30. Vincenzo
Vincenzo
Anna sleeps peacefully in the late morning hours after an adventurous night and bringing her safely home. The outing did her some good despite the Gallini bastard, but it also brought out all the demons she’s been keeping locked tightly up inside.
I kiss her forehead as she sleeps, then straighten my tie in the mirror and head out to find Nicolo in his penthouse office. He’s deeply engrossed in whatever he’s reading on his laptop when I walk in. He looks up. “How is she?”
“A little shook about Gallini, but she’ll be fine. You know any more than we did last night?”
Nicolo’s jaw tightens. “I think those bastards had a dingy off the side of the shore. I had our soldiers lining the perimeter of every fucking dock we control, and all the private areas up the bay. It’s the only reason she’s alive, Vincenzo.
They were going to sneak up to the yacht, take us out and cart Anna away.
Fuckers didn’t think we’d be ready for them? Amateur hour if you ask me.”
My chest tightens with unprecedented rage.
The Gallini fuckers were far too close. I wait for a few moments, knowing Nicolo will come up with the score but as boss it’s not going to go any farther than here.
“We’re going to war. I want all of the Gallinis, the Sarones, and anyone loyal to them flushed out. I want them dead, you understand me?”
Nicolo, my younger brother, looks at me. “We do what we’ve always done, we keep our women safe until we figure out the play. As soon as we can carry out your orders, it will be done.”
I fucking respect the play but I want Gallini’s head on a goddamn platter right the fuck now.
“The fact the Gallinis had men trying to reach us from the shore tells us more than anything we’ve known to date.
They either have a closer watch on us than we thought, or we have a fucking rat, Nicolo.
And I like the thought of the second not one fucking bit at all. ”
Nicolo nods. “It’s possible and I’ve thought of that, but something’s off.
How would the Gallinis ever think we would take Anna out without backups in place and every entry point to her surrounded?
They get a drop on where we’re going to be and then send in three fucking men we mow down as quick as they stand?
I don’t understand the play. Something’s off. ”
He takes another sip of his coffee and points to the lake shore map he has on the wall. “We scoured the area, three fucking men in total. There were not any others. How the fuck would that ever work? Tell me that? Would you ever send three men in for a job like that?”
Nicolo’s not really asking me a question. My brother, the best underboss I’ve ever known is thinking out loud, trying to keep my new wife and his sister-in-law safe and it makes my fucking chest tighten with emotion as I wrap my mind around what he’s trying to say.
I’ve come to trust Nicolo’s instincts as the underboss of our family without doubt.
If something feels off to him, it’s probably fucking off.
“I’m still piecing it together but the fact they were that close to us doesn’t sit well at all.
But yeah, three fucking men, that’s a slap in the fucking face. ”
Nicolo nods. “Exactly, and not one of them alive because every single one of them made it clear they would shoot if we didn’t kill them first. We had to take them down. Just like a fucking police suicide?”
“Someone had to see something, Nicolo.”
His jaw tightens. “The guys on the dock didn’t see a thing. Our men on the shore were watching from all angles, which is the only reason they saw the men drive up and put that piece of shit dingy in the water and tie her off.”
I pace the room. “Maybe they were waiting for more men, and they didn’t come because our guys shot the men to shit.”
“I need more info from our soldiers. Right now, all we have is maybes.”
“I’m sick of this cat and mouse game. We find Bastian, he goes underground, comes up again only to avoid us again. We find him Nicolo, fast, because after last night I want this fucker dead. You got me?”
My younger brother sucks in a breath. “Understood, Vincenzo, but we may not fully understand everything involved. I’m trying to get it sorted, capisce?”
I raise my hand, done with any and all of this foolishness. “Finito!! Understand, finito! I want that fucker brought to me so I can send his soul to the depths of hell, you got me?”