like it’s been abandoned for years, but it looked sturdy enough not to come crashing down on our heads. The field was littered with black sedans, SUVs, and a couple of Range Rovers.
I got out of the car and, fastening my suit jacket, I looked around and saw no less that fifty Benetti soldiers standing guard in a circle around the perimeter. All of them fashioned with semi-automatics and jackets for days. This meeting would be an enemy’s wet dream and no safety measures were spared.
Sensio walked behind me, and I knew I was the last one to arrive. It had been deliberate. I needed to make a statement tonight and all eyes needed to be on me when I walked in. Gio thought he was bringing Remy here to rattle me and embarrass her, but he was in for a rude awakening.
When I opened the doors and walked in, every head in the place turned my way. The tension in the room was palpable and everyone looked uncomfortable and like they would rather be anywhere else.
There was no furniture in the place, and the barn was empty, apart from a few old, rusted machinery scattered throughout. Everyone was on their feet with Giovanni commanding the room at the head of the human half circle.
I looked to my right and Sal, Leo, Phoenix, Ciro, and Remy were standing off to the side. None of them men took their place in the formation and that was enough to cause the tension in the room. However, it wasn’t until Gio boomed my name that I realized the reason for the tension in the room.
“Luca!” he greeted, loud and unnecessarily jovial. “Glad you’re finally here.” Taking a step to the left, he reached behind him and, with his arm casually draped over her shoulders, Beverly stepped forward. “I called this meeting because we just needed a few things cleared up, Son,” he continued. He made a big show of glancing around the room. “There’s been talk about the next steps in running the organization, and well…you can understand our confusion when you’ve had this beautiful, elegant, intelligent woman warming your bed for the past few years, but then there’s a rumor that you have a fiancé, but it’s not her. It’s understood we need a family man at the helm of all we’ve built, but who do you plan on making a family with?”
I was vibrating with rage.
I was vibrating with rage for both Remy and Beverly. Neither woman deserved this staged humiliation. I also knew that if Beverly was here, she was here under false pretenses. Gio lured her here somehow, but it wasn’t for this. Beverly wasn’t a cruel person. She also knew she’d never be my wife. Even if I had developed a fondness for her over our years together, she couldn’t have children. Beverly knew I needed them to continue my legacy, but more importantly, I wanted them. Our arrangement had been mutually beneficial and, no matter her feelings on the matter, she would never come here and pull a stunt like this. She would never risk being on my bad side. Gio convinced her to come here, and I was sure he had used me as the bait somehow.
“In the spirit to end all speculation, I thought it’d be best to have both women here so you could explain to everyone exactly what was going on,” he lied. “Remy, why don’t you come forward, dear.”
I didn’t look her way, but I put my hand up to stop her. I walked further into the circle until I was practically in the center of it. It wasn’t until then that Ciro, Phoenix, Sal, Leo, and Remy came up from behind to complete the circle. Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths, and all that could be heard was the rustle of leaves and dead grass the wind was playing with.
I wanted to kill this man and everyone in the room knew it.
My voice was so cold, I didn’t even recognize it myself. “You dare to parade another woman, one who I’ve been in a relationship with, in front of the woman I plan on marrying?”
“Ah, so you do plan on marrying one of them,” he replied, a brow lifted in arrogance.
I looked at Beverly and she looked terrified. “Beverly, are you okay?” I asked because I wouldn’t put it past Gio to have harmed her in some way.
She stepped out from under Gio’s arm and nodded. “Luca…I…” Beverly’s voice cracked,