Chapter 27
Hours after we cleaned up the messes that were Nico and Luigi, Andre called with information. The surviving DiSanti men took whatever money they had and fled the country, presumably to Russia. We were pretty sure they had joined up with Vladislav and his family in exchange for their protection. Like Nico said, Andre confirmed that Vincent was Vladislav’s go-to for underage girls, and that without Vincent’s picks, Vladislav had bled him dry of millions. We were at the top of Aleski’s hit list, but as of right now, none of them were making any movement. That gave us a leg-up to prepare. Dominic phoned the Baldomeros and the Maccarones, and they were on board with supplying us with everything they could give and protecting their empires alongside us.
Andre also warned us of the now very real threat of another mole. Scouring Luigi’s phone records, they showed he was in frequent contact with Dante Vitis, but there was another phone number Luigi frequently had contact with, though we couldn’t trace it to anyone due to it being a burner phone. We did determine that whoever this other mole was, they had knowledge of our schedules and routines. That, at least, shortened the list of suspects.
Snugly curled up under the throw blanket, I reclined back in the chair, feeling my son move.
My monster was coming for all those other monsters who dared prey on us. On Dominic. She was coming for the ones who made their pain his pain. Who replaced his safety with chaos. They became our nightmare, so she was going to be theirs alongside the rest.
I was coming for those who threatened my son’s safety, too.
“What are we gonna do?” I asked, my voice soft.
“Gotta take it one step at a time,” Angelo said. When he and Anthony walked through the door four hours ago, I hugged them tightly, thankful they were okay and unharmed.
One step at a time; one day at a time. We had every set of eyes and ears on the Aleskis as we could. We couldn’t walk around in fear. We couldn’t live in fear. That was what they wanted. Power and control. We refused to relent.
“How do we find the other mole?” I wondered.
“We sniff the fucker out, lure him in,” Dino answered, anger and hurt lacing his words. We were all angry and broken-hearted.
“How?”
In the chair across from me, Dominic simply said, “Patience.”
Something I’d never build enough of, but I had to find a way. If we got ahead of ourselves, we’d fuck this up and likely run off our latest traitor. We had to play our cards right. We were still figuring out how big this web truly was. We had the Aleskis to deal with, as well as the birth of my son. As much as Dominic’s advice made sense, it wasn’t easy to pull myself away from work and hand them all the reins. I wanted to be part of the investigation and intel, but everyone collectively insisted I should focus instead on the baby and centering myself to a place of peace and preparedness.
We all stared into the flames, letting the silence hang comfortably around us.
“Can I run a baby name by you guys?” I blurted.
“Yeah,” Dino said.
“Vincenzo Matteo Rosini.”
Their eyes fixated on me through this new, collective silence. I sensed their approval.
Dominic left his chair and walked over to me, placing his palm on my belly and leaning down toward me. I closed my eyes as he kissed my face.
“I like that.”
Vincenzo was a name of Italian origin and meant “to conquer.” Someone who was victorious. Matteo meant “gift of God.”
Our son was definitely a gift to our lives, just as Dominic was a gift to mine. I looked at my belly and smiled. Vincenzo needed me. I wasn’t going to fail him in my fight for this family, nor the fight to safely bring him into this world.
One foot forward. One day at a time.