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I nod, casting one last look at Martin. He gives me a small smile and a nod of his own before turning away.
Philippe tugs me toward the exit, the familiar rumble of his sports car waiting outside. "You did well today," he says as we walk. "Better than I expected."
"It was petrifying," I admit.
Philippe frowns, shaking his head. "I'm sorry you went through that."
"It's not your fault," I immediately protest, but he's already got a darkness behind his eyes I can't quite decipher.
Chapter 35
Philippe
The next evening, as I walk through my subterranean casino, I can’t believe the carnage left behind by the Bratva. I don’t understand their actions. What cause did they have to attack us here again? The more pressing question is, how did they even get in?
After their last attack, security was increased. The Bratva and all of their associates were barred from entering any of my facilities and placed on our watch list. When they murdered Tatiana's parents, they crossed that final line, which warrants retaliation from our side. Which we will do once the investigation concludes.
It baffles me how they managed to get past security. We've always had top-notch security. Even so, with the new measures implemented after the murders, they should never, ever have entered. Something is amiss.
"Uncle Carlo," I whisper to him under my breath, "find out if we have traitors amongst our ranks."
No other plausible explanation comes to mind.
"Boss, check this out," Luca calls to me.
I stride over. At my feet lies a severed hand, fingers bound together by a thick crimson ribbon - a message from the Bratva. They must have used one of our own to bypass our security systems.
"Any idea who this belongs to?" I ask him, trying to maintain my composure.
"Based on the signet ring, it looks like it belonged to Frankie," Luca replies, his voice barely above a whisper. I clench my fists in anger. Frankie was a loyal member of our family. The Russians have turned his limb into a mere key for their twisted game.
"Find out everything you can about how they got in here," I demand, my voice cold and steely. "Leave no stone unturned."
"Of course, Boss. We're on it," Luca nods, his face pale but determined.
As I survey the wreckage, I think of how vulnerable we've become. These Russians have infiltrated our world, leaving chaos and death in their wake. And now, they've struck at theheart of my operation. It's a personal attack, a challenge to my authority. This is open war.
I won't stand for it. There will be fitting retribution once I understand how they managed to pull this off.
"Boss, we found something else," another one of my men calls out, his gloved hand holding up something unrecognizable.
I walk over. The sight before me is gruesome, sending a wave of nausea through my body. It's Frankie's eyeball, ripped from its socket and left on the ground. An unsettling sight; the bile rises to the back of my throat as I stare at his now pale green eyes.
"What is the meaning of this?" Uncle Carlo comes closer, his face turning pale as he gazes at the severed eyeball. His voice trembles with fury, "Those savages! How could this have happened? We’ve taken every precaution."
"It seems that was not enough," my consigliere Enzo strides towards us, almost running. "We found two bodies in the woods," he pants. "Frankie and Aldo. And not only did they kill them, but they cut off their fingers and eyeballs to bypass our security measures for biometric authentication. Boss... they mutilated our brothers alive."
My blood freezes in my veins at Enzo's words. "Uncle Carlo, call a meeting. Include every Italian mob boss we have as an ally," I say, my voice low and filled with determination. "We're going to war. We are going to cut the bloody Russians down."
Without hesitation, Uncle Carlo nods and rushes off to carry out my orders.
"Enzo," I turn to him. "Even if they used body parts for access, wouldn't the CCTV footage have caught it?"
"Not since they had this," he bemoans, shaking his head as he hands me a small pen drive. "We found it in our video input unit. They had the real-life footage manipulated."
"Let me see that," I say, taking it from his hand. It's a crude hacking tool, but it's effective nonetheless. This must be how they accessed and modified our CCTV system.
"Keep searching," I tell my men, not wanting to leave anything to chance. "Find any other clues, no matter how small."
