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“Seventeen so far, three dead, four in ICU. It’s going to have the cops on red alert, which means if we’re going to hit the Serbians, we’re going to need to do something soon,” Rome answers as he shakes Finn’s hand.
Both men are Makenna’s right-hand men. She trusts them above everyone else in her organization. They’re family. Finn is her brother, the man who would go above everyone elseto protect her. He’s proven his loyalty to her in ways many wouldn’t, including almost losing his woman over not going against his sister.
“How the fuck has this been happening and we’ve not known until it’s too late?” Dante demands. He’s furious. Not that anyone can blame him. This shit has been happening in our city, on our turf. It’s a bad fucking look for not only us, but the entire criminal underworld.
“It’s too neat,” Stefan says as he glances around the room. The man has been promoted to Dante’s most trusted soldier. He’s proven his loyalty to not only the Famiglia but also to the Clann. For that, he’s been given the biggest honor he can receive: being promoted above everyone else.
“What do you mean?” Finn grunts. “How is it too fucking neat? The bastards have killed people.”
“Exactly. They’ve been selling drugs laced with fuck knows what, and then they waltzed into Dynamite without a care in the world, killed over twenty people, and walked away without anyone getting a good look at their faces. No, this is way too neat. It reeks of planning, organizing.”
Dante scrubs a hand along his jaw. “They’ve had this in the works for a while,” he concludes. “Which means they no doubt have more planned.”
“They’ll have gone to ground,” I say. “There’s no way you can be that organized and not have a plan in place to disappear until the heat dies down.”
Makenna nods in agreement. “Finn, call Danny. We’re going to need Melissa to find out as much as she can about the cunts who hit Dynamite and anywhere they could be hiding.”
Finn walks out of the office, his cell to his ear. Within the next twenty-four hours, every Gallagher is going to be in New York. Danny is Finn and Makenna’s nephew. He’s the head of the Irish Mafia in the United Kingdom. He’s a fucking beast who’d takeanyone out who would ever try and harm his family. Come after his wife, and he’ll kill you without a second thought. He’s proven it once already. He was kidnapped, and his wife was threatened. Danny boy beat the ever-loving shit out of the guy who took him and killed him without breaking a sweat. Lucky for us, his wife, Melissa, is a fucking genius when it comes to hacking and technology. She can get us any information we may need. She’s the best in the business.
Everyone is in deep thought, trying to figure out how we can find a way to track these bastards down, but there’s something about this situation that doesn’t sit right with me. Hell, why on earth would the Serbians come after us? It’s a fucking death sentence. No matter what, you’ll end up dead. Coming after the Familiga means you tangle with everyone we’re associated with, and that’s a fuck of a lot of people. No, something about this all has my gut screaming.
“What if they’re not working alone?” I muse out loud.
The air in the room goes static. Dante’s jaw clenches, Makenna sits forward in her seat, and Romero looks as though he’s about to go hunting. I guess I’ve hit the nail on the head.
“Who?” Dante growls. “Who’d be stupid enough to come after us?”
“Who wouldn’t?” I retort with a snort. “I mean, whoever it is, they’re working behind the scenes, getting the Serbs to do their dirty work. Whoever it is, they’re sneaky as fuck.”
“Which means they’ve had this in the works for a while, maybe even years,” Mac says as his gaze moves around the room. Liam ‘Mac’ McCarthy has shot up the ranks within the Clann and is now Makenna’s right hand man. He’s as close to her as her brother and Romero are. He’s earned that loyalty from her. He’s the man who went against his boss—Makenna’s underboss—and told the truth regarding the missing drug shipment. From that moment on, Mac was regarded as a straight talker and a manwho could maybe be trusted. Instead of being made Underboss, he became Makenna’s guard, and in turn, her closest man.
I grit my teeth as one organization comes to mind. The Bratva. We fucked them over in more ways than one over the years. As the Famiglia and the Clann grew to prominence, the Bratva slowly disappeared, but their men are still out there. They’re rebuilding, I just know they are. The question is, who’s at the helm these days? Is it still Maksim?
Dante and I share a look. It seems I’m not the only one to jump to the Russians for this. “Given what’s happened in recent weeks, I wouldn’t say it’s out of the realm of impossible.”
Romero snorts. “Yeah, especially when we took out most of their men when Holly was missing.”
The anger in his voice is clear for us to hear. My brother still thinks a lot about what happened to his wife, and I know it haunts him even to this day. With this shit happening now, it’s probably going to send him into overdrive to protect her.
When my sister-in-law went missing, Dante and Romero opened fire on the Russian boxing gym, killing the majority of the Russian fighters. It turned out the Russians had nothing to do with Holly's disappearance. That was all down to Georgia, Romero’s ex—also the woman I cheated on Yelena with. It’s been years since that shit went down and the Russian's haven't made a move. It’s the only thing that makes sense. No one else has the motive to come after us.
Dante rises to his feet. “It’s time to have a meeting with Maksim,” he announces, and I smile. Fuck yes, it’s time to get this shit sorted once and for all.
Entering the restaurant brings back a lot of memories. This is the base for the Bratva. They all meet here and plan their shit. It’s easy to spot outsiders, and whenever someone who doesn’t belong to the Bratva turns up, everyone leaves. It’s one of the many reasons the cops can’t get dirt on them. They can’t send anyone in to get information. The moment they enter, they’re under suspicion.
“You have a lot of nerve,” I hear the heavily accented, feminine voice say, her tone full of disdain. “I’d leave if I were you.”
“Annika,” I respond dryly. She’s Yelena’s cousin. The woman doesn’t give a fuck about her cousin as she tried to get me to fuck her on more than one occasion. I was never that desperate, though. She dislikes me for no other reason than I preferred her cousin to her. My gaze moves to her finger, and I see the flash of a gold band. “I see you're married. Condolences to your husband.”
Her cheeks heat, and she narrows her eyes. “What is it that you want?”
“To speak with your grandfather,” I say as I take a seat, both Dante and Stefan following suit.
I had thought Dante would have taken the lead, but while we were on our way here, he told me he was going to let me do so. I have more of a relationship with Maksim than he does, and I never killed any of his men—as of yet. That could all change, depending on how this meeting goes.
For Dante to give me that trust, it tells me that he’s put to bed the past and has fully given me a second chance, something many others would not have done had the tables been turned.
My cell buzzes in my pocket. Reaching for it, I see it’s a text from Thomas. I once again have tasked the man with a job. I should really employ him full-time with the amount of money he charges me. As I’m busy here in New York, I have tasked Thomasto keep tabs on Gabriella. With this shit show going down, not to mention what happened while I was in Denver, it wouldn’t take a genius to find out who helped me out of that alleyway—even though Melissa worked her magic and got the security tapes erased. It wouldn’t be impossible for someone to find out she’s the reason I’m alive.
