33. Leona #2
I exhaled through my nose. The one thing I wouldn’t do was rescue her only to drop her into the hands of another mafia Don only out to expand his own territory.
Rossi had said they knew each other, which was somewhat relieving.
But Chiara also knew Max, and he still basically kidnapped her.
I needed to talk to her, see what she wanted to do.
I had a feeling she was exactly where she wanted to be.
Still, I owed Rossi the message for the information he gave us about the Luccheses.
“Ciel, any chance we could try to get in touch with her?”
“I can try,” he said. “With Lucia back in Italy, it might be easier to hack into Max’s systems.”
“Okay. Cas, tell Rossi we’re trying,” I said, then drummed my fingertips on the table.
“And see if he wants to meet up again. Maybe we can get him on our side more officially. As far as we know, Max hasn’t yet approached Sandrini, but if we have Rossi in our pocket, we have more firepower to keep pushing against them. ”
“Will do, amore .”
“How’s Giulio and our newly gained men?” I asked. Cas had been the organizer of the Italian men under our command. He’d been a capo under my father, and had been doing an amazing job using his skills to manage our growing Family.
“So far, so good. We’re making money. We’re needling Max. Our street cred is growing every day,” he responded.
I took a drink of my wine, embracing the warm taste as it trickled down my throat and settled in my stomach. “While we’re focusing on the Albanians, I want our men to keep bleeding Max. Guerilla tactics. See how they can hit him from all sides and draw his attention away from us.”
Despite our numerous run-ins and my strange reluctance to killing him, I was nowhere near close to actually trusting him. I fully believed he was making moves against us. To not be doing the same would be foolish.
New York was ours. Not his. I intended to remind him of that every chance we got.
“Kostya would probably be interested if we shared the spoils with him,” Ryu said, leaning back in his chair. “We have an alliance with the Russians; we should use it as much as we can. ”
I nodded. “The more firepower we can use, the better. We’ll split everything we get with him.”
“I’ll let him know.”
I shifted to Obi. “How is Felix doing? Is the alternative transport route working? Does he need more guns?”
I’d had my nose down in VCI business for what felt like weeks, learning the ropes on how we move our construction materials across the nation. We needed to know that Anton Felix could keep up, and that our supply from the Chinese guns was still strong.
“Felix just sent me an update,” he answered. “Everything we’ve arranged has arrived without issue, and he’s pushing product faster than he expected. We should expect some fairly large payments to our accounts shortly.”
He set his phone on the table and folded his arms across his chest with a pensive look.
“What is it?” I asked.
His dark eyes bored into mine. “He seems quite…taken with you.”
I snorted into my wine glass while the attitude around the table went instantly cold.
“I’ll slit his throat,” Ryu said.
“Who the fuck does he think he is?” Cas interjected at the same time.
Even Ciel and Wynn were suddenly glowering at the table. And they still hadn’t looked at one another.
“Guys, come on,” I said with a laugh. “What do you mean, Obi?”
“He has requested to visit New York multiple times. He said he’s been spreading your name to every person interested in buying our guns, and he wants to tell you about it in person. He thinks you’ll be pleased with his work.”
“Absolutely fucking not,” Cas practically growled .
I laughed for real that time as the strange response to our employee finally clicked. “Jealous? You guys are jealous?”
“I said I’ll kill him, and I meant it.” Ryu crossed his arms over his chest and didn’t elaborate further.
“I suggest video calls only,” Ciel spoke up. “There’s no need for an in-person visit.”
“Seriously,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
Anton was harmless. I remembered that burning look in his eyes when he’d sworn his loyalty to me, but it was surprise and admiration at best. He’d been nothing but respectful in my correspondence with him.
Of course, my guys had nothing to worry about, but it was very fun to tease these kinds of reactions from them. “Maybe we should let him come.”
“Why?” Wynn scoffed at the same time Cas did.
I smirked. “It’s kind of nice to have someone obsessed with you.”
Dissent erupted all over the table, and I almost shook holding in my laughter. Who knew these guys could get so worked up at just the thought that another man might want my attention?
I leaned forward, elbow on the table with my chin in my palm, grinning. “What? You guys can’t handle the men in my employ? He’s doing a good job. Maybe he should get rewarded.”
I swore to God, a vein bulged in Cas’s forehead.
“Careful, Leona,” Obi said, drawing the eye of everyone at the table, “or you will be punished.”
I froze. A feral grin split Ryu’s face.
“Punished?” I squeaked. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Push me and find out,” he said calmly. Shivers trickled down my spine, but I couldn’t tell if it was because I was scared or turned on…most likely both.
What would punishments from Obi be like? A blush crawled through my cheeks.
“I think we all know that’s going to happen eventually, and when it does, I want to watch.” Ryu sat up straight with that stupid grin still plastered on his face.
I flipped him off.
Obi’s palm found my thigh, squeezing gently.
“Felix is loyal to you. He respects you, and it’s clear he’ll be an effective member of our syndicate.
He’ll make us millions, and he’ll sing your name the whole time.
That is far more than we ever could have hoped for with Kofler.
However, at no point will I ever allow him to be alone with you. That is final.”
I swallowed and nodded. I didn’t think being alone was on the table, but the warning—and promise—was clear.
“Say you understand,” Obi commanded.
I gulped. “I understand.”
His palm squeezed my thigh, his pinky moving up higher to brush against my core. “Good.”
The air became charged as he and I stared at each other.
This was not the first time he and I had danced around a power struggle.
But this was different. His touch had heat coiling through my core like a spring.
His fingers trailed up my thigh, and my mouth parted to suck in a breath when he touched me.
Even on the outside of my leggings, he had full control over me, over my body, and he knew it.
Maybe I wouldn’t mind Obi’s punishment.
Maybe I wanted to find out what he’d do.
Maybe letting go of control sounded like exactly what I needed.
I opened my mouth to push the matter when an alarm blared through the penthouse.
I jumped, the tension immediately forgotten, while my men leapt into action.
Ciel picked up his phone and began typing.
Ryu had two knives in his hand; Cas pulled a gun from his ankle.
Obi pressed me against his chest, while Wynn bolted to depress a switch on the wall next to the sink.
Metal shutters began closing over the windows. It all happened within seconds .
“Perimeter breach,” Ciel said. The sound almost immediately cut out, but Ciel still had his head down on his phone.
“Cameras, Ciel,” Obi said. Once the shutters were completely down, Obi let go of my body and turned on the TV in the living room. The screen populated instantly with dozens of camera feeds that showed all angles of the building where we lived.
He flipped through them one by one until he got to the camera pointed at the penthouse’s front door.
A black vase sat on the doorstep, filled with a dozen red roses and a stark white envelope tucked in between their petals.
The blood in my veins went ice cold.
A red rose every year for my birthday. The last rose I received was on my twenty-first birthday, the day my father died. Then, another bouquet was left in the ashes of the burned-down Irish safe house when Max had captured Cas.
Cas and I locked eyes.
“Max knows where we live.”