Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension (17 page)

“
Do you miss
him?”

Kayla turned around sharply. Vasco
stood in the doorway.

It was a distinct possibility that
Vasco knew about her; that Marcello had told the triplets. If they
wanted, they could take her into custody. Kill her, if they so
choose. It made the game she played even more dangerous. If they
did know about her, but left her in play, the why was a very, very
important question. She would have to be even more careful than she
had been.

His question, though, was easily
answered. “Yes,” she said truthfully.

“
Me, too,” Vasco said
quietly, trailing those family eyes around his
grandfather’s—son’s—space. After the brief silence, he looked back
at Kayla. “Everyone’s moving into the boardroom now. Meeting is in
five.”

“
I’ll walk with you.” The
memories vanished in the wake of Kayla’s job, and her ultimate
motive. Marcello, like her, mother was dead. There was no one left
to stop the nightmares, now, and she could not do as Marcello
requested of her. Even if she wanted to, Caesar would never allow
it.

“
I hope you don’t feel
stiffed, Aunt Kay; that we’re in a place you probably wanted,”
Vasco said as he held open the office door for her, pulling it shut
once she had stepped through.

Kayla shook her head. “Not at all,
Vasco. To be honest with you, I didn’t want it. Not the stress of
all this. I’m too old to take those reins. You, your sister, and
your brother will handle it just fine.” She smiled
convincingly.

“
I think we will, too.”
Vasco shot her a sideways glance, returning her smile. “Thanks, for
the vote of confidence, though.”

Inwardly steeling herself for how
uncomfortable the contact would make her, Kayla looped her arm
through Vasco’s as they stepped into the elevator. “Of course.
Isn’t that what family is for?”

Amusement flickered through Vasco’s
eyes. “Amadeo and Olivia must have missed that lesson.”

“
They’ll learn.
Eventually.”

§

June 20, 2012 - 11:00 AM

Alcyone Island

Dion Corporation
Headquarters

Seated around the long conference table
was every blood Terenzio. Isabella sat at the head of the table,
opposite the triplets. Christopher sat on her left. Agata came in
with her father, Dominic, and they chatted quietly while the others
filed into the room. Nicholas came in shortly after his father and
sister, smiled briefly at Agata, ignored Dominic, and sat down.
Kayla sat next to Simone, and the two talked about mundane things
while they waited for Olivia and Amadeo, who both arrived ten
minutes later.

“
Nice of you to join us,”
Lucien said.

Amadeo rolled his eyes. “Some of us
work, Lucien.”

“
All right, Vasco, we’re all
here. Why?” Dominic asked, lacing his thick fingers together and
looking pointedly at his cousin.

“
To inform you all of the
new direction this family will move in.” Vasco flicked his eyes
around the table.

“
Well, it’s not really new,
but we’re bringing it out in the open,” Lucien amended.

“
What new direction?” Agata
asked.

“
This is going to be a lot
to swallow all at once. It should come as no surprise that there
are some very powerful men who control the world, and they use
criminal organizations like us to do their bidding. They call
themselves the Brotherhood. Stefano Terenzio obtained this island
by making a deal with them. His end goal, however, was not
subservience. He joined them so that, one day, we could turn around
and beat them. That time is now.”

Agata’s brows arched. She appeared to
be the only one outwardly affected by this news. The rest of the
family didn’t look so surprised. Only Olivia’s gaze darkened
slightly.

“
We’re listening, Vasco,”
Isabella said quietly.

Vasco nodded once at the eldest
Terenzio. “Stefano set the foundation. Grandfather—Marcello—spent
his life collecting information on them. Eventually, something
pushed him to turn his hand against them openly.”

“
Why did Dad do that?” Kayla
asked, her impenetrable gray eyes studying Vasco.

“
We don’t know,” Simone
easily lied. “That was never made clear to us.”

“
We know that before Julian
and Dom Jr. died, the family did a lot of jobs for the Brotherhood.
After they died, that all seemed to stop. We can speculate that
something happened during that period,” Vasco said.

“
What type of work did we do
for them?” Dominic asked. He knew, of course, but he wanted to know
how much the triplets knew.

Lucien looked over at Dominic. “After
WWII, top Nazi scientists were smuggled out of Germany into the
U.S. and United Kingdom. They called it Paperclip, and we assisted
with that.”

Dominic whistled lowly. “My, my, when
you said controlling the world, you weren’t kidding.”

Vasco nodded. “Our entire existence,
we’ve done as we pleased, or thought we have. We’ve battled petty,
criminal groups for a piece of the pie and muscled out the weakest
links. We set our sights on the world, because our ambition just
runs that high. Now, we’re going to use everything we’ve built up
to help humanity.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “We, the
Terenzio family, are going to save the world?”

“
Well, at least give them a
shot at saving themselves,” Lucien said.

“
We’re on a deadline, too,”
Simone said. “December 21, 2012 something massive, and a little on
the mystical side, is going to happen. What we don’t exactly know,
but we do know that the Brotherhood wants to stop it. And we’re the
only ones who can stop them.”

“
This Robin Hood approach is
pretty fucking stupid, if you ask me,” Amadeo said, lacing his
fingers behind his thick head of graying hair. His goatee made him
look more like a pirate than an army general. “Why aren’t we
supporting this Brotherhood? Underboss to the Don?”

“
That’s funny, Amadeo, I
don’t think we did ask you.” Lucien leveled a hard gaze on him.
“But to answer your question, that’s not how we operate anymore.
Not when it comes to the freedom of the whole world. We might not
be saints, but there’s a line.”

“
With all due respect,
Lucien, I have to agree with him,” Dominic said calmly. “You’re
talking about going up against what is apparently a major force to
be reckoned with and one that’s been in place for what, centuries?
If we already have connections with them, I don’t think it’s wise
to continue to spit on that.”

“
Too late,” Simone
said.

“
This isn’t a discussion on
whether or not we’re doing this,” Vasco interjected. “This is to
inform you all what the real goal of this family has been since SVT
ran it.” It was weird, very weird, to talk about himself in the
third person, but he continued unflinchingly. “Marcello believed
this was the right thing to do, and we do as well. We’re going to
end this and find out just how good we really are.”

Christopher’s blue-gray eyes lit up.
“You tell us what you need, Vasco, and you’ll have it. I, myself,
haven’t been in a good fight in years.” Before his retirement,
Christopher had followed in his father’s footsteps and served as
General of the Air Force. It was rumored that he was a better
fighter pilot than his father had been, especially in combat. If
anyone asked him, Christopher would tell them that it was his
mother’s fault. Instead of being a great shot with handgun, like
she had been, he preferred a 20 mm cannon.

“
I heard you got into one
last night, Uncle Chris.” Lucien grinned lightly. Even though they
were all cousins, Lucien and the rest of his siblings had always
called Isabella and Christopher Aunt and Uncle, respectively.
Isabella and Christopher had been authority figures in the
triplets’ lives— parents, almost—especially Christopher to
Lucien.

Christopher shot Lucien a heatless
glare.

“
Xavier works for Homeland
Security. Is he our man on the inside?” Olivia asked, watching the
triplets closely.

Vasco shook his head. “No. In fact, I’m
not sure he’s aware of the potential mess he’s sitting in the
middle of. We broke ties with DeMarco a few decades ago, and we
have every reason to believe they are supporting the Brotherhood. I
haven’t involved Xavier, yet, because I don’t want to put him in
compromising position or endanger his life.”

“
I appreciate that,”
Christopher said. Xavier was his son. “But he can handle himself.
You need to use him, use him.”

“
Thank you, Uncle Chris.”
Vasco tipped his head in his direction, and then looked at the rest
of the family. “We need every ones support on this.”

“
You have it,” Isabella said
easily. “I never could see my mother, or Uncle Stefano, being
subservient to anyone. If this was the plan, then it’s a good
plan.” Her eyes faintly gleamed with the love of a good
challenge.

Simone quietly flushed with pride. She
could almost see the battle-ready instinct light up Christopher’s
eyes and the love of the game burn like a flame in Isabella’s.
Thank God no one on her side of the family had wound up working
with The Brotherhood. The Liliana in her would have been
pissed.

Lucien was pissed as he watched Amadeo
and Olivia. “And you two?”

Amadeo shrugged. “Seems I have little
choice, doesn’t it?”

“
If you want to burn this
family to the ground, fine. Do it. I’ll be standing on top of the
rubble shouting
I told you
so
.” Olivia leaned back in her chair,
folding her arms over her chest.

“
How can you be so fucking
self-serving?” Lucien snapped, his temper rising.

Amadeo smirked unkindly. “Because
you’re the epitome of one for all, and all for one,
playboy.”

Vasco reached out, putting a staying
hand on his brother’s arm. Olivia snickered.

“
My affairs lie in the
company dealings, as does Agata’s, but if you need us, Vasco, of
course we’ll assist,” Dominic said smoothly, purposely failing to
acknowledge Nicholas’s involvement in Dion Corporation’s dealings.
Agata was the current CEO of the Dion Corporation.

Nicholas, who ran the Eastern sector of
Loyalty Airlines, wasn’t surprised. His father’s treatment of him
still pissed him off, but he hid it, like he normally did, and
looked over at the triplets. “I don’t see any problem with this.
Why the hell not, really. I’m in.”

“
Thank you, Dominic,” Vasco
said, “And Nicholas. This operation may call for the use of our
military, and we need someone in charge of them that’s fully
committed to this task.” Vasco traded glances with Isabella and
Christopher. “Isabella, because you are the Governor of Alcyone,
would you have any objection to your brother coming out of
retirement and assuming full command of the Alcyone Island
military?”

Amadeo blinked, and then he bristled.
He shot to his feet, pressing his palms into the conference table.
“Excuse me?”

Simone barely contained a grin at the
furious expression on Amadeo’s face. Asking Christopher to assume
control of the military had been her idea.

Isabella flicked a disapproving glance
at Amadeo. “Sit down, Amadeo. For the duration of this exercise,
given your obvious reluctance to participate in it, you will accept
a temporary demotion to Lieutenant General.
Christopher—”

“
Will gladly take control of
our military,” Christopher said, watching Amadeo with hard
eyes.

Amadeo’s neck turned red, but he
swallowed down the biting retort, tipped his head in the elder
Terenzios’ directions, and sat back down in his chair.

“
Thank you Aunt Isabella,
Uncle Christopher,” Vasco said. “Olivia, we see no reason why you
can’t keep control of your SVT office, but you’ll be reporting
directly to Lucien.”

“
How wonderful.” Olivia’s
voice dripped with sarcasm, and she refused to even look at
Lucien.

Vasco continued: “We’ll be using
Loyalty a great deal over the coming months. Nicholas, get with
Simone.”

Nicholas nodded. “Of
course.”

“
Agata, your days will
continue as normal. Keep the company moving.” Vasco gave her a
small smile.

Agata nodded. “That’s what I
do.”

“
Are Robert and the Think
Tank involved?” Kayla asked.

Simone nodded. “Yes. That’s why he’s
not here. Our geek squad is in the process of building a device
that will make our jobs easier. Well, my job, at least.”

“
Which is?” Olivia
asked.

“
Need to know,” Vasco said.
“For security reasons.”

Olivia frowned. “You want us to help
you take on the powers that control the whole fucking world, but
you won’t tell us how?”

Lucien threw up his hands. “You don’t
even want to help, but you want to know how? Make up your fucking
mind.”

“
Enough,” Christopher
interrupted. “We’ve always been a need-to-know family. That’s
nothing new.”