Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension (12 page)

Nicholas stared at his water glass.
Worthless, his father had always called him, and much crueler
things before Dominic stopped acknowledging his son’s existence
altogether. Nicholas had been strong enough to not give a fuck what
his father thought, but a chance to really prove his worth and
situate himself in a position of greater authority in the family
was very, very appealing. He brought familiar gray eyes up to
Kayla’s. “Maybe we should order something. I think we may be here
for a while.”

§

October 18, 1994 - 6:22 PM

Alcyone Island

Home of Carissa Terenzio

*Dominic was irritated today, as he
often was when he thought of what a colossal failure his son had
become. He did not often think of Nicholas. Not after he'd caught
him with... Shaking his head in disgust, Dominic forced the memory
away and pushed open the door to his mother's home. It was Tuesday
night, and he took her to dinner every Tuesday night. "Mother?" He
called out from the foyer.

Carissa Marie Terenzio-Fidelio may have
been eighty-four years old, but she never let that stop her. It was
no surprise, then, that she was busy when her youngest arrived to
take her to dinner. "Up here, Dom!" Looking at the clock in front
of her and registering that it was already 7:30, she slipped her
reading glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose lightly
before getting to her feet to head for the top of the
stairs.

Pulling the mail off the table in the
foyer where it had yet to be retrieved, Dominic flipped through the
envelopes as he climbed the staircase. "You spent the day in your
office again, didn't you?" Dominic adored his mother. And it had
festered over the years that Joey had been the favorite son. She
didn't have to say it, and never would, his mother wasn't that type
of woman; but he could see it. It was one of Dominic's many secrets
that he had not been as sad as he'd pretended to be when Joey had
finally died. Tucking that thought aside when he reached the top of
the stairs, he met his mother’s gaze, leaned in, and kissed her
cheek affectionately.

Carissa's face lit up, as it always
did, at the sight of her son. Joey used to light her face up the
same way, before he died. She returned the kiss, waving one hand
dismissively. "I meant to spend some time gardening this afternoon,
but time flies when you're terribly old." Amusement glimmered in
gray eyes that were still as sharp as ever they had been. Examining
her son's face, she lifted heavily wrinkled hands to cup his face
between them. "You look tired, sweetie. You work too
hard."

"Apparently, not hard enough if I can't
keep up with you."

"Pfft." Carissa waved the thought aside
with a dismissive noise. "You can't honestly expect me to believe
that you wouldn't still be working if it wasn't
Take-Mother-To-Dinner night," she chided gently. "You should spend
more time with Maria,” she said, referring to Dominic’s wife. "We
never know how much time we'll have with the people we love. Just
look at your brother—" even now, her voice got a hair unsteady when
she spoke of him. "Well, we didn't have nearly enough time with
him."

A flicker of a shadow tainted the back
of Dominic’s eyes. "Considering the path Joey took, we're lucky we
got as much time with him as we did."

Carissa's brows shot up in disgruntled
surprise, not only at those words, but at the look in her son’s
eyes. She released his face and took a step back, frowning at him.
"What is that supposed to mean, Dominic?"

"Nothing." Dominic brushed past her,
walking towards her office. "I'm sorry. It doesn't matter." His jaw
tensed. His brother didn't deserve his mothers’ pain, or her love.
"Where do you want to go tonight?"

Carissa frowned a little more deeply.
There was a small voice inside her head telling her—almost begging
her—just to drop the subject, but she silenced it. "No, son. You
said it. Obviously, you meant something by it. So, tell me why on
earth you would be taking pot shots at your dead brother?" She
almost flinched when she had to speak the word dead in connection
with Joey. Time didn't heal all wounds—some were simply too
deep.

Dominic dropped the mail on her desk,
giving her his back and silence. His son was a disappointment.
Agata wasn't strong enough to know the truth. His brother, a dead
enemy. And his mother, this beautiful tower of strength, was
misguided in her faith. He turned around, walking back out of her
office and towards her. "Joey was on the wrong side. Joey spent his
life a slave to the whims of a stupid man. Do you know how much of
a Terenzio I am? The moves I've made, the shadows I've walked
through? And for decades, Mother."

The blood drained slowly from Carissa's
face. Joey? On the wrong side? The idea was ludicrous. Her voice
was little more than a whisper. "What are you saying, Dominic? What
have you done?"

"What have I done?" Dominic could feel
himself snapping. He'd held himself in check for so long; tolerated
all the love his mother had given Joey, while he had been left
desperately wanting for the same depth of affection; tolerated the
knowledge that Joey and Marcello were running the family into the
ground. Dominic reached out, clasping his mother’s hands and
pulling her towards him. "The right thing, Mother. Marcello was
keeping secrets from you. About everything. He's fighting against a
very powerful force that we should be siding with
instead."

Carissa stiffened. For once, she truly
looked old. "Dominic, no. I know. I know what Joey was doing. What
Marcello asked of him. What they—we—were fighting against. Are
fighting against. And now, you tell me that you... That my own
son..." She shook her head, tearing her hands away from his and
taking a step back, forced into silence by the horror of what she
was only now beginning to fully understand. Not about Joey, but
about Dominic himself.

Shock registered openly on Dominic’s
face. She knew, and she was on the other side. Marcello's side.
Joey's side. The lines around Dominic's mouth tightened, staring at
his mother in a brief, incredulous silence. "I can't believe I'm
hearing this. No, you know what, I refuse to believe I'm hearing
this." He drew himself up and buttoned the front of his suit. "Get
rea¬dy for dinner, Mother. We're going to talk, and by the end of
the evening, you're going to get on the right side."

Carissa took one more step back from
Dominic and shook her head with heavy finality. "I wish I could
refuse to believe what I'm hearing, son. There will be no dinner.
It's not me whose loyalties are grievously misaligned." She closed
her eyes, as if she was unable to even look at him. Her voice was
very quiet, and deeply sorrowed. "Oh, Dom. You've broken my
heart."

She might as well have shot
him. "I've broken your heart?!" Dominic came at her, grabbing her
roughly by the shoulders. "Everything,
everything
I've done has been for
you!" Tears burst from his eyes and he shook his mother hard. "I
knew Uncle Julian wouldn't understand, and Dom Jr. was too stupid
to make a choice for himself, but you! You! You take it back. You
take it back right now, Mother. You're on the wrong side! Why can't
you see that?!"

Through Dominic’s rage
Carissa saw the small boy he had been, always craving her approval
so deeply, always trying to outshine his big brother. Carissa
wondered how she had been so blind, for so many years, to what
Dominic was. She was hard-pressed to hold her own tears back, but
she managed. "Don't you dare—don't you dare tell me that what
you've done was for me. You've smeared mud on the memory of your
elder brother. Joey loved you,
he loved
you
. He wanted to make the world a better
place—for you. For all of us." She stared at her son in silence for
half a second, then shook her head and twisted her shoulders in the
attempt to wrest them from his grasp. "Go. Just… go.
Please."

Dominic’s fury flamed so hotly that he
saw red. Joey. Joey. Joey. Always fucking Joey. Joey this. Joey
that. She would not switch sides. She was looking at him the same
way Uncle Julian had, right before he died. Dominic’s back teeth
clenched. He didn't release his mother but forced her against him,
so he could hug her, fiercely.

For an instant, Carissa pressed her
forehead into his shoulder, wishing silently that it could have
been different; wondering what she could have done differently.
Dominic’s tears came harder. A low sob caught in his throat and ran
silently down the length of his form. Then, he became the Terenzio
he was and sucked it all back in. He stopped hugging his mother,
but kept his hands on her shoulders. He kissed her cheek, tenderly.
"I forgive you,” he whispered. "You'll forgive me, too." It didn’t
require much force on his end; to shove his mother down the
staircase.

Gravity took her, and the damning
sounds of her tumble echoed out with no scream to punctuate them.
When silence once again reigned, Carissa lay at the bottom of the
stairs in a broken heap, dove-grey eyes gazing sightlessly upward
toward her youngest.

Dominic’s shoulder hit the wall, and
then he sunk down it until he was sitting at the top of the stairs,
tears running in an open line down his face. Eventually, he wiped
his tears on his sleeve and stood up to call 911.

§

May 21, 2000 - 1:12 PM

Alcyone Island

Marina Café

“
What I really want is
complete control of SVT Securities.” Olivia sat a table in the
beachside café, the rush of the ocean quietly serenading the lunch
goers.

Amadeo Terenzio sat across from her,
his fingers laced behind his thick head of prematurely whitening
hair. “You just want access to the black budget
records.”

“
Bet your ass I do.
Marcello’s been up to something for years, and I think its bullshit
we’re kept in the dark. If he’s making moves, we should all know
about it.”

“
And what if I told you what
Marcello was up to?” The voice came unexpectedly. Dominic strolled
up to their table, pulling out a chair and inviting himself to sit
in it.

Amadeo quirked a brow. “We’d say
thanks?”

Dominic chuckled, then grew serious.
“Marcello, Matteo, and my brother have spent the last decade
fucking up your legacy.”

Olivia slid her sunglasses down her
nose, eyeing Dominic over the rim. “And how would you know
that?”

“
I discovered a letter,
written to your Uncle, from Stefano.” He reached into the inside of
his suit jacket, removing the old, folded piece of paper and pushed
it across the table. “Then, I started snooping around on my own.
Olivia, Marcello and your father are moving in the direct opposite
of what the original heads of this family wanted.”

Olivia yanked up the letter, unfolding
it to read it. “Oh, my God,” she whispered. She handed the letter
to Amadeo. “It’s true?”

“
All of it. There are
classified SVT Security files that you can access that will prove
it,” Dominic said.

“
How do you have access? And
is my father involved?” Amadeo asked after he had finished reading
the letter.

Dominic passed them another, much
smaller slip of paper. “Go look for yourself. And not to my
knowledge, Amadeo.”

“
This is bullshit. How the
fuck can they justify keeping something like this so secret?”
Olivia scooted back her chair, rising to her feet.

“
Where are you going?”
Amadeo watched his cousin.

“
To find out what the hell
is going on in this family,” Olivia said.

Amadeo scratched his jaw, and then
pushed back his chair. “You’re going to hack into the SVT Security
database. I’m coming with you.”

“
I’ll be in touch,” Dominic
said quietly, watching them hastily depart. When they were gone, a
slow smile spread across his thin mouth. He pulled his cell phone
out of his pocket, dialing a familiar number.

“
Yes?”

“
I’ve set them in motion. It
won’t be long now.”

“
They bought the
letter?”

“
Slightly altered to suit
your goals, and yes, every word.” Dominic plucked up Olivia’s
coffee cup, finishing it.

“
Good. When they’re ready,
send them to me.”

“
Of course, Kayla.” He
pulled the phone away from his ear, ending the call.

§

May 22, 2000 - 8:11 AM

Alcyone Island

SVT Security Headquarters

Completely ignoring the secretary,
Olivia stormed into her father’s office, and slammed the door
behind her, unconcerned that he was on the phone. “Why didn’t you
tell me about the Brotherhood?”

Matteo quirked a stern, curious brow at
his daughter’s abrupt entrance. His eyes narrowed at the words that
flew out of her mouth. “Jules, let me call you back, my Olive is
here. Thanks.” He hung up the phone, leveling his gaze on his
daughter. “What are you talking about?”

“
I found the letter.” She
stalked across the office, coming to stand directly in front of his
desk. “I used your password to access the SVT Securities files on
them. What the hell are we doing, Dad?”