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“I’m sorry, solnishko. I didn’t mean for this to happen. What can I do?”
She grinned at me. “I started it.” She looked down at my worried expression, her smile widening. “I’m okay. I promise. It’s just difficult to catch my breath right now,” she said, her palm resting against my cheek. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the hell out of that though.”
I cursed under my breath again, standing in front of her. “Can you walk? I can carry you downstairs. I think I should carry you after I almost made you pass out,” I said, pulling her up in front of me. I didn’t wait for her to argue, I just bent down and scooped her up. “I’ll be happy when you can eat again. You’re getting skinny again. You’re going to be all sharp soon,” I said as I walked us down the hallway.
The guys were all somewhat concerned when I carried her out of the bedroom. “It’s okay. I might’ve gotten carried away and almost made her pass out. The least I can do is carry her while she catches her breath,” I said, somewhat sheepishly. I heard several chuckles behind us while we walked to the door. Sephie hid her face against my neck, so she wouldn’t have to see them grinning at me.
The police commissioner was prompt, walking into my office exactly on time. “Henry,” I said, as I stood to shake his hand. Viktor, who had escorted him up, stayed by the door after he closed it. The rest of the guys were already in the office. Henry looked to all of them, nodding. He spotted Sephie behind me. She was already on the cabinet behind my desk. “You must be Sephie. I’ve heard quite a bit about you,” he said, smiling warmly at her.
She slowly started to get off the cabinet. Ivan saw her and went to help her stand up. She walked over slowly, extending her hand to Henry. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but hopefully it’s not all bad.”
“Quite the contrary. Vinny’s happens to be one of my favorite places for lunch. Both he and his wife can’t say enough good things about you. Or him, for that matter,” he said, gesturing toward me.
She smiled widely at the mention of Vinny and Anna. “They’re wonderful people. My stomach is in a long-term relationship with his sandwich shop.”
Henry laughed. I motioned for him to sit while I helped Sephie back up on the cabinet behind my desk. I tried to move a chair there for her, but she said she preferred to sit on the cabinet. She said most people forgot she was back there, so she could watch them without them being completely aware she was doing so.
“So, tell me, what’s this important that we actually needed to meet in person?” Henry asked.
“I know you’re aware of some of what’s been happening, but you need to know the full story. I also have somewhat of a solution for the situation that I think you and the mayor will be happy with,” I said.
“I know about the brawn situation and the doctor finally being captured, both of which I’m grateful to you for taking care of. I’ve been hearing rumors of some of the bosses raising taxes in their areas of the city. Does it have to do with that?”
I nodded. “It’s larger than that. The bosses made a move to overthrow me. Lorenzo has been looking for a way back to the city. The attempted coup was his way back. Salvadori was behind most of it, although every single boss is guilty of going along with it.”
“Which means what for the other bosses? That can’t be sitting well with you.”
“It’s not. It means I’m getting rid of all of them. Lorenzo is already taken care of. Armando, Dario, and Massimo are too. The other three will be shortly.”
Henry thought for a moment. “Are you replacing them then?”
“Not exactly. I don’t need them. I’ve never needed them.”
Henry’s jaw tensed as he considered what this meant for the city. I heard Sephie say quietly in Russian, “He thinks that’s too much power for one person. He’s worried you’ll become a tyrant.”
“There’s another player behind the bosses as well. I have enough evidence that makes it look like he’s the one that’s been running the city for years so that he can easily be tried and jailed, making it appear as though you and the mayor are being extremely tough on crime. Once the other bosses are taken care of, the increased taxes they’ve imposed go away. I’ve never been a fan of high taxes. The people know that. I would much rather they keep their money and invest it back in their community. That will become the norm once I take care of the bosses. I continue to run the city behind the scenes as I’ve been doing for the past ten years. Crime returns to the lower rates. Everything goes back to the way it was a couple years ago before the bosses started to get greedy. I have plenty of money. I don’t see a reason to needlessly raise taxes on hard-working people. That won’t change.”
“This other player—who is it?”
“Ricardo De Luca.”
“No shit?” Henry said, clearly shocked.
“You know him?”
“He’s been slipping out of our grasp for years now. He was instrumental in setting up a pipeline for Lorenzo’s human trafficking before your father banished him. He resurfaced years later as a supposed legitimate businessman. One of my detectives has been watching his deals with Armando in the city. We could never get him on anything substantial, so there was never a reason to look further into his finances, etc.,” he said.
“Until now,” Ivan said. He stood up and handed Henry the stack of papers that the journalist had given Chen.
“Where did you get this?” Henry asked, looking through the pages. “Holy shit. This is what we’ve been wanting to find.”
“The source wishes to remain anonymous. I will say, however, that he’s a very thorough source. You’ll find everything you need there to make an arrest,” I said.
Henry continued to look through the papers, but eventually stopped. He looked up to me. “I need to talk to the mayor, of course. I can’t make this decision on my own. Although, it’s going to be difficult for him to ignore Ricardo once he sees this. You’ve always been great at working with us instead of against us. The people of the city are happy that you stopped the brawn operation. The media had a field day with that one. Those who know you love you. Those who don’t know you loved the peace you brought when you took over.”
“None of that will change,” I said.
He stood up, which meant I stood up as well. He still looked thoughtful. Ivan moved to help Sephie stand up, so she could stand beside me. She asked quietly, “The mayor is getting money from the other bosses, isn’t he?”
