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“Precisely.” Angelo smooths a hand down his perfectly straight tie. “Rocco, deliver his head to the Whiskey Run, right before you and your soldiers bring every last one of the slimeballs who work there to the warehouse.”
“Jesus Christ, Angelo,” Marco mutters.
He turns to Marco. “You have a problem with that? May I remind you that these men all played a part in Katiya being kidnapped and almost sold to a sex trafficking ring, along with blowing up my car.” He stands and starts to pace. Running a hand over my face, I try not to make eye contact. I don’t wanna be in the firing line. “They went after our mother!” He shakes with rage.
Marco stands, resting a hand on Angelo’s shoulder, but he shrugs it off. Turning his back to us, he faces the window, trying to gain composure.
“What do you want to do, Angelo?” Enzo asks bravely. “Whatever it is, we will do it.”
“I want them all dead,” he states simply. “So bring them to the warehouse, that’s all I ask. I will deal with every one of them the old-fashioned way.”
I don’t like my brother like this, he’s dangerous. When he’s dangerous, he’s absolutely lethal.
Rocco’s lips twitch. I know he’s looking forward to this expedition if it may involve killing someone.
“Very well,” Enzo replies. His eyes meet Marco’s. Marco shakes his head subtly.
We know it’s best not to push Angelo when he’s like this. It’s best to let him get it off his chest, and then put a plan into place. He’s like a stick of dynamite, lit and ready to explode.
“Do all of them have to be alive?” Rocco clarifies.
Angelo turns, walking back to the table. “Yes.”
I hold back my smirk.
This line of questioning won’t even be brutal, it will be fast.
“The one question is, if this Il Diavolo has been gaining numbers and slowly moving through the ranks, why are we only just hearing about it now?” I ask.
“Distraction,” Rocco mutters. “All of it.”
I think back to all the things that have happened in this last year… but we still have people on the ground who report back to Angelo.
“They’ve been bought off,” Angelo says, as if reading my mind. “Two of our guys are dead, and the others are in hiding, so rest assured there is no place anyone can hide who double crosses us.”
I don’t want us to go into lockdown again, but something tells me Angelo will not run away from this.
“Those we thought we could trust have let us down,” Enzo adds. “Which means our enemy has the money and power to go unnoticed. Working their way through our ranks, picking off those that can be bought to gain intel, gain trust, turning our own soldiers against us, all from underground, all quietly with nobody noticing anything.”
Silence hangs around the room.
“We need to secure the ranks,” Marco begins. “Send Darko and Garrett in, flush out the rest of the assholes who are working for Il Diavolo, and deal with them accordingly. Once the snitches are taken care of, a path will clear, and we will be one step closer to finding him.”
Angelo puts his hands on the back of the chair as he stares at the table.
“Surely, there has to be word on the street?” I say. “So no one has ever actually met Il Diavolo?”
“Correct,” Angelo replies. “He’s hiding, which means he has a lot to lose. They tried to make a war between us and the Bratva, but when that didn’t work, they used Allegra and Rombaldi to set up that elaborate scheme to force my hand. They attacked us. The Triads failed. So did the Colombians, and all the while, he’s been slithering through the grass unnoticed, like a snake, ready to strike.”
“We will stop him,” Dante says. “Regardless of what traction he’s gained within the underworld ranks, we still have those that are loyal to us. To snuff him out, we have to get to the heart of it. There is no loyalty anymore, Angelo. Money speaks louder than words.”
“Rocco will organize a meeting with the remaining associates in the city, the ones who say they are still loyal to us. I want to know how they didn’t notice, or did they take a bribe too to look the other way? I want every single pair of fucking eyes and ears on this,” he says, clenching his hands around the back of the chair. “If Il Diavolo thinks he can sneak into my city, try to kill me and my family, and take what’s mine, he’s seriously underestimated how far I will go to protect what we’ve built.”
“Mario would be proud,” Marco says. “And Papa too.”
Angelo takes a deep breath.
I know he handles the business well, just like Mario and Papa taught him. He’s a force to be reckoned with, but it takes its toll. The stress pouring out of him is immense and I feel it in my gut.
