Chapter 26 The takeover

Chapter 26 The takeover
A month after the shooting, Liam was finally removing his bandages. It was going to scar. But he was fine with it. I helped him with everything he needed. I knew how frustrated he was that I didn't allow him to do anything. I was there everywhere.
I know how bad he felt and I felt especially guilty for it. If not for me he won't have been facing this.

I am just happy he survived. Now that he was okay. It was time to get job done.
I watched him cross the room from the doorway, my fingers curled around the edge of the frame. Sunlight spilled in through the tall windows, warming the hardwood floor. He had aged in the last month. I feel like I added fifty years to my age. And he still looked too good.

Half the list was gone now. Alyssa was helping me. Giving me some level of satisfaction before I could leave. It made me itch the more but I knew I couldn't leave him alone. So Alyssa satiates the craving for me.

Names that once lived in ink now existed only in memory and blood. Alyssa had been efficient, almost surgical. She never bragged. She simply delivered results and slid the folder across my desk, calm as ever. The pictures of each of their death filling the news made me smile each time. People already labelled it the executioner. For killing only powerful people. Someone said it was a serial killer killing powerful people. And the cherry on top is that as their deaths are announced. Gia released all their crimes and dealings to the media. Which will make the entirety of them know that I was coming. Making sure no connection is made back to us of course.

Men who had whispered behind my back at dinners.
Men who kissed my father’s ring while plotting my execution.
Men who thought putting a bullet in my husband would make me kneel.
Instead, it sharpened me.
When Liam reached the couch, he exhaled slowly and lowered himself onto it, his jaw clenched against the pain he refused to admit. He still wasn't used to being painless. The surgery made the bullet wound hurt more. Especially the closeness of the bullet to his heart. I stepped forward instinctively, then stopped myself. He hated being hovered over.

“You’re staring,” he said without looking up.
“I’m memorizing,” I replied. “Your face.”

That earned a quiet huff of laughter. He leaned back, eyes closing briefly. The room smelled faintly of antiseptic and espresso. Recovery had its own scent. Clean, sharp, and relentless.
“I need to go to Sicily,” I said.
His eyes opened.
The silence that followed was thick. Not shocked. Not surprised.
He just looked at me and he figured out what I wanted to do.
“No,” he said finally, his voice steady but firm. “You are not doing it alone..I was the one shot”
“And I was the one targeted".I bit back a snap.
“I won't stand back and watch the organisation I control try to kill me and hurt my family. I was being nice before. Now I have to be cruel. And I can't be that with you there. I would look weak"

“Is that what this is? Your reputation?" He sighed. Like he didn't want to argue. And frankly me too
“You know I didn't mean it like that" I rubbed my hand down my face. Smudging my lipgloss.
I felt it then. The old instinct to disappear. To shoulder the burden alone. To become a weapon instead of a wife.
I turned fully toward him. “It won’t take long.”
“That’s what you said last time,” he replied. “Look I understand. That loss of control is messing with you, but you have to understand that we are together and that requires the two of us making decisions together"
I swallowed.
He pushed himself to his feet, slower this time, and crossed the distance between us. When he cupped my face, his hands were warm, solid, grounding.
“They tried to take my wife from me,” he said quietly. “I’m done being careful.”
I searched his face for hesitation. For fear. I found resolve instead, hard and unyielding.
“We do it together,” he continued. “No more disappearing. No more deciding alone.”
“I don’t want you hurt,” I said, my voice softer than I intended.
“They already hurt me,” he replied. “They hurt you. They took you from me. Now they finally pay”

After getting our affairs in order. We all flew to Sicily, Lucia and Lyla are with us too. With Gia and Alyssa. Julian and Alfred came with. Claiming they will be back up.

The air in Sicily was heavier than I remembered.
This time with blood in the air. And I can't wait to savour it. They were running around like rats before. Now is the time for full on confrontation.

The meeting was held in the old dining hall.
Stone walls. A long table polished smooth by generations of power. Chandeliers hung low, their light casting shadows that made the men seated there look carved rather than alive.
They looked at me with thinly veiled disdain.
At Liam, with curiosity.
“Luciana Romano,” one of them said, leaning back in his chair. “Bold of you to appear here after everything you have done. Don't think we don't know that it was you” He was the oldest member here. Always thinking he was wiser than everyone. But just as stupid as the rest of them.
“I never hid that fact.,” I corrected, taking my seat at the head of the table. “You guys would be too stupid if you couldn't guess that”
Another man scoffed. “You presume much, girl. This meeting was called to discuss instability. No one supports you ascending. And your reactions have been rather … emotional.”
Liam’s fingers brushed mine under the table. A silent question. I squeezed once in answer.
“I never really cared you know. About this life. My father. If I could call him that, made me a little girl take the life of a man and told me to enjoy it. This was the life many dreamed of" I started "But now that I am here. With the path I have taken. I am starting to love it. The power I have on all of you.”I thought they could be more outrage. But turns they are scared shirtless of what I might do. Let them feel comfortable. Men like this always believed their words were weapons.
“You’ve disrupted long standing agreements,” another said. “Cost families money.”
“And lives,” I added calmly. “Mine included.”
A murmur rippled through the room.
One man leaned forward, his accent thick, eyes sharp. Laughter followed, mocking and dismissive.
“That truth got your husband shot,” someone said.
The room went still.

“That will be a score to settle later. But for now. Let's discuss the disrespect all of you have gotten comfortable in with me. You underestimate me. Even after all I have done." I waved my hands around to prove my point. Then smiled “which is why I have decided to put on a show for all of you"

The sound of gunfire shattered the illusion of civility.
Liam’s men moved with brutal precision. Chairs scraped. Glass exploded. Screams tore through the hall as bodies fell. The smell of gunpowder mixed with blood and fear, thick enough to taste.
I did not flinch.
When the echoes faded, the marble floor was slick, stained dark. Groans filled the silence, short lived and desperate.
I stepped around the table slowly, heels clicking, my dress brushing against the stone. One by one, the men who had laughed lay broken, their power reduced to shallow breaths and widening eyes.
Except one.
He was on his knees, hands raised, shaking so violently his teeth chattered. I knelt in front of him, gripping his chin and forcing him to meet my gaze.
“You will live,” I said.
Tears streamed down his face.
“You will tell the world what happens when you touch my family,” I continued, my tone calm, almost gentle. “You will tell them who spared you.”
He nodded frantically.
“And you will spend the rest of your life remembering this mercy,” I finished. “Because it is the last you will ever receive. You work for me now”
When we left the hall, the estate was silent.
Outside, the cicadas sang as if nothing had happened.
Liam took my hand, his grip strong despite everything. We stood there for a moment, breathing in the night air, the weight of it settling around us.
Now it is time to enjoy my new title as Queen