My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 700

Chapter 700

Then, Gianna.

She climbed from the last vehicle without looking in my direction. She kept her eyes on the ground and I forced myself to look away.

If I looked any longer…

I wasn’t sure I’d remember why I was angry.

“Capone.”

I turned, the front doors of the estate opened. A man in his late sixties stepped outside wearing a perfectly tailored

suit.

Silver hair, sharp blue eyes. A scar running beneath one ear.

Don Cesare Orsini.

The man responsible for arranging every Council gathering held on Sicilian soil.

He smiled politely, “Welcome home.”

He shook Vincenzo’s hand before greeting the rest of us.

“You’ve all been given rooms,” his eyes swept across every member of our family, “The Council begins tomorrow evening.”

He stepped aside, the enormous wooden doors opened completely.

५

Inside, the entrance hall stretched upward nearly three stories. Marble pillars supported a ceiling painted centuries ago with scenes of saints, kings and battles long forgotten. Crystal chandeliers hung overhead. The marble floor reflected every step. Servants moved silently through the corridors carrying luggage toward the family wings. Every hallway held another armed guard.

No one trusted anyone enough to leave security to someone else.

As we entered the grand hall, I immediately recognized the first family.

The Costellos.

Every conversation in the room seemed quieter around them. At the center stood Nikolai Costello.

Capo dei Capi.

The man every boss answered to when the Crime Families failed to reach peace themselves.

He wasn’t the oldest man in the room. He wasn’t even close, yet everyone watched him. Power didn’t always arrive with age. Sometimes, it simply walked into the room and expected the world to move aside.

Nikolai wore a perfectly fitted black three-piece suit without a single crease. No jewelry, no unnecessary display. He didn’t need one, the confidence in the way he stood was enough.

Beside him stood his wife, Evangeline.

Their son, Massimo, stood with pride on his face beside his father. His small suit matched Nikolai’s almost perfectly

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His daughter, Anastasia, hid behind her mother’s hand before peeking curiously around her toward the arriving

families.

Nikolai noticed us and a slow smile crossed his face, “Capones.”

Vincenzo stepped forward first. The two men shook hands briefly before stepping apart.

“It’s been too long, Vincenzo.” Nikolai’s voice carried the kind of calm that only came from years of standing on opposite sides of the same battles.

Vincenzo’s mouth curved into a humorless smile, “Not long enough, Nikolai.”

A few men nearby went quiet, watching the exchange.

Nikolai only gave a low chuckle, lifting his glass slightly, “Still carrying that temper of yours.”

“And you’re still carrying that arrogance.”

The two men stared at each other for a moment.

There was no false friendship.

Only the understanding between two men who had spent years competing, disagreeing, and challenging each other’s power.

Then Nikolai nodded, “Good to see you alive.”

Vincenzo smiled, “Same to you. I was hoping age would make you easier to deal with.”

A faint smile touched Nikolai’s lips, “And I was hoping fatherhood would make you softer. But this is better, I would have been disappointed if the Capone boss arrived in Sicily suddenly knowing humility.”

Vincenzo’s eyes narrowed, “And I would have been disappointed if the Costello boss stopped believing he owned every room he entered.”

“I actually do own every room I enter…” he laughed and then, Nikolai’s attention shifted toward Gianna for only a brief second before politely looking away.

Another convoy arrived outside. The front doors opened again.

The Visconti Family

Headed by Leonardo Visconti.

A man whose family had ruled the ports of southern Italy for generations. If something illegal crossed the sea… The Visconti Family knew about it first.

Behind them came the Falcones.

Their leader, Valentino Falcone, towered above nearly everyone else in the room.

The final family arrived.

The Deverecci Consortium.

Old European money. Their wealth stretched across banks, pharmaceutical companies and international shipping

routes

Their patriarch, Luciano Deverecci, carried himself less like a criminal, more like an emperor visiting subjects.

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Every family in this room had survived nearly four hundred years to be here. We didn’t survive through luck. We survived because everyone else died first.

Within minutes…

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