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Paxton Lee knew when to retreat... for now at least. But if he thought that gave him the key to controlling her, he was in for a shock.
Chapter Five
“I want to know what’s going on, Luca. Find your brothers. My nose tells me something’s rotten. I’m not setting foot in San Francisco until I know what’s going on.”
Marco Boneiro paced behind a copper clad bay window of a beach mansion in Bonthe, a coastal town located on Sherbro Island in the southern Province of Sierra Leone. It bordered the Sherbro River estuary, a hidden refuge tucked away from prying eyes.
“I’ll make the call in the study,” Luca’s voice cracked with irritation. He was sick and tired of covering for his idiot brothers.
Marco waved him off as he followed the slow passage of a fishing trawler in the distance. Sierra Leone was one of his favorite indulgences. Here, he could relax without the constant threat of discovery. It also offered several business opportunities for expanding his wealth.
The exalted Mafia Don lived large— a fact magnified by his international real estate holdings. That being said, these particular locations were also used to help facilitate the various criminal enterprises of the Boneiro Family, tax evasion being just one facet of a labyrinthian conglomerate. The properties were registered to various shell companies, which made finding him nearly impossible. It was also the reason he’d never been caught for all his illicit business dealings.
This new venture would be no different. The Boneiro Mafia had recently expanded into diamond smuggling. Marco was after one of the biggest stones to cement his business acumen of yet another branch of criminal activities controlled by The Commission. It was time he got the accolades and title he deserved. Marco Boneiro aimed to become the Chairman of the National Commission. Once he held that revered position, he would bring back and enforce the one-man rule to become thecapo di tutti capi— the boss of all bosses— of the Cosa Nostra. Lucky Luciano, the father of modern organized crime in the United States, abolished the old Mustache Pete system years ago in an effort to reduce gang wars while he cleverly maintained his own power over all the families. Now, it was Marco’s goal to reverse it. He might not be able to bring back the exalted title ofcapo di tutti capibut the power he’d wield would set him high above his enemies. Hewouldbe the boss of all bosses.
The time for voting for a new chairman was near. He needed to clinch this deal to ensure an undisputed win. Dealing with his idiot sons was a distraction he couldn’t afford.
“I can’t get hold of either of them but I did manage to talk to a neighbor in Pacific Palisades.”
Marco turned to watch his eldest son walk toward him. A deep frown pulled Luca’s eyebrows into a straight line. His body seethed with anger and frustration. Alarm bells blared in Marco’s mind. Luca never showed emotion which made him one of the most lethal assassins there was. For him to do so now was worrying.
“What made you call him? They’re not supposed to be at the family home. They were told to clear out the warehouses to make space for our new coffee shipments arriving next month.”
“What did you expect, Boss? Giving the carte blanche was bound to turn into a disaster.”
Marco grunted. None of his children called him father. In his mind, it levelled the playing field among his followers— knowing that he didn’t favor his own sons above any of them.
“What happened?”
“They obviously didn’t want their style cramped and stayed at the house. The neighbor said he saw them playing ball with a little girl in the backyard.”
“What little girl? I’m going to fucking castrate them,” Marco exploded. He cursed as a thought crossed his mind. “Senator Wilson. It has to be his daughter. It was all over CNN that she’d been kidnapped four days ago.”
Luca stared at him questioningly. “You mentioned him in passing at dinner before we left. Do you think they kidnapped her to force him to scrap the rough diamond importation bill we discussed?”
“What else? It’s the only thing that makes sense. If they fuck up my chances at being voted in as Chairman, I’m done with them.”
Marco was livid. One of the reasons he’d been able to keep his coffee and wine imports secure and operating just inside the boundaries of the law was because he had the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in his pocket. He knew which strings to pull when it came to getting his way.
The new bill that had been presented to the cabinet to amend the importation act on rough diamonds created a huge problem for Marco. It couldn’t have come at a worse time since he had recently embarked on diamond trading as a legitimate way to increase the capital liquidity of the Mafia to fund their illegitimate businesses. The two aspects of the regulations around rough diamond importation would restrict the ease with which he could bring rough diamonds and maybe blood diamonds into the U.S.
His main focus for obtaining rough diamonds was from Sierra Leone. It was one of the countries the new act would remove from the approved list as a participant in the Kimberley Process and not subjected to further U.S. restrictions. This was all due to the heavy diamond smuggling originating in that country.
Secondly, where to date, importing diamonds had been unconditionally duty free, the intention was to implement hefty import and duty taxes to the rate of 8% of the value of the goods. That would seriously impact Marco’s profit. One way or the other, he needed to convince the cabinet to scrap the new amendment on the bill.
His halfwit sons just exacerbated the problem. Now it would cost him millions to convince them all to vote against implementing the changed legislation.
“You might be right. According to our neighbor, there was a group of friends who joined them. They’d been anything but quiet. He said there was a hushed disruption after nine o’clock at night, two days ago.”
“What the fuck is a hushed disruption?”
“All the lights went on and there were a couple of, what he described as surprised shouts, but it all quieted down in less than a couple of minutes. He didn't bother to go and check since everything went back to normal and the lights were turned off.” Luca shrugged with a grim expression. “The next morning, everyone was gone. He assumed they’d left.”
“Which means those assholes took their soldiers to the house as well. How fucking stupid could they be!” Marco looked at Luca. “Have you tried to contact any of them? Antonio or Dante?”
“I did. They’re not picking up. I didn’t want to leave a message in case they’d been caught.”
“Which is what you believe happened?” Marco pointed at the large wall-mounted television. “Check CNN. If Wilson’s daughter had been found, they'll report it.”
