Chapter Five
Matteo Costello
I pulled the car onto the street outside the warehouse. The sound of gunfire exploding inside was enough of an indication that we were under attack.
This wasn’t a Genovese warehouse.
This had nothing to do with Silas or Alessio, so Lilianna had stayed at the casino. I’d left four guards to keep an eye on her, but my casino was one of the safest places in the city with all the cameras, guards, and security.
I didn’t have to worry about her there.
I did need to worry about this attack.
This warehouse was mine . This attack was different than the others. It couldn’t be construed as anything else. I’d spent the past two days looking at all the attacks and trying to find enough to warrant storming the Russians’ home and ending all their miserable lives, and this was it.
I stepped out of the car and slammed the door as I lifted a rifle. I didn’t know the numbers. I didn’t know if we were on top of this fight or if we were being defeated, but I knew my men were in danger inside. Anthony was en route, and if going inside first could save even one of my men, it would be worth it.
I’d kill or capture every Russian inside.
I veered away from the main entrances and walked around the metal building. A closed dumpster sat just below a second-story window, and the neighboring building provided enough cover from the street that I didn’t hesitate to climb onto the dumpster and pry the window open.
The sound of dying men reached my ears. The groans and grunts of pain combined with shots from single-shot pistols echoed through the neighborhood. I glanced over the ledge and found the second-story hallway empty. It took the work of only a moment to haul myself through the window and close it behind me.
I glanced down at my phone and then around the hallway once more before typing out a message to Anthony.
I’m inside. Second story.
I tucked my phone into my pocket and silenced it, knowing that Anthony would immediately call and tell me to wait. He’d be here soon, but not soon enough. My men were inside, and they were dying. The Russians had taken enough from me. They wouldn’t take more of my soldiers.
I strode silently down the hallway. I knew the layout of the building, and I eased around each corner, preparing for an attacker.
I made it to the second-story loft before dropping to my stomach and scooting to the ledge. I propped my rifle in front of me and looked around. Six of my men fought eight Russians. I didn’t bother looking at the dozen fallen men on the floor, hoping they weren’t all my guys.
I focused on the living ones.
I watched as one of the Russians lifted a gun to the head of one of my guys, and I pulled the trigger. The Russian flung backward, eyes rolling. I didn’t focus on the man for long as I moved my gun to each Russian, taking out five of them before they realized a sniper was in their midst—one with impeccable aim. People ducked and covered, and my men fled through the side exit. Each one made it out of the warehouse, and I clenched my jaw.
I’d take care of the rest of this.
I moved from my spot, knowing they’d shoot in my direction in seconds.
As anticipated, bullets ricocheted off the metal wall that had been behind me as I moved.
I ran down the hallway, keenly aware of all the sounds around me as the men on the first level reconvened, loading their guns. Some rushed out the door to track my soldiers, while others talked about finding the sniper. There were more voices than there had been people fighting, but I couldn’t determine the number.
I rounded the corner toward the stairwell and dropped my weapon, using my bare hands to attack the first man to come upstairs. He’d been ignorant not to wait for the others.
As I put him in a headlock, I sucked in a deep breath and used my body’s weight to snap his neck. He went limp, and I dragged him backward and into the nearest room, pulling the door closed behind him. I moved to the other side of the stairwell and waited as the men downstairs shouted in Russian.
I waited.
They said something else, and I tucked myself back into a small alcove, waiting.
The men rushed up the stairs, trying to be stealthy, and I waited for the perfect moment to attack. It would be me against a handful of men. I needed to wait on backup if I wanted any of these people to make it out alive for questioning, but it wasn’t worth risking the lives of my guys.
The main door downstairs slammed open. The pops of gunfire filled my ears from below, Anthony’s voice rising above them. “Clear,” he shouted.
I listened to my men rushing up the stairs and stepped from the alcove, getting the attention of the remaining Russians.
The split second gave my men the upper hand.
“You crazy motherfucker!” Anthony shouted as all of the Russians fell. Not dead, though. Some of my men had guns, and others had tasers. He rushed toward me. “Do you want to get yourself killed?”
“I’m not letting more of my men die.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“I’m about to.”
I moved toward one of the men jolting from the electricity that ran through him, and I grabbed the back of his shirt, shoving him partially over the balcony. “Are you going to give me information, or are you going to die?”
He spit something at me in Russian, and I didn’t bother giving him a second chance.
I flung the man head-first over the railing, and I heard his head crack on the concrete floor a story below.
I moved to another guy—one who seemed to have more power than the last. He still hadn't regained his composure enough to fight me, and I had him dangling over the railing within seconds. “You saw how it went with your friend. Do you have anything useful to tell me, or do I need to go to another guy?”
I felt a tremor run through his body, and he bucked beneath me. His entire body shook as he clawed at the railing in a useless attempt to escape me. “Use my phone and call the boss. He sent us to take the weapons you keep here. I have his number.”
I scoffed and allowed my grip to loosen slightly. He screamed before I tightened my grip on him again. “Just to take the weapons here?” I asked.
I didn’t have a large store of weapons here. If anything, I kept a small cache of emergency firearms, but nothing worth an attack. I didn’t know how he’d heard of the place.
“Yes.”
“Give me your phone.”
His trembling fingers fished in his pocket and handed me the phone.
“What’s his name in your contacts?”
“Vlad,” he shouted pleadingly. “Please—”
I released him the same way as I had his friend.
I pulled up the contact information and dialed his number. I tucked a hand into my pocket and took a deep breath as I looked at the carnage around me. Useless. It was fucking pointless to go to these lengths.
“Did it go smoothly?”
“It’s one thing to declare war with the Genoveses. It’s another to do so with me, ” I said with a clenched jaw.
Anthony stood before me, and I pointed to the last survivor. He nodded, understanding my meaning.
Keep him for questioning.
“Ah,” Vlad said, his accent thick. “Matteo.”
“Only my friends call me Matteo, and you’re not my friend. Did you do this to kill me?”
“You know that blood calls for blood, Matteo.” My mouth tightened at the clear disrespect. “I thought you would stand down at the wedding, but you took what I wanted and ran.”
“We were allying with you,” I shot back. “Both Alessio and I had nothing but honorable intentions.”
“ You had honorable intentions. Alessio only ever wanted us out of the picture,” Vlad said coldly. “He spent years leading us on. First, with the bitch of a daughter who stood up to my son, then with deals of business arrangements that never happened. He deserved what he got.”
“You’ve made an enemy of me, too, Vlad,” I snarled into the line.
I watched Anthony haul a limping man down the stairs, and I leaned into the railing as I watched two women walking around downstairs, feeling our guys for pulses. There were too many of them lying on the floor.
“I’m out for blood, and I’m owed more than what I’ve taken.”
“You’re owed nothing. ” I took a deep breath and calmed my rising voice. “I owe you nothing. You started a war with this stunt. Alessio didn’t have enough of a force to challenge you, but I do.”
“I have nothing against you once you give me the girl.”
“What girl?”
He huffed. “Stupid doesn’t look good on you. The Genovese family made too many plays for my territory over the years, and I won’t risk them reconvening under Lilianna. Give her to me, and this can be over. When I get the daughter, I’ll leave your guys alone.”
“We’re beyond that, and you know it,” I replied.
“I needed your attention today,” he said, and I could hear the nonchalance in his tone. “I could have led a much larger attack than this one. Give me the girl, and we’re done.”
He had to be insane to believe I’d back down after what he’d done to my friends. To me. I chuckled under my breath and stood straighter. “Lilianna Genovese is under my protection,” I told him, using the most formal words in my arsenal. “Is she worth a full war to you?”
“Is she worth it to you?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation behind my words. If I let anything happen to Lilianna, Silas would turn over in his grave. However, that wasn’t my main motivation. Even without my late friend’s wishes, I’d make the same choice.
Nobody would touch Lilianna.
She was mine.
She’d always been mine, even when she’d been hiding in Italy and didn’t realize it.
“My son died because she backed out of a marriage with him. She deserves what’s coming to her. She’s the last of them, and if you protect her, you’ll die, too.”
A harsh smirk covered my face. “I hope to see you on the battlefield soon, Vlad.”
I ended the call and took a long breath as I considered my next move.
It wasn’t hard to make a decision.
I’d find Vlad and I’d kill the motherfucker.