Chapter Fifty-Four - Elise
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Elise
“Ready?”
I look up at Joshua through thick lashes. “No.”
His low chuckle eases only a fraction of my nervousness. “Come on, Princess.”
I was surprised this morning when Joshua told me that I was going to join him today, especially considering it’s only been two days since I woke up, and I’m nowhere near healed from my concussion. Still, he insisted on my attendance, promising to take me back to the room if I was in too much pain.
Pain is the least of my worries.
Today, Joshua’s capos are meeting with my brothers and their capos to establish the terms of their alliance. I should be thrilled that both parties are willing to compromise for peace, but I know better than to expect this to go smoothly. Logan and Joshua are bound to butt heads.
We walk into the conference room and find everyone is already seated and waiting for us.
It’s a long rectangular table, with Logan sitting at the head of the farthest end.
Beside him sits James, Damon, our cousin Matteo, and Jace—the capo charged with cybersecurity for the Consoli family.
The end chair closest to us is empty, clearly meant for Joshua, and to the right sits Ryder, Donovan, Alec, and Kade.
All eyes are on us.
“Elise? Is everything okay?” Logan stands at our entrance, concern etching his face.
“Uh, yeah, everything is fine.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
My eyes snap to Joshua’s, and I realize that none of them were expecting me. He made it seem like my attendance was a unanimous decision, but the only person who doesn’t look surprised is Ryder.
I’m glad Ryder was still invited to this meeting despite his transfer. He doesn’t leave for Sacramento for two weeks, so he has plenty of time to train Donovan, who will be named underboss in his absence.
Joshua doesn’t seem at all bothered by the bewildered gazes. “Elise is here for the meeting.”
“Mr. Moreno, this isn’t how we do things.” James looks ashamed to say the words, and he doesn’t meet my eye.
“She doesn’t need to be involved in this,” Logan agrees.
“I—well—” I unconsciously step back, but Joshua wraps an arm around my waist to hold me in place.
“Elise has more than proven herself, and every man here has seen it firsthand. If you have a legitimate reason to believe she can’t handle this meeting, go ahead. I’m all ears.”
No one says a word.
Though most of the men keep their composure, Damon, Ryder, and Donovan are all suppressing smiles.
Logan falls back into his chair.
“It’s settled then,” Joshua says. “She stays.”
Joshua leads me to the table, but there’s only one chair available. I’m about to ask if I should go get another when Joshua sits and pulls me onto his lap.
“This is hardly appropriate,” Logan grates out.
Despite my brother’s mood, I can’t help but tease him.
I point to where I sit on Joshua’s lap. “I’m sorry, did you have dibs?”
Logan’s face turns bright red, and I can almost see the steam coming out of his ears. There are snickers to my right, and Damon doesn’t even try to hold back his laughter.
James places a calming hand on Logan’s shoulder, glaring at me for the unnecessary riling. “Mr. Moreno, please get us started.”
“We have two main issues to address today. First, the terms of the alliance.”
Logan, having composed himself, straightens his back. “The Moreno family will be granted access to the territories you originally wanted, provided the Consoli family is entitled to fifty percent of the profits.”
Jace begins to write as Logan talks.
Joshua scoffs. “That’s completely unreasonable, and you know it. Fifteen percent.”
“Seeing as you have no bases close to those territories, we’d also grant hospitality. Fifty percent.”
“And I’m fully capable of establishing a base in the area. Fifteen percent.”
As their voices harden, I want to cut in and help reach a compromise, but the subtle shake of Ryder’s head halts me. He’s probably right. This is how negotiations work, especially between two men as stubborn as Joshua and Logan.
“Mr. Moreno, I’m sure you’re aware that the Diaz family has launched several attacks on the minor bases in our territories.”
“I am.”
“Then you know it’s only a matter of time before they make a move against us. If you establish a base in a high-risk area to intimidate the Diazes, then I’ll agree to thirty percent.”
I keep my face composed like the other men at the table, but I can’t help but wonder why Logan didn’t open with that.
“This puts my soldiers on the front lines of a potentially messy fight. The base will need heavy artillery.” Joshua looks at Donovan. “Get me a full report of what we’d need for security in such a high-risk area.”
“Yes, sir.” Donovan starts taking notes.
Joshua’s attention is back to Logan. “If you agree to provide the necessary weaponry for the base, I’ll agree to thirty.”
The smug looks on both their faces answer my question.
Neither of them will risk looking weak by agreeing too quickly. This means that instead of outright saying what they want, they’ll dance around the real objective until they’re able to state it without hurting their egos.
“Deal.”
The next thirty minutes drag, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t zone out.
I could blame my short attention span on my concussion, but in reality, it was just boring.
It makes me feel better that I caught capos from either side of the table staring off into space, too.
I’m not the only one having a hard time staying interested.
Of course, it doesn’t help that Joshua rubs my back in slow, soothing circles.
“Well,” James says, and the liveliness in his voice brings me back to the conversation. “Now that we have the terms figured out, we’ll have Jace print the official documentation.”
Joshua nods. “The second order of business—establishing a procedure for weeding out the traitors who aligned themselves with Mason Consoli. There’s currently no way of telling how many people he had working for him on either side, so this needs to be a top priority.
For this to be successful, we will need the full cooperation of both families. ”
Logan nods. “I’ll be pulling some of my best soldiers together for a task force that will be dedicated solely to finding these individuals.”
“And what kind of assurance do we have that your task force is clean?” It’s the first time Ryder’s spoken the whole meeting.
Logan’s jaw ticks. “I’ll interview them myself.”
“These guys aren’t stupid,” Ryder says as he leans back in his chair. “They know what will happen to them if they’re found, and with Mason gone, there’s no one to incriminate them. I don’t think a good old-fashioned interrogation will be enough to crack them.”
“Well, we can’t torture everyone and hope the right guys break,” James notes.
“All I’m saying is that we may need a more aggressive approach.”
Donovan looks between both parties. “If we aren’t careful, this will turn into a witch hunt that will tear both families apart from the inside out.”
“We need to find how Mason communicated with them,” I say, hating how shaky my voice sounds.
Questioning eyes turn my way, and I look to Joshua, who nods for me to go on.
“Mason had to communicate with his soldiers somehow, and if we find that source, it’ll lead us right to the traitors.”
Logan arches a brow. “And how do you suggest we do that?”
I carefully consider his question before responding. “Kade, didn’t you backtrack the activity on the server after Ryder copied files?”
He nods.
“Mason was able to make a lot of the security footage go missing, which means one of two things. Either he hacked into the system, or he had an inside man do it for him. Either way, there’s a digital footprint somewhere. We just need to find it. I say we start there.”
I wait for the critiques and flaws of my plan to be spoken, but when I look around the table, there are only nods of agreement.
James folds his hands on the table. “Once we can identify all the traitors, word will travel fast when we start to round them up. It could turn ugly fast, especially if they work together.”
He has a good point.
Both Joshua and my brothers have multiple bases, meaning Mason’s followers are likely spread across the country. Without being properly prepared, the whole operation will fall apart.
“What if we pick up where Mason left off?” I ask.
Logan tilts his head from one side to the other. “That could work. Using the communication system to rally the traitors under the impression that it’s someone finishing what Mason started.”
I nod. “We could give directions to have them all meet at a certain base, so we can isolate them.”
“We can send out several units of soldiers around the same time to allow the traitors to get to the designated location,” Joshua adds.
“It’s settled then,” James says. “We find the source of communication, draw out the traitors, and take them out all at once.”
“What about their resources?” Ryder asks.
Joshua turns to him. “What do you mean?”
“You all saw the factory. He had weaponry, ammunition, vehicles, and who knows what else. With all the connections he had through both families, it’s unlikely that he found an independent supplier.
Somewhere, there’s a leak that he was exploiting.
If we don’t find it and fix it, we might be in danger of the traitors getting to it first.”
“It has to be one of ours,” Joshua sighs. “It’s not a coincidence that the factory was only a few miles from here. He couldn’t have been using the main base since we would’ve noticed things going missing, but it’s likely one of the others.”
James taps two fingers on the table. “Okay then, the Consoli family will work to uncover the communication program, and the Moreno family will track down and cut off the resource leak.”
I wait for the arguing between Joshua and Logan, but they share a single nod of understanding while all the capos murmur their agreements.