29. ~Caterina~
29
~Caterina~
“Raids are underway as we speak. Thirteen consecutive takedowns of Marchetti and Leone strip clubs and gambling dens,” I reported down the line to Nico, communicating with him via our COMMs as I sat up at the kitchen island in the Manor with my laptop.
It turned out that Remo had been playing down his police contacts. His asset had actually been the Assistant District Attorney, Clive Wilkins. That was a hell of a lot of power and it had been why the raids had been able to be organized so incredibly quickly.
I took another bite from the food Milo had made for me before he’d left. A frittata with feta and red peppers—a whole lot of protein and calcium, according to him. He’d also filled a massive bowl of my favored berries, so I was moving between them both.
I switched between the feeds I was watching of everything that was happening tonight with the multiple strikes and moves we were making, focusing on the surveillance footage by the Benzino’s chief meth lab.
“Cassio and his soldiers have arrived at the lab,” I reported next.
When there was still no response from Nico, I connected with Milo.
He was currently with Nico down by the warehouses on Nico’s territory, transporting their illicit goods off-territory.
“Status?” I spoke.
“All good,” Milo responded, sending relief through me. “On schedule. No interference thanks to the families being distracted by the raids and the Marchettis trying to carry out their attacks against Benzino business interests. Nico’s in the thick of organizing everything, making one of his morale-boosting speeches too.”
Oh, good, that was the only reason he wasn’t answering.
My earpiece buzzed. “Keep me posted,” I told Milo.
“Will do, beauty.”
I answered the incoming contact, and Julian’s voice came down the line.
“I tell you something, darlin’, these fuckers are shit-scared after that evidence you collected against them. It didn’t take much to get them to remove their support from the Leone Family. They were tripping over themselves to sign on the proverbial dotted line.”
Julian was with a unit of Nico’s soldiers down in the financial district wherein we’d set up a meeting with various power players who my father had in his pocket.
“Did Victoria Munsen show up?”
“No. You were right about her thinking she’s untouchable. Foolish, considering you already sent her to jail once.”
She wasn’t the only one who’d been stubborn. The politicians and city officials that Julian was dealing with right now had more to lose, their positions complicated, and with people to answer to, to be accountable to. But the stockbrokers involved, as well as some high-flying hedge fund managers, had required some hefty bribes that had eclipsed Santino’s compensation, in order to break their connection to the Leone Family.
Victoria would require more than that.
“We’ll see to her soon enough. This is already a win, though, even without her.” She’d be about the only person left who Santino had in his pocket by the time we were done.
“Perfect. Just finishing up, then I’m gonna swing by Luster and your lounges for you. I know you’ve been concerned that you haven’t been able to be there in person.”
“That would be amazing. Thank you, Julian.”
“It’s a far cry from a few months back where you couldn’t even entertain the notion of my help, huh?”
I chuckled. “Times have certainly changed.”
“And they’ll change more. I want us to get down to working on our expansion plans once the scales tip in our favor with this war after tonight. The hit it’ll be for the Leones and Marchettis should give us some calm as they’re forced to fall back and retreat with their tails between their legs.”
“Here’s hoping.”
I was cycling between feeds as I spoke with him and I picked up on the two delivery trucks carrying the coke shipments for the Flower Market—Gio’s territory—crossing the border into the city.
“Gotta go, shipments are here.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I tapped my earpiece, then snatched up my phone, putting it on speakerphone mode the moment Carlo picked up.
“Caterina, what’s the word?”
“The shipments have passed over the northeast border.”
“Right on schedule. We’re moving in. Is Nico done at the warehouses?”
“He’s on schedule, too. He’ll meet you at the apartment.”
“Roger.”
We disconnected, and I made an attempt to connect with Nico again via my earpiece.
“Sorry about that earlier,” his voice came down the line.
“No worries. The shipments have crossed the border. Carlo needs you at the apartment.” The apartment was the abandoned building outside the city that we’d met Carlo and Remo at before. It was where Carlo and his soldiers were going to transport Gio and his men to. He needed Nico there as future Boss of the Marchetti Syndicate to make a play for turning them.
“On my way.”
“Great,” I said, shoveling another bite of frittata into my mouth.
“I’m glad you’re eating.”
“You can hear it?”
“I can hear you chewing, yes. I was worried the stress of tonight with all the craziness would lead to you forgoing the meal Milo made for you.”
“Nope. Got to take care of our baby, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“Besides, everything is on schedule and progressing nicely. Thanks to your in-depth strategizing with Carlo.”
“Actually, thanks to all the work you did with intel-gathering and setting yourself up as our base ops for tonight.”
I smiled. “A team effort. As usual, these days.”
He chuckled. “I’m loving it, principessa. I’ll keep you posted.”
We disconnected, and I cycled between feeds, keeping an eye on everything. I winced as I caught sight of Carlo’s lab, now on fire. Well, he’d been willing to sacrifice it to function as a distraction so we could accomplish a lot more tonight. Nico had given Cassio a heads-up, so he knew what was really going on.
I was tapped into a couple of cameras belonging to businesses that Marco had been slated to target tonight, and I watched as Giovanni Guerra arrived with his soldiers outside one of them, but then received a call and suddenly gestured for his men to turn back around. Good. He’d gotten word that his shipments had been intercepted. Word that we’d had Cassio leak to him. As we’d planned, it put the kibosh on the attacks as Giovanni rushed off to deal with that instead.
Everything was going precisely to plan.
I blew out a breath and sank back for a moment, munching on some berries.
It was the first relaxing breath that I’d allowed myself since the guys had headed out.
Not being in the field with them was difficult to reconcile, but I knew it wasn’t them pulling some overprotective move. They needed me here monitoring everything.
Besides, truth be told, I’d actually been feeling uneasy about going into combat now that I knew I was pregnant. The idea of it made me feel guilty, because it wasn’t just about me anymore. And ever since I’d overheard the guys talking about making sure they weren’t too overprotective with me, and Milo had mentioned how lucky I’d been that I hadn’t lost the baby during the motorcycle crash, it had really stayed with me. I had been lucky. So fucking lucky. The idea of pushing that didn’t sit well with me at all.
There was also my concern about my monstrous side. It had grown so strong lately that controlling it had been difficult, and I’d noticed it worsening every time I let it out. Now I was having this baby, I had to rethink that; I had to rethink a lot of things.
Maybe they were just things that I needed a little time to adjust to, because not being in combat this one time was all it was—one time. We were at war. That definitely wouldn’t last. And I had to be okay with it. It wasn’t just for the good of the mission; I had to do everything it took to fight for a better life for our child.
My phone buzzed on the island and I snatched it up, expecting it to be Julian, likely sending me a photo of some sort to add some levity to the night.
Instead, my breath caught in my throat when I saw it was actually the farthest thing from Julian.
Blocked Number: How’s my pretty cock slut? He’s definitely still obsessed with me, frantically trying to track me down, pretending it’s all for revenge when he’s really craving me. Not to worry, he’ll be able to get his fill soon enough.
Angelo.
Caterina: Stay the hell away from him.
Blocked Number: No can do. And you, traitorous cunt, you’ve signed your death certificate. Your daddy knows what you did. He’s gonna force you to return what you stole and then he’ll do what he should have done a long time ago and bury you. Wish I could be there in person to see it, but I’ll settle for spitting on your grave. Wondering how I was able to contact you? Let’s just say I have some new friends. Better than the ones your boyfriends murdered. They were just a stepping stone to these guys. Bye, Caterina. I should warn you, it’s gonna be painful. Santino promised me it would be. Can’t wait until it breaks your boyfriends into pieces.
I choked and pushed off the stool.
I was just about to tap my earpiece to report this to the guys when a screen opened on my laptop with a flashing image of a black shattered circle that looked a whole lot like an eclipse with red and green light breaking through.
What the—
No.
It wasn’t possible.
Somebody had breached my network.
It shouldn’t—no.
I rapidly disconnected from the internet.
Fuck.
I needed to put a poison pill into the system to—
Movement in my peripheral vision over by the patio doors caught my attention a second before one of the doors shattered as something was lobbed through it.
I darted back from the island a second before it erupted and thick, heavy smoke filled the area, making me choke.
It filled the room in moments until it was near impossible to see a fucking thing.
I managed to lunge at my laptop and shut everything down with a single emergency command, just a second before a hand wrapped around my throat and yanked me back.
I landed on my hands and knees on the tiled floor, and a boot smashed into the side of my head in the next second, ripping my earpiece off. Another one came, driving right into my face then, the force of it knocking me onto my back.
I tasted blood on my lips, and the monster in me sparked to life.
The very fucking thing I was trying to tamper down.
That was made all the more difficult when I strained through the smoke to see three guys decked out in heavy tactical gear with gas masks strapped to their faces crowding me and moving in.
Son of a bitch.
“Santino wants a word with you,” one of them spoke.
He’s gonna force you to return what you stole and then he’ll do what he should have done a long time ago and bury you.
“He can go to hell,” I spat back.
One of them snapped their fingers, and another strode out through the shattered patio door, then reappeared, dragging two of our security guards, their skulls now blown to shit.
Oh my God.
“You want to suffer the same fate?”
I swallowed and looked away from Nico’s poor soldiers, then glared up at the asshole talking to me. “He’s gonna kill me either way the moment you take me to him. But not before. He can’t recover those funds without me. No matter how good your hackers are, it won’t make a difference.” Not with the way I’d hidden the money. “That’s why I’m not already dead, isn’t it?”
In the next second, they moved in.
I thrust my boot into the closest one’s face, blowing him back. See how you like it.
It gave me just enough room to rear back and spring to my feet.
I’d barely landed stably when I had to dodge out of the way of an incoming punch. I snagged the guy’s wrist, then shoved my knee into it, hearing a grunt and a crack simultaneously as it went limp in my hold, then I used it to haul him into the other two, forcing them back.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, and they recovered far too quickly, lunging at me.
I vaulted over the island just in time to avoid them making contact.
I went for the knife block on the counter.
I shot out my hand, just a couple of inches from snatching up a blade, when an arm wrapped around my neck, wrenching me back.
Another kicked at the back of my legs, ripping them out from under me and forcing me onto my knees, while the guy with his arm around my neck applied dizzying pressure.
“No,” I rasped, slamming my elbow back.
But then my arms were yanked behind me and held hostage.
I twisted on the ground and went to ram my head back into the guy trying to choke me out, but my head was grabbed in a painful grip, forcing me to be still.
The room was spinning within moments.
I could barely breathe.
And then everything went black.