The silence pressed down on all of us like the lid of a coffin being slowly lowered into place.
"Do you even understand how serious this is?" My voice cut through the low murmur of silverware against porcelain. "If the other Family has committed any crime on our watch, we would be held equally responsible. The Commission doesn't distinguish between partners when blood hits the pavement."
"Mia, I know you don't like me." Vanessa Lestari set down her wine glass with a delicate clink, her painted lips curling into something that almost resembled sympathy. "But please don't slander my Family like that."
I turned to look at Xavier, searching for some flicker of reason behind those cold grey eyes. Instead, he met me with a glare that could have frozen the Adriatic.
"Vanessa is right." His voice was flat, measured, the way he spoke when he'd already made a decision and considered the conversation beneath him. "You didn't even finish a proper education. You wouldn't know the first thing about how syndicate affairs work. How would you understand whether an alliance is beneficial or not?"
He reached for his glass of Barolo, swirling the dark wine without looking at me.