Chapter 56 Stan
FIFTY-SIX
STAN
Rory, as agreed, was seated when the rest of the three families strolled into our council room.
Sharply dressed in a bright red suit that brought out the strands of red in her hair, she didn’t look like she’d given birth a short while ago.
No amount of arguing had gotten her to sit this one out.
She was our Consigliere.
More than that, she was stubborn and a woman fighting for recognition in a man’s world.
I could appreciate the hustle even if I didn’t appreciate that my sister had to show her face here today because healing after labor, after birthing our literal future, looked like a weakness.
“Congratulations, Aurora,” Bruno greeted as he took a seat.
Caruso beamed at her. “A boy, too. The Camorra has an heir. Hunter—”
Aurora shot him a frosty glance. “Saverina is our heir, Caruso. Don’t speak as if our reign is under threat.”
“I didn’t mean—”
Luc’s lips twitched as he sank back in his seat. “I’ll enjoy watching you dig your way out of this one, Caruso.”
His nose wrinkled. “Apologies, Consigliere.”
“Saverina is who you owe your apologies to.” She tapped her nails against the table. “Now, to business.”
Amused, I reached for my water glass and took a deep sip. “We need to talk about how we’ll deal with Italian factions in the future. If they’re going to keep on popping up like Whac-A-Mole, we need to be better prepared.”
“Not sure why it’s taken this long for us to have a council meeting, Capo,” Bruno groused. “We should have discussed this sooner.”
“Because we prioritized cleanup duty. Your men included,” I countered easily.
“We should have convened about the aftermath of the Summit.”
“What are we? A knitting circle?” Luc snapped.
“I looped you in with the minutes as soon as they were complete,” Rory said unapologetically, her tone calm in the face of Luc’s temper.
“As Stan said, we prioritized action over words as our house always will. Especially in times of war. The Favaros are no more. Prifti is dead. Thanks to Luc and Stan’s interrogations, we uncovered several more of the Albanians' hidey-holes and have eradicated dozens of their foot soldiers. The Nolita whorehouse belongs to us by right of conquest—”
“I’d like permission to manage the fights,” Caruso interrupted, earning himself a glower from her. He raised his hands and shot her a self-deprecating smile that didn’t affect her one iota. “My background is in boxing and wrestling from college.”
“I wanted to talk about that with you,” she agreed, her expression dour. “We need to discuss funneling Red to the fighters, but that’s a conversation for another day.”
“We’re keeping the fighting pits open?” Bruno inquired with no small amount of surprise.
“They’re very lucrative.”
“Since the downfall of the ring, chatter’s spread. Some Russian and Chinese businessmen were due in for a big fight,” Caruso added. “Something about teams?”
“Yes, one champion, and I use the word dubiously, has survived ten rounds. That means they bring in the big guns. Two sets of groups, three apiece. Throw in Red and I know who I’m backing to the hilt.”
Bruno grunted. “And we’re continuing the practice?”
“The pot’s big. There’s no coercion. If he wins, he’ll make millions.” Luc shrugged. “It’s his choice to take part.”
“Millions?” Caruso whistled. “Jesus. What’s our cut?”
“Double his,” I said wryly.
“So, it’s six against one and he thinks he can win?” Bruno squawked.
Luc drummed his fingers against the table. “I’ve seen him fight.”
Caruso and Bruno shared looks with their respective soldiers while I frowned. Luc and Rory hadn’t discussed the fights with me, so I couldn’t read between the lines.
I could, however, read that Aurora was losing patience with the discussion.
Caruso knocked the table with his knuckles. “I heard the Triads are renovating An Inch of Gold over on Catherine Street. In Two Bridges.”
“I thought that was a big cash cow,” I exclaimed.
“It’s one of the first casinos they developed,” he concurred. “Definitely a cash cow but it got battered to fuck in a raid last month. Needs a lot of work but it has that—”
“Underground casino. I remember.” Seeing where he was going with this, I pointed at him. “Large enough for a fighting ring.”
“That’s where my mind took me when I heard the news. If we don’t keep up with the fights, then someone else will jump in. We have right of conquest so we want to keep the next match on track. That’s all I’m saying.”
“It was never our intention not to keep the dates,” Rory said snottily. “Bruno, your family can handle the whores, but I will be overseeing.”
There was a warning to Aurora’s words, but it came as no surprise. Rory was very hands-on with the hookers.
For the first time, Bruno sounded satisfied with the discussion. “I’ll have my accountants check out the current system that’s in place and get back to you re: necessary upgrades etc.”
“The building as a whole is disgusting,” she advised. “We will be heavily investing in individual quarters as well as common areas.”
“Is it worth it?” I protested. “Isn’t it better to scrap it and transfer to our current holdings? It’s in a prime location. The real estate value on a building of that size will be immense.”
Rory dipped her chin. “Bruno, that’s something I want you to look into.”
“Will do, Consigliere. What about the Albanians?”
Caruso snorted. “Where have you been hiding? The streets are a bloodbath!”
“You work with our enemies, you pay the price with your life.”
“If the city didn’t know that before, Don, then they do now,” Caruso cheered. “After my house raided the last known shithole where the Albanians were living, we haven’t heard of them hiding out in any other apartment buildings in our territory.”
“Maybe they moved to Jersey?” I glanced at Rory, who shook her head.
“I’ve conferred with the Satan’s Sinners. There’s been no movement. Wherever the Albanians have crawled off to, they went farther than the tristate area.”
“Perhaps Chicago? The Russians, Poles, and Greeks run that city, but there are a lot of gangs. Maybe they’ll have allies there where they can lick their wounds safely.”
“I’ll confer with Lyanov, Stan, and see what Chicago’s Forgotten Boys’ leader has to say. Speaking of, Hunter has done the Cosa Nostra yet another solid by going through Custanzu’s security with a fine-tooth comb after the infiltration into the palace.”
Palace was stated mockingly.
“He didn’t tell me,” I groused.
“Yes, well, he told me instead. Perks of pillow talk,” she riposted waspishly. “The hack came from the city. A Favaro-owned residence that we inherited recently. Which makes sense considering the backers of the Nolita whorehouse.”
Before she could continue, I prodded, “Any idea who was behind the hack?”
“Hunter’s still investigating.”
“No leads at all?”
“If there were, then I’d tell you, wouldn’t I?
” She grunted. “Anyway, as much as we believe we’ve cleared out the Favaros, I want to make sure we sweep a wider net over the city.
A part of this will be on my networks, but any familiar faces that are spotted, Italian or Albanian, I want to hear about it.
They’ve proven they can keep a low profile once, and we won’t let that happen again.
“I recommend that we intensify our presence in Nolita too. Keep it visible. Ensure that no one returns to the source.”
“Agreed.” Luc rubbed his chin. “We can’t know everything that goes on behind closed doors, but that they kept such an establishment under wraps is concerning.”
As we carried on with our security discussions in the aftermath of the Nolita heist—as we were calling it—things rounded off with Caruso asking, “Is it true we’re gaining another alliance with the Irish?”
I confided, “In time.”
Luciu smirked. “I give it two weeks.”
Rory’s features lightened a touch. “A month.”
I flipped them both the bird then directed to the council, “You should be aware that she will be working for us in the capacity of a healer.”
“How very Wiccan,” Caruso joked.
“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “After what happened, she’s no longer a security risk with her work at the hospital, so that’s something to be grateful for.
Now, next on the list—we need to discuss the security protocols we have in place.
Dante Graziola managed to pull the wool over our eyes. Who else has infiltrated our ranks?”
“Is this really the time to start a witch hunt?” Bruno muttered. “When we need all hands on deck to police the streets?”
“There’s never a better time to round up traitors,” Luc said darkly.
“I agree,” Aurora concurred.
“At long last, Star Sullivan has provided me with a list of hackers she thinks will be suitable for our requirements while maintaining that she’ll oversee for us on an as/when basis.
I’ll be working with Hunter to narrow down the options, and the first item on the agenda will be going through our ranks.
If you suspect anyone has ties to the Italians, now’s the time to tell us because we’ll put their names at the top of the pile. ”
Neither Caruso nor Bruno appeared to have a problem with that, and we moved onto other business.
Weeding out Italian vermin from our ranks might not be their priority, but it was mine—I’d been betrayed. Twice. Not them.
It wouldn’t happen again.