The next morning, the plan came together all at once, popping into Ryder’s head as soon as he woke up, still clutching onto Adriana even in his sleep. “Adriana,” he whispered, wanting to wake her up as gently as possible. “Adriana, I know what to do.”

 

“Hmm?” she murmured as she blinked her way awake. “What?”

 

“To get my mother and Giovanni,” he explained. “We can’t go to the cops or the feds or anyone right now, not without proof. So, we have to get some.”

 

“But how?” Adriana asked, wiping her eyes in an attempt to shake the tiredness out of her head.

 

Ryder smiled down at her, overwhelmed by how goddamn cute she was. He loved seeing her like this, bare of makeup, totally relaxed. It was so comforting, seeing her in her natural habitat. He wanted to make a habit of it, but he didn’t want to push too hard. He didn’t want to come on too strong and scare her away.

 

“I have to set a meeting with Giovanni and my mother.” He tentatively reached out to rub the side of Adriana’s head, brushing her hair out of the way. Her eyes slid shut for a moment, soothed by Ryder’s careful touch, but then they snapped back open as his words sunk in.

 

“Isn’t that dangerous though?” she asked, a sense of urgency to her voice as she straightened up next to him, finally waking all the way up. Ryder felt a little sad about that. He’d love to watch her sleep or talk groggily for hours if he could.

 

“Yes, probably,” Ryder said, admitting the truth rather than lying to her for the sake of convenience. “There’ll be some danger, but I don’t think they’ll hurt me.”

 

Adriana sighed and shook her head. “You didn’t hear your mother when she threatened me. She meant business, Ryder.”

 

“She’s always like that,” Ryder argued, even though he couldn’t make the pit of fear at the bottom of his stomach go away very easily. “But if she wanted to kill me, she’s had plenty of opportunities thus far to make it happen already. She doesn’t want to do it if she can avoid it. So I’m just going to meet with her and pretend that everything is okay. She’ll probably be relieved that I’m not pissed at her for deposing me.”

 

Adriana’s brow furrowed as she considered Ryder’s proposition. “So, you make her let her guard down and then…?”

 

“I get her to admit what she’s done, while secretly taping her. The feds have been pulling that shit for years—getting a guy in the organization to flip for them and then wiring him up so they can collect evidence to put us away. I figure it’s about time we appropriate their tools for ourselves.”

 

Adriana nodded slowly, quiet for a minute before she finally said, “It’s a good plan. I like it.”

 

“Okay, I’ll call my mom and set up a meeting,” Ryder said, swinging his legs over the side of Adriana’s bed and reaching for his phone on the bedside table.

 

“What should I do?” Adriana asked, getting up along with Ryder.

 

“Wait here.” Ryder winced inwardly when he saw Adriana’s face fall in disappointment. “I can’t bring you with me, Adriana. You know that.”

 

“Yeah, I guess I do,” Adriana admitted, sighing and nodding in agreement. “There’s no way she’d trust you enough to talk about the hits she’s arranged if I’m there, that’s for sure. So, you have to go alone.” She hugged herself, wrapping her arms around her torso, and Ryder’s heart leaped in his chest, just seeing how scared she was.

 

“Hey,” he said, stepping closer to her so he could wrap his arms around her and make her look directly into his eyes. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

 

“How do you know?” Adriana asked nervously.

 

“Because it’s my family. They’re fucked-up and awful and maybe even evil, but I know them. I know how they’ll react to things. My mom is going to open up and tell me the truth, if only just to brag about it. She was always complaining about how she didn’t get enough credit for helping Dad to run the organization. Once I get her to relax and have a few glasses of wine with me, she’ll open right up. It’ll be easy, I swear.”

 

“But you’ll be walking into a lion’s den,” Adriana argued, staring up at him with worry etched all over her face.

 

“That’s true. But you’ve forgotten something. I’m a lion, too.”

 

That made Adriana crack a smile, her face lighting up a little. “Yeah. That’s right, isn’t it? You are.” She leaned in to kiss him, gently brushing their lips together. Ryder tried to deepen the kiss, reaching behind Adriana to grab her ass, but she pulled away a second later, putting a hand on his chest to keep him at bay. “Tangerine.”

 

“All right, all right.” Ryder held his hands up in defeat. “Not now. We’ve got business to do.”

 

“You have business to do,” Adriana said with a sheepish smile. “I’ve got to stay at home with my dad, who’s probably wondering what the hell is going on.”

 

Ryder nodded and stepped closer again, just to press their foreheads together this time. “Okay. I’ll be back soon, I promise. As soon as I can.”

 

“You text me as soon as you get something incriminating on your mother, okay?” Adriana said, dropping a soft kiss on both of Ryder’s cheeks before letting him step away.

 

“All right. See you soon.” Ryder exited her bedroom, leaving her house without looking back, even though he knew Adriana was following him to the door. He couldn’t let himself look at her again; otherwise, temptation might get the better of him and cause him to fall back into bed with her. Later, he promised himself as he walked to a central area around a bus stop about a half mile away from Adriana’s apartment and then dialed his mother’s phone number.

 

“Victoria Rainieri speaking,” his mother said as she answered the call.

 

“Ma, hi, it’s me,” Ryder said, wanting to sound as casual as possible.

 

“Oh. Hello, dear,” his mother said after a short pause. She sounded a little stiff and awkward, like she wasn’t expecting to hear from Ryder so soon.

 

“So how are you holding up?” Ryder asked. He didn’t want to let on that he was at all upset about the events of the day before, so he kept his tone light but a little concerned and interested, like he was really invested in his mother’s peace of mind.

 

“Oh, fine, dear, I’m fine.”

 

“That’s good. I know it can be tough, you know, since you’ve been so busy ever since Dad passed.”

 

“Yes, well, I suppose it’s all catching up to me now.” His mother emitted a deep sigh.

 

You fucking bitch, Ryder thought, his jaw tightening as anger washed over him. You’re not actually upset. You fucking killed him.

 

“I just wanted to see if there’s anything I can do for you, since you’re going through so much,” Ryder said, grimacing at the words that were leaving his mouth.

 

“Oh, nothing, dear. You know me. I can take care of myself,” Mama Rainieri replied.

 

Yeah, you sure fucking do take care of yourself, don’t you? Ryder thought bitterly.

 

“Well, let’s meet up, Ma. Maybe in a couple hours, if you’re available. I don’t have anything on the docket today, and I’d love to see you and catch up. We haven’t really had a chance to talk since I came back.”

 

There was a slight pause in which all Ryder could hear was the low, shallow sound of his mother’s breathing. Did she know what he was doing? Did she suspect him? Finally, she made a little “Mm” sound, and Ryder heard the unmistakable sound of her long fingernails tapping on a hard surface.

 

His heart froze in his chest, and he looked around in every direction, around the bus stop, to make sure that nobody was watching him, waiting for an order from his mother to carry out a hit. But he couldn’t see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. You got this, he told himself. It’s just your mother. You can manipulate your mother. You have the control. You can do this.

 

“I really need to see you,” he said to his mom, still trying to keep his tone light so that he didn’t seem too desperate. “I just miss being around my family, you know? I need to check in with you to recharge.”

 

“I understand that, darling. All right. I’m free for the early afternoon if you want to get together for lunch and chat. You can come to the compound and we’ll—”

 

“Come to the penthouse,” Ryder interjected, wanting to arrange the meeting on his territory. It would be safer that way. He felt pretty confident that his servants, at the very least, were still loyal to him. His mother couldn’t pull off a hit on his own property. “You need to get away from the compound for a bit. I’m sure you have Giovanni and everybody else in your hair 24/7. I’ll have Yuri make you a nice lunch, and you can just relax and let my servants take care of you. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

 

Again, his mother was silent for an excruciatingly tense moment. Ryder’s heart pounded against his ribcage, his body fighting off the urge to tremble as he awaited his mother’s response. Finally, she made another sound deep in her throat and replied, “All right. That sounds lovely. Thank you, Ryder. I appreciate you reaching out to me after what happened yesterday. I know that couldn’t have been easy for you.”

 

“No, it’s fine,” Ryder rushed to say. “Really, I’d rather let Giovanni take care of all the hard bullshit and have an easier time of it myself. You know what I mean?”

 

“Well, after being at the helm of things for three decades, I can certainly understand the appeal of a less hectic lifestyle, yes,” Mama Rainieri said. “I’ll be over at your penthouse in an hour, dear. Is that all right?”

 

“Yes, yes, that sounds great. I’ll see you then.” Ryder hung up before his mother could make any demands on the type of food served for lunch. He knew she always had to control everything but not today. Today he was going to take back the power. Today he was going to win.