Chapter 15
~Dominic~
“Who the fuck leaked the information of our route? Dario, other than the four of us, who else was privy to this information?”
Dario, Dante, and Nico are all meeting with me in my Manhattan office. I’m already pissed off that I had to leave Elle back at the mansion. I wanted to be the one to show her around my home and hated leaving her so abruptly. To sour my mood further—it looks as if we have a snitch. I’m livid.
Only our most trusted soldiers are given the shipment schedule and route.
And this information is only ever disclosed at the latest possible time.
To avoid exactly what has occurred, we change the route all the time.
This makes it difficult for anyone to predict our movement.
In addition, we have multiple warehouses and docks that we make use of.
“Dominic, only the ten men who were in charge of securing the route between the warehouse and the docks knew.” Dario oversees security, and he vets all our guards.
“They’ve all been with us for years and have already proven their loyalty.
” Nico Morelli says. He’s in charge negotiating the Family’s arms deal.
Out of all my capos, he’s the one that I’m closest to. We've known each other all our lives.
“Look into all of them. See if anyone has come into money recently. Most men can be bought for the right price.” I remind them.
“I'll speak to Pavlov about this fuckup. Hopefully he will overlook it with an incentive. I’ll propose to him an offer to replace his entire shipment of assault rifles which has been lost. An offer an additional one hundred pistols and rounds of ammunition at no additional cost. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to appease him. ”
They all agree that this was the best course of action.
“During our meeting with him, he certainly appeared to be invested in making our alliance work Brother.” Dante reminds me.
“He did. And he upheld his promise to share intel with us.” I’m irritated by the fact that I now owe the cocky Russian a debt.
“Yes, if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have been on time to save Elle. ” I admit.
Nico, who’s occupying an armchair in my office, looks between Dante and me with confusion.
“Who’s Elle?” He inquires. “She is the doctor who Dante brought to save me when I was kidnapped and tortured by Salvatore’s men.
” He raises his eyebrows at this. “But why did they target her?” When I don’t respond, Nico looks between my brother and cousin.
“I’m still looking into how they made the connection, Dom. ” Dario says.
“We need to solve this problem quickly, because I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep her at the mansion. Now that she knows about the family—she’s in even more danger than before.”
“WHAT! You told her about us?” Dante by now is pacing in front of my desk clearly agitated. I lean forward in my chair with my hands resting on the desk and my fingers interlocked.
“She deserved to know why she was attacked and almost violated. And let’s not forget, which one of us kidnapped an innocent woman and dragged her into our world?
By this time, I’m fighting to keep my anger in check.
Anytime I remember what those monsters almost did to Elle, I want to break something.
Since the attack three days ago, her screams at night have been disturbing.
The first night I heard it I was horrified at her inner turmoil and was genuinely worried about her mental health.
The thought of her remaining isolated in her bedroom and wasting away had me panicking.
If anyone were to find out that Don Vitelli was this worried about a woman's well-being, they would laugh.
It was my memory of the photo of her during her morning run that had given me the idea of how to coax Elle out of her room.
“Dom, you know that I had no choice. It was the only way to save you. You had lost a lot of blood and none of our doctors would have been there quickly enough.” Dante's voice snaps me back to our conversation.
“Do you have feelings for this girl, Dominic?” The glare that I send Dario’s way has him raising his eyebrows.
“She’s in danger because of us. We owe it to Elle to keep her safe.
What I feel for her doesn’t matter.” No doubt, they all realize that I don’t deny that I have feelings for Elle.
“She mentioned to me today that Alban was the one who sent his men after her.” I steer the conversation away from any talk of my feelings for Elle.
“Those bastards have not gotten the message yet—that I don’t want them operating in my city.
Pavlov has admitted to the same problem as us.
The Albanians have also been trying to encroach on his territory in Chicago.
Ever since those scumbags decided to expand their operations from Europe to the United States, they’ve been trying to carve out more of our territory for themselves.
Our predecessors made a grievous mistake by doing business with them. ”
When my father was alive, I argued with him about ending this association.
However, he was blinded with greed. He didn’t care how the money was made once his pockets and those of his cronies were being filled.
After the meeting I spoke to Pavlov, appraising him of the situation.
Luckily, he agreed to the reparations being made.