45. Obi
OBI
The girls slept in and enjoyed as much time as they could before we couldn’t stall any longer.
Rossi had been ringing Cas’s phone constantly, asking when we were going to drop her off.
Eventually, they agreed to get ready, and we piled into the car.
Leona had given some clothes and toiletries to Chiara, since she’d left everything behind in Connecticut, and I made a mental note to buy Leona replacements.
Rossi could facilitate the rest for Chiara.
The ride to Rossi’s territory was careful and quiet.
We were trying to stay off the radar, following routes where Ciel knew cameras were fewer and far between.
He’d stayed behind at home to run tech support with his full computer setup.
Whenever he could, he’d kill the feeds to keep us from being tracked, but at least twice, I thought we were being followed.
We slid into a parking space down the street from Rossi’s restaurant, Nonna’s.
Chiara gave Leona another hug. My count was up to five.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Leona asked, for at least the fourth or fifth time.
“I’m sure, dummy,” Chiara replied. “Stop asking. Everything is fine.”
We couldn’t stay here for long. We were meeting up with our reinforcements after this. I gave Leona a pointed look, urging her to conclude her goodbyes.
“Okay, fine.” Leona huffed. She gave me a look in return, which made me smirk. She was stalling, and we all knew it, but Rossi would keep Chiara safe and out of the Camorra’s hands. I didn’t want to rush them last night, but the sooner we could refocus, the better.
“Time to go inside,” I said. Cas, Leona, Chiara, and I all exited the vehicle.
The rest of my brothers would wait in the car.
Rossi’s men met us in front of the restaurant.
It was the same group that had met us the last time we visited Nonna’s, and they’d shaken us down at the door in some sort of intimidation attempt. Leona had wiped the floor with them.
“Anthony,” Leona said with a sweet smile. “So good to see you again.”
He swallowed and nodded tightly. “Miss Vero. Excuse me, Donna Vero. The Don says you can go right inside.”
“I’m sure he did,” Leona muttered. Chiara elbowed her in the side, which Leona returned quickly. Cas and I went first, ushering the girls inside while the rest of the Don’s men stayed behind.
The last time we were here, this restaurant was bustling. This time, it was completely empty. No patrons, only Rossi’s men stationed around the room.
Leona whistled. “Business must be bad.”
Rossi stepped out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel before he handed it to one of his men. “Business is fine. We’re closed for today.”
“Your website says you’re open every day,” Leona said.
“We’re closed for today,” Rossi repeated with a smile, but his eyes flicked again and again to Chiara. “Special occasion.”
“Oh, you mean our prisoner exchange,” Leona retorted.
Rossi ignored Leona’s comment and extended a hand and a warm smile toward Caspian. “Cas.”
“Enzo. Good to see you again so soon,” Caspian said. “Any trouble around here recently?”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Rossi answered.
Even though he was talking to Caspian, his attention was clearly fixated on Chiara.
She completely ignored him, looking around the restaurant instead.
Her body stretched and tilted to get a better look into the kitchen, where at least some waitstaff were still moving around.
“Rossi,” I greeted, extending a hand. He gripped it firmly and then returned his dark stare to Chiara. Clearly, he had a single-track mind.
“These introductions are super fun, but how about we speed this up?” Chiara interjected. She faced him head-on. Her nose upturned and her voice went frosty, much different from any words I’d heard her speak in the last twelve hours. “Enzo.”
Rossi nodded stiffly. He waited for her to extend a hand or nod or apparently do something, but she didn’t. “Chiara. Thank you for coming.”
An awkward silence spread between us.
“Rossi, are you sure you can keep Chiara safe?” Leona asked, breaking the tension.
“Of course.” He snapped his fingers, and a set of three servers immediately came out of the kitchen carrying plates of food.
“Oh, we can’t stay,” Leona said, eyeing the food. She swallowed and then gave me sweet, round eyes, but I shook my head.
“The food isn’t for you,” Rossi said. He held open a chair and gestured for Chiara to sit down. “Thank you. We’ll speak later.”
Chiara rolled her eyes. “Ignore him,” she said to Leona. “He’s very dramatic.”
“You’re bribing her with all of her favorite foods, but she’s too smart to fall for that, Enzo.” Leona pulled Chiara in for another hug. “Last chance.”
“I’m hungry. I think I’ll stay for lunch.” Chiara released the hug and smiled. “I’ll text the group chat.”
“Keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
“Oh, before you go,” Rossi said quietly, stepping closer to both Leona and me.
“Greco is hosting a party at an upscale social club near Central Park. It’s supposedly a fundraiser gala, hosted by a shell corporation of his for the new mayor.
But the word on the street is that this is his play at buying her loyalty. I thought you should know.”
Leona’s eyes went wide. “When?”
Rossi typed something quickly on his phone. “I just texted you all the details. He invited both Sandrini and me.”
“Are you going?” I asked.
“Depends on what kind of action might be there.” He raised an eyebrow at both of us.
Rossi wanted to know if we’d hit the gala and take our chances against Greco. I looked down at Leona, and her lips pressed together. We needed to evaluate the situation before we could decide.
“We’ll let you know,” I said. Leona slipped her hand into mine and she squeezed. “Thank you, Rossi.”
He nodded tightly before he glanced back at Chiara. “No. Thank you.”
Chiara sighed dramatically and sat down in one of the empty chairs at the two-person table. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? Bye Lee, love you.”
“Love you, Chi.” With one final look, Leona swiped a breadstick from one of the plentiful platters, and we left the restaurant.
We met Giulio at a small pharmacy our men occupied within the old Lucchese territory.
We’d been able to retain most of our Vero land and the area we’d gained when we’d killed Lucchese and taken his territory.
With Sandrini’s help, Greco was pushing against us from all sides—and especially against the Russians.
I wanted an inventory of our forces. Men. Weapons. Everything. Our reports from Giulio were thorough and consistent, but we could reallocate our soldiers with our reinforcements. I hoped we’d be able to expand, not just defend what we already owned.
“Ciao, ciao,” Giulio said quickly, greeting us all and giving extra nods of deference to Leona. “Did you get through the city okay?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” Caspian said. “Kind of quiet out there.”
“We’ve had the boys monitoring the streets and trying not to get into trouble.”
“I want reports of any run-ins with law enforcement,” Caspian said. At Caspian’s instruction, they were trying to stay under the FBI’s radar, but that was a challenge when our war spilled onto the streets.
Giulio gave a solemn nod. “I’ve also reminded everyone about omertà.
Though I’m not worried.” He looked at where Leona stood with Ryuji, Max, and Wynn while they chatted to the other men.
Max greeted a couple awkwardly before giving them quiet apologies.
“The men are loyal. Every time they see Leona, they can’t stop talking about her. ”
Caspian smiled with pride. “That’s because she’s fucking incredible.”
My eyes scanned the crates of pharmaceutical drugs hidden in the back of the pharmacy. Next to them, we had crates of the guns we’d stolen from Greco. “How are the new weapons?”
He clicked his teeth and crossed his arms over his chest. “Good. They’re effective, but if we’ve got reinforcements coming, we’ll need a resupply soon. When is the next order from the Chinese?”
“It should arrive within the week. Caspian will coordinate your pickup from the ports,” I answered. “Plus, Anton Felix and his men should be in the city soon, bringing more of the supplies he could spare.”
“Yeah, that’ll be nice,” Giulio said. “On top of things being more quiet than usual, some of our guys have heard of arrests being made at the ports in sting operations. Like there’s a crackdown on illegal imports. Do you guys know anything about that?”
A smile quirked up the corner of my lips.
“That would hopefully be the efforts of Sean Porter, the MTA Director. He’s under our control, and we’ve directed him to use whatever tools he can to interrupt the transit and import of both Camorra men and supplies.
It’s good to hear we’ve made some progress on that front. ”
Giulio laughed while he lit a cigarette. “Well, that’s great news. If we hear anything else, I’ll let you know. Maybe that’s why it’s been a little quiet lately.”
A commotion drew all our attention to the entrance. The rest of my brothers gathered around Leona.
“Felix is here,” Wynn said with a frown on his face.
A man backed by five others sauntered his way through the pharmacy. Anton Felix. Our arms dealer from Los Angeles. He was dressed in dark jeans, a gray shirt, and a dark jacket, but I could see the shoulder holster peeking out from underneath it. He scanned the room, cunning eyes on high alert.
I’d spoken with him plenty of times by now, and he was always careful with his words and actions. Careful in communication, decisive in action. He knew the business like the back of his hand, and he was fiercely loyal to Leona ever since seeing her kill Kofler.
I liked him.
He’d been a satisfactory employee slash ally. He’d gained even more power over the West Coast since we’d put him in place as the leader of the largest smuggling and dealing business in this part of the world. I didn’t expect that to change or slow.
What I didn’t like was the way he seemed interested in Leona.
Finally, he caught sight of Leona. He locked onto us like a missile.
“Miss Vero,” he called when he got close. Nothing about his expression changed, but he straightened.
She turned with a smile. “Felix! How was your trip?”
He stared at her with such interest, such captivation, that my defenses were immediately prickling. Ryu came up beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Just give me the word, Obi.”
I waved Ryu off for now. Leona swore he wasn’t a threat, but I wasn’t convinced. If he were in any way inappropriate, I’d kill him myself.
“It was an easy flight,” Felix answered. “I like cargo planes. How are you, Miss Vero?”
She sighed. “Trying to get a handle on this shit with the Camorra before it gets out of control.”
“That’s what I’m here for.” He turned to me and extended a hand. I shook it. “Just tell us what you need us to do.”
“Did you bring the weapons I requested?” I asked.
He nodded, turning his intense attention to me. “I brought more than double what you asked for. We’ll be well-supplied against them.”
“Thank you, Felix.” I turned to Giulio. “Whatever extra we can spare, share with Makarov, Rossi, and Byrne.”
“I have more men as well,” Felix added. “They should all arrive by the end of the day.”
Leona whistled. “Finally, some relief.”
“That will be a great help,” I said. “Work with Giulio, but you report directly to us. Tonight, I want all our forces to coordinate a strike against the locations Ciel has identified. Caspian will fill everyone in on the plan that he and Ryuji have prepared.”
“Understood,” he replied.
“Follow me,” Caspian said, directing him toward Giulio. Together, they made introductions between Giulio’s men and Felix’s men.
Leona nudged my side.
“See?” she said. “He’s not a weirdo. He’s just intense.” I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her. Her legs wrapped around my middle and her arms twisted around my neck while she grinned. “Feeling a little possessive, are we?”
I pressed a blistering kiss on her lips. A claiming kiss for all to see. “I’m about to take you somewhere private to show you exactly how possessive I can be.”
Her eyes twinkled. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
“If you’re going somewhere to make out, don’t exclude me,” Ryuji said, walking over. He had his phone glued to his ear, and he held it up between his shoulder. “No, not you, Kostya. Shh, I’m talking. Whatever. I’ll see you in a minute.”
He hung up the call and slid his palms around Leona’s waist. “Seriously, I hate being left out.”
Leona laughed. “What do you want, Ryu?”
He kissed her neck. “You.”
Over her shoulder, I saw more than a few of our men and Felix’s men sneakily observing. My chest rumbled with displeasure.
Ryu caught the wandering eyes of the men watching us, and he pulled one of his knives and then snapped his teeth. They immediately turned back to what they were doing, sufficiently warned. Leona rolled her eyes.
“What did Makarov want?” she asked.
“Oh, no big deal. The Camorra are torching some buildings in his turf right now.” Ryu tucked his knife back away before his palms returned to her waist and spread up her torso, under her shirt.
“Let’s make out. We can hide behind that door over there.
Obi, it’s been a while since we’ve fucked her together. ”
Leona wiggled on my hips. “If Makarov is being attacked, we should probably help.”
“Nah,” Ryu said, teeth dragging over the back of her neck, underneath her ponytail. “He’s a big boy. He’ll be fine.”
I slowly let Leona slide down my chest. “Ryuji.”
He groaned. “Fine. How about Cas and I help them with some of Felix’s men? Then you two and the rest of the guys can work with Giulio tonight. We’ll meet back at the house later.”
“Agreed.” As much as I liked Ryuji’s idea, this would be a great opportunity. “Do what you can to draw the police.”
He smirked. “Keep the plan moving forward?”
“Yes,” I replied. “If you run into any of Greco’s capos, I want them arrested. Let Ciel know if you need to call in any anonymous tips. He’ll run interference to keep us out of custody, and them in it.”
He saluted. “Causing chaos is my speciality. You’ll be okay, hanii?”
She wrapped her arms around his middle. “I’ll be fine. Will you keep Cas safe?”
He hooked his finger under her chin to tilt her head up for a kiss. “Always. We’re boyfriends now.”
“I’m aware, and I’m thrilled,” she said with a grin. “I’ll see you two later.”
Caspian and Ryuji took a group of our men with them and quickly headed to Makarov’s rescue. Meanwhile, Leona, Max, Wynn, and I gathered our reinforcements, and then we headed toward the old Vero territory.
We were hunting for capos tonight.