"What do you mean he's back?" I asked my father.

The last time I saw my uncle Santino I was a little girl of barely ten years old. My father always told me that my uncle worked for the family out of the country and that's why he only came back to Zolhan once a year for a meeting so brief that I didn't even get to see him.

It wasn't like I cared either. We barely had a relationship and he enjoyed scaring me by telling me about all the people who wanted my father dead.

It's not so bad being an orphan, he used to tell me before starting again the story of how he and my father saw their parents die.

"Santino wants to take your brother's place." My father stood up. "I'm not surprised considering he always wanted to be the leader."

"Does he have any support?" I asked, still trying to decide whether or not to feel threatened.

"Just a bunch of idiots who are out of their minds," Victor replied. "I can handle them."

"We've talked about this, Victor," my father said. "I don't want to start an internal war."

Victor stood up and leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk. "And what do you think your dear brother is going to do if we don't stop him now?"

"Don't forget your place." My father faced Victor using his leader voice. "I'm the one in charge here, you worry about following my orders."

"Whatever you say, boss." Victor straightened up and hid his hands behind his back. "I'm just saying that I could be more useful to you in my usual position than playing bodyguard."

"At least we agree on something," I commented, drawing their glances.

"I said that's enough," my father shouted. "I have enough problems without worrying about your complaints. Leave now. I'll be expecting you in the meeting room in half an hour. Ella, be ready to face your uncle."

Once again I was kicked out with no answers. My father kept saying he was going to fill me in on what he knew about my brother's death and in the end I received nothing.

He wanted me to step up and take my brother's place but he still treated me like a child.

How come from the promise of an honest meeting with him I ended up with no information and being tortured by Victor in the damn kitchen?

"Are you going to eat that?" Victor asked me a fifth time, standing behind me, his body pressed against the back of my chair.

He hadn't stopped whining since our chef told him the chocolate muffins were just for me.

"If I let you have one, are you going to tell me everything you know about my brother's death?" I twisted my torso, resting my arm on the back of the chair.

Victor crouched down for a few seconds, leaving his face just inches from mine. "Make it two and you have a deal."

"Who killed my brother?" I asked, offering him the plate with the muffins.

Victor took two of them and sat down on the table next to me. He took a bite out of one of the muffins slowly before letting out a moan.

"These are so good," he said.

"My brother." I reminded him, crossing my arms.

"We still don't have enough evidence, whoever did it was a professional. To be honest we didn't even finish finding his entire body, all they sent us was his head and it's not that easy to go around the city looking for parts of a corpse."

I clenched my fists, looking up at Victor with utter disdain. How could he say something like that so matter-of-factly?

My brother deserved so much more than what he got. I couldn't say he had been an angel, he had done his own share of bad deeds working for our family but he was a man of principle and would never have disrespected a person like they did to him.

"How can it be that you have nothing?" I slammed my hands on the table. "What were you doing all this time?"

Victor finished eating the muffin, completely unaffected by my accusation. "You should know that these things take time. It's not like we can go knocking on the doors of every criminal organization asking who did it. You have to be smart if you don't want to start a war."

"They already started it when they killed my brother," I said, standing up. "Do you even have any idea who it was?"

"Most of the leads point to the Parisi. I guess you understand why we can't be careless when it comes to them."

I did. The Parisi were the second most dangerous mob in Zolhan. Historically they always fought for our place; they were a pain in the ass, a hard one to eradicate.

"I'm not surprised they're behind this." I took a last sip of my tea before leaving the kitchen.

Victor followed closely behind me, his gaze never straying from my back to the point that it started to make me uncomfortable.

"Aren't you going to say anything else?" He asked me.

"What else do I have to say? I can't do anything about it right now, it's better to take care of my uncle first." I slowed down my walk to stand next to Victor. "It's easier and faster to take care of him."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Victor whispered in my ear, grabbing my shoulder. "Don't underestimate your uncle, he's more dangerous than he looks and the last thing I need is for you to do something stupid that makes me work twice as hard."

"I can handle him," I insisted, slapping Victor's hand away from my shoulder.

Something must have switched on inside Victor because suddenly I found myself with my back against the hallway wall.

"You should be more careful, lady boss." Victor rested his arm over my head as he blocked my body with his. "I didn't even have to try hard to corner you, are you sure you can handle your uncle on your own?"

"It's completely different," I replied, furious. "You're supposed to be here to protect me, I had my guard down."

"You shouldn't," Victor said, bringing his face close to mine. "A little advice, don't trust anyone, not even me."

I took a deep breath. "Are you done playing the bad guy?" I asked and pushed his chest, making him take a step back. "For the record, I don't trust you but my father does and that's good enough for me."

"The boss isn't always right."

"Yeah, I know." I resumed my walk, but not before kicking Victor in the calf. "Next time you do something like that, I'm going to make you regret it. Now hurry up or we're going to be late for the meeting."

"I'm so scared now," Victor taunted me, reaching my side. Suddenly his attitude changed, becoming extremely serious. "I mean it. Be careful with your uncle."

I couldn't help but feel offended by Victor's lack of confidence in my abilities. Yes, it had been many years since I left the mansion but I was no ordinary person. I grew up in the Barone family, the business was a part of me and I was ready to show everyone what I could do.

Keep your head up, I reminded myself, stopping in front of the meeting room.

Victor was faster than me and he opened the door. "After you, Lady Boss."

"Don't say anything stupid at the meeting," I ordered.

He brought his mouth near my ear. "The same goes for you."

My desire to erase his smile from a slap almost took control of my body, if not because of the fact that everyone inside the room had turned to see us, I would have done it with pleasure.

"Little Duck!" My uncle got up from his seat at the long table and approached me. "Look at you, you grew up a lot since the last time I saw you."

I could swear I heard Victor chuckle behind me while closing the door.

"Well, It's been ten years, you can't expect me to be a child forever." I faked a smile to not seem so hostile. "It's good to see you again, how are you after all this time?"

Santino Barone was not a person who liked change to the point where he kept the same awful mustache for ten years. I thought he would have realized that it made him look ridiculous, especially after he started getting bald but apparently I was asking for too much.

"I've been wonderful, I have so many new anecdotes to tell you." Ignoring my awkward expression, my uncle wrapped his arms around me. "Luckily I don't plan on leaving this time."

"Yeah, luckily," I said, patting him on the back before pushing him away to break the hug.

"You'll have time to catch up later." My father saved me, locking gazes with my uncle from his spot at the head of the table. "I'm busy right now and I want to finish this as soon as possible."

"You're right, brother," my uncle replied. Faking a smile, he tried to grab my arm but I stepped aside. "Don't be shy, I just want to show you your seat."

He didn't want to take no for an answer, I assumed Santino was trying to demonstrate his power over me in his own weird way.

The second time he reached out his hand to me, Victor stepped between us, giving my uncle a killing glare.

"She can sit wherever she wants, she doesn't need your help," Victor said.

"Nice watchdog you have," my uncle told me, pointing at Victor.

"I'd back off if I were you unless you want him to bite." I walked past my uncle with Victor following close behind. He waited for me to choose the spot next to my father before moving the chair for me.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush," my father started to speak as my uncle sat down. "It's no secret that you both intend to take my heir's place."

"You want to do it, little duck? I have to confess I'm very surprised."

A liar, that's what my uncle was. It was impossible for him not to know.

"She has every right to supplant her brother." My father defended me.

"The same right as me," Santino added.

"Of course, that's why I decided that both of you will be put to the test and the winner will get the job." My father pulled out two folders from under the table and handed one to each of us. "Before he died Luca was working on a new business, a new drug called the flare. The drug is ready to enter the market but Luca didn't get to plan its distribution. Whoever can successfully bring the drug to market will be the winner. You'll find all the details in the folders."

"Is that all?" My uncle asked.

He was underestimating our competition if he thought bringing a new drug to market was an easy task.

"Yes. To be clear, any serious mistake automatically puts you out of the competition." My father looked at the two of us before continuing. "One last thing, it's about the Foxy."

My uncle's eyes lit up. It was no secret that the biggest club in town was his son. Santino was in charge of building it many years ago but my father took it off his hands after his mismanagement caused our family to lose a lot of money.

It was obvious that he was hoping to get the club back.

My father looked at me and smiled. "From now on it's in Fiorella's hands."