“Excuse me, gentlemen.” They all turn to me, astonishment written clearly on their faces. “What? I have manners. Sometimes.” They chuckle back.
“Yes?” Nate replies.
“So, um, you know the day I ran out of here like a crazy person?”
“How could we forget?” Kian quips. I narrow my eyes at him, but he just grins widely back.
“Anyway … does anyone know what happened to my bike after this idiot kidnapped me?” I thumb Cruz in the chest, and he grunts like I actually hurt him. The three of them go silent, refusing to meet my eyes, and my heart drops to my feet. No. No, no, no. Not my baby.
Kian elbows me in the side. “Ha! Just kidding. Did you think we would really leave your precious behind? No thanks, I wouldn’t want to wake up one morning with a severed horse head in my bed.”
“Oh my god, way to stereotype me. Just because Vincenzo is a mob boss, doesn’t mean–”
“You’d send me to sleep with the fishes?” Kian interrupts.
“Kian, I’m gonna–”
“Make me an offer I can’t refuse?”
I throw my hands up and roll my eyes. Turning to Nate, I plead, “Please tell me where my bike is before I shoot this clown.”
He puts an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry, little sis, we got your back. We stole your cousin’s SUVs and put the bikes in the back. It’s in the garage, safe and sound.”
“Thank you.” I narrow my eyes at Kian, who is still giggling like a schoolboy over his mafia jokes.
A spoon tapping on glass brings our attention to Ryan, who asks us all to be seated. We do as he asks, and the room quietens. “Before dinner is served, I want to discuss a few things. There’s been word from The Duke. News of Dante’s death is spreading quickly, and from what she's gathered, Vincenzo has ordered an autopsy.” Ryan turns, glancing between me and Cruz. “Should we worry about anything being found?”
“We used a small amount of LSD. It shouldn’t show in a standard toxicology screening unless they are specifically looking for it. With his known heart problems and the fact that he did indeed die through heart failure, I’m pretty confident it won’t show up.”
Ryan looks at me for a moment while he considers my words. “What percentage ispretty confident?”
I wave my hand back and forth. “Ninety-five percent, thereabouts?”
“Okay. So that should keep Vincenzo from going on the warpath. The Duke, Zach, and their teams are all in place, and although there hasn’t been any major news yet, they have also confirmed Dutch’s theory that Vincenzo is hopping between houses. Zach has heard a rumor of a major purchase but hasn’t yet discovered what it is. Please, let’s remember that we need to spend some time each day in the conference room to sort through the intel that does come in.” He gives me a stern look, presumably because I’ve been gone the past few days. “Nate and Eric, do you want to inform everyone about what you’ll be doing about the kill order for Ricardo Martinelli?”
Nate stands. “We were thinking of a double-cross. The Martinellis may be vicious, but they have nothing on Vincenzo. One upside to their organization is that they don’t deal in trafficking.” Nate turns to me. “I know you want to burn everything down, but organizations like Vincenzo’s don’t go away. When they’re all dead, other families or gangs will take over.
“So we have three choices; kill off the Gianellis and dismantle whatever is left of the trafficking—which should be minimal, considering we killed pretty much everyone in London—and let other families or gangs fight over the scraps, take it over ourselves, or we arrange someone to take it over when we’re done.”
I exchange glances with Ryan and Cruz, while murmurs break out around the table.
Nate waits a moment, then continues. “Is anyone here interested in running a criminal empire?” No one says anything. “Dutch? You’re, well,we’rethe natural successors, do you want to take over?”
“Fuck that,” I spit, the thought enough to make me want to bathe in bleach. “I’d rather steal a police horse and ride naked through the city covered in glitter than touch anything of that fucker’s.”
Everyone bursts into laughter. “I have something much more appropriate for you to ride,” Cruz whispers in my ear. I give him the side-eye, one brow raised. I’m pretty sure that was one of the worst pick-up lines I’ve ever heard.
“Thanks for the visual, sis,” Nate snarks back. “I don’t want it either. And it doesn’t sit right with me that there may be gang wars and innocent deaths involved if we let them fight over territory.”
“What do you suggest?” Jase asks.
“That we go to the Martinellis and make a deal with them. We’ll stage Ricardo’s death, offering proof to Vincenzo. We can secure him in a safehouse and once the Gianellis are in the ground, the Martinellis can take over. Someone else will take up the trafficking, we can’t stop that from happening. But at least Vincenzo’s part will be obliterated, and the Martinellis can take over the drugs and other businesses.”
Nate has thought further than I have, and I feel ashamed. I was so busy worrying about taking my father down and destroying his so-called kingdom, I forgot about the fact there would be wars over it all. You can’t just fully dismantle an organization like Vincenzo’s and expect it to disappear.
Unfortunately, there will always be customers for drugs, guns, women, children … as much as I wish there weren’t, I know the realities. Nate’s right, as soon as Vincenzo is in the ground, someone new will come along and start right back up. It’s the real world after all, not some Disney movie.
Better it be the devil we know over the devil we don’t. And like Nate says, at least the Martinellis aren’t traffickers. Plus, Ricardo will owe us, and a favor like that is priceless. “I agree,” I say, and everyone nods. They can see what I do, and it’s what’s best.
