Chapter Thirty Nine
Az
We got two days of quiet before everything went to hell. Craig had found a number of leads on smaller crews that were targeting Victoria, thanks to that fucking messaging board. Leighton had even managed to snag a couple of them off the streets and put them down. We thought things were starting to turn in our favor right up until the six o'clock news came on the TV.
"Is- Is that my apartment complex?" Victoria's eyes were wide as she took in the inferno playing out behind the reporter. "That's my floor."
Craig caught my eye from near the stairs and jerked his head for me to follow him. Joey had already moved to Victoria's side and was comforting her as she watched her home burn to the ground on live television, so I silently turned and followed Craig upstairs to his room.
"You should see this. I was already on my way down to show someone when it came on the news." Craig said, tapping away on his keyboard and pulling up grainy security footage.
"What am I looking at here, Craig?" I asked, squinting, to try and understand the black-and-white video.
"This is her apartment complex, maybe fifteen minutes ago." he said, pointing at the screen before moving his finger to a figure exiting the building. "And that's Theodore Abrams."
"You sure?" I asked, knowing he wouldn't have said it if he wasn't. "We knew Uncle Theo was involved in some shit but seems a bit odd he'd dirty his hands so… directly."
"I'm sure. Just keep watching."
Craig swapped between the footage of multiple cameras, tracking Theo as he pulled away from Victoria's apartment complex before switching back to the one focused on her building. The man had barely been gone five minutes when a silent explosion rocked the building, flames bursting out of the windows on Victoria's floor.
"That's her apartment," Craig said, pointing at the windows.
"Why the fuck is he blowing up her apartment," I asked, my brows drawing down in confusion. "It's not like she was anywhere near the place. What purpose does it serve?"
"Seriously?" Craig frowned. "Have you not met Victoria? Something like this would absolutely draw her out in the open if it weren't for us, that is. I mean, for fuck's sake, she knows the front desk man on a first-name basis. She'd run down there to try and personally put the fire out with a bucket."
"Az! You're gonna wanna see this!" Joey's voice from downstairs had me turning back toward the door right about the same time my phone started going off. I pulled it out of the inside pocket of my blazer as I descended the steps.
"This is Az," I said as I stepped back down onto the main floor and looked up at Joey, who was motioning at the T.V. For a second, I didn't understand what I was looking at… again.
"Boss… it's about the art gallery." One of my captains said as I simultaneously realized what was showing on the news now.
"Son of a bitch !" I yelled as I watched the police tape off my newly acquired gallery. The glass was smashed outward, and it was a fucking inferno. "I had a piece on LOAN in that motherfucker. This is going to cost a fucking fortune !"
"Didn't you say that it was called The Flaming June? The irony…" Leighton laughed.
"Fuck you." I snapped as my phone started beeping that I had a call coming in. "I'll call you back, Mark. This is probably about the gallery." I answered the call and watched the other line disconnect when Mark hung up. "This is Az."
"Mr. Casadei, this is Detective Zhou." The man's voice came over the line. "I was calling about your–"
"The gallery I'm watching burn on the fucking news, I'm guessing?" I snapped. "Shouldn't I have found out about this from you before the reports on the news were able to tell me about it?"
"Mr. Casadei, this seems like a bad case of timing. There was a news crew headed back to the station, they were apparently the ones that called in the fire. Seems they decided to grab their cameras at about the same time. Our apologies that you're having to find out this way, I assure you our captain is already on the phone with their producer. Is this a good time? I just have a few questions I'd like to ask."
I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I shifted the phone to my other ear. "I'm not sure what would give you the impression that watching millions of dollars in investment burn on my fucking television would be a good time , detective. But ask your questions."
"I appreciate the gravity of the situation, Mr. Casadei. But unfortunately, this is just standard procedure. Do you have any enemies, or can you think of anyone who may want to do this? Former business partner, jilted ex-employee… scorned lover? Anyone that might stick out in your mind?"
The question was almost hilarious, given the situation. "No." I deadpanned without further explanation. It's not like I could tell him we were currently in a gang war with another Mafia family, and they seemed set on tearing down the city to draw us out. I'm sure that would go over real well with the good Detective Zhou.
The detective moved on to his next question, and I responded on autopilot. My focus was primarily on the scene behind the reporter, trying to pick out anyone in the growing crowd that looked suspicious. It wasn't until the screen switched back to the reporters in the newsroom that I noticed the sound of Joey and Leighton's phones both ringing. The looks on both their faces, as they listened to whoever was on the other end of their respective calls told me something was horribly wrong.
"Detective," I said, cutting off whatever the man had been saying to me. "I must apologize, but I need to make a few more phone calls to insurance and the artists who've had their work destroyed by the fire. I'll call and make an appointment to speak with you more in-depth tomorrow."
"Yeah, uh. That's fine. Let me just-"
"I have the number to the precinct." I cut him off again. "I'll be in touch."
I didn't bother waiting for him to say anything else before disconnecting the call. In the few seconds it had taken me to get the detective off the line, Rich and Craig had both come downstairs wearing matching expressions of worry.
"What's wrong?" I asked, noting the rolled-up map in Rich's hand and the way Victoria seemed to be unable to decide who she needed to comfort first.
"The entire goddamned criminal underbelly of Sacona has organized against us. That's what's fucking wrong." Rich snarled, moving to the dining table and unfurling the map.
"Every silent alarm I have set went off almost at exactly the same time." Craig added, stepping up beside Rich and producing a black sharpie.
I watched as he quickly began marking off different places on the map where we conducted business. Several of them were the new locations we'd secured after sussing out the ones James had handed over to the Jackals.
"Fuck!" Leighton shouted. "Fucking, fuck!
Joey was still on the phone, firing off directives to whoever he was speaking with. Victoria moved to look over Craig's shoulder as he continued marking off places on the map, and I couldn't help but notice that our territory was rapidly shrinking.
"Street guys have been pinned down here, here, and here." Leighton spoke, moving to jab his finger on the map to indicate the skirmishes. "An entire crew damned near was wiped out here."
"My warehouses on Tenth, Union, and Lotus are gone." Joey piped in as he ended his call.
"What does this mean?" Victoria asked, her eyes widening with a hint of fear.
"It means we have to fucking move." Rich snipped.
"What? Why? I thought you guys said this was the safest place in Sacona for us." Victoria asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Not when they're taking out most of our men, Bunny." Craig said softly, making the final mark on the map.
As he stepped back, I took in the picture his marks made. We were being hit from all sides, and the circle was tightening in around us. There was no way so many attacks at once were the Jackals alone. Rich was right; the entire underbelly of the city was targeting us. The only thing that I couldn't figure out was who was pulling the strings. The small-time dealers and thugs were usually too busy squabbling over their scraps of territory to put their differences aside long enough to team up.
"Fucking hell." Rich bellowed, looking at his phone. "We need a safe house, now!"
"What?! What happened?!" Victoria shrieked in a panic.
Rich turned his hard glare on her and spoke. "There's a shootout less than five minutes away between some of our associates and soldiers and what sounds like a fucking band of mercenaries."
"Mercs? Are you sure?" Leighton asked.
"Pretty damn," Rich replied, holding up a blurry image of a man that looked somewhat familiar.
"Holy shit, is that Damien?" Leighton blanched.
"This is bad, this is so bad." Victoria blabbered. "If Leighton is scared, this is bad."
Joey grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "We worked with Damien way back when we were first making a name for ourselves. The man is a war criminal. He crosses boundaries that even Leighton would never."
"WHY ARE WE JUST STANDING HERE THEN?!" She shrieked.
"I agree with Princess for once. That is the appropriate response." Rich drawled. "Get your shit and let's go."
"Yes, go. Get all the guns. Please." Victoria whimpered. "These pants have decent-sized pockets, I can carry ammo or a knife or something if you need me to."
Under any other circumstances, I'd have found her words adorable. It was the panic underlining her words that had me hopping into gear. I barely caught Leighton handing her one of his favorite switchblades as I raced toward the stairs.
In a matter of minutes, we were all loaded into the armored SUV with our go-bags, each of us packing a gun. Victoria sat in the back, squished between Craig and Joey, holding the switchblade Leighton had given her tightly in her fist.
"Love, you need to put that away before you accidentally stab one of us," I said calmly as I slammed the passenger door.
"I'm not going to accidentally stab anyone," she snapped. "Leighton showed me how to use it. If anyone gets stabbed with it, it will be on purpose."
"We don't have time for you to squabble about this shit. Put it away, Princess, or I'll have Joey take it from you." Rich barked as he turned the key in the ignition.
"Fine, dad ." She huffed, folding it closed just as Rich tore out of the driveway.
We rode in tense silence as Rich sped through the neighborhood, all of us watching for someone following us. We'd been so focused on who might be behind us that we didn't see the danger straight ahead. Rich slammed on the brakes with a soft curse and swerved to the left, taking a side street to avoid the blockade in front of us, only to find it blocked by vehicles.
"Fuck!" He shouted, throwing the SUV into reverse.
"Uh, Rich!" Leighton called out from the third row. "Blocked this way too."
Not hesitating, Rich whipped the wheel so we were facing back the way we came. In the time it had taken us to take one side street and back out, we'd been boxed in.
"Shit." I hissed. "Looks like we're gonna have to do this here."
Three guns cocked behind me, and I knew Leighton, Craig, and Joey had all readied their weapons. I risked a glance behind me and nearly burst into laughter. Victoria's face was twisted into a feral snarl, and her blade was back in her hand. She looked ready to gut the first person she could, even though we weren't going to let anyone get close enough to give her that chance.
"That's precious, Love," I said as Rich slammed on the brakes and threw the SUV into park. "But stay in the fucking car."