Honey…” Manuel sent an uncertain look my way. “We can’t talk like this.”
“Dad, look what Jacapo did to me. Look what Angelo did to Damian. We can do this. The three of us can do this.” She turned to me. “You’re his son. You’re the only one who can take over. Please, Damian. I’m your friend. Please.”
And there we had it. I’d gotten her to beg me for what I wanted in the first place. Manipulation never felt good, especially when it came without much effort.
I took a few minutes to respond, making a show of my hesitation. “We would need to turn people to our side.”
Manuel’s head peeped up, hope trans
