Page 120 of Ruthless God

I didn’t know, and at this point, I didn’t care as long as she stayed out of my life for good.

29

MASSIMO

My phone rang late afternoonthe next day.

I held up one finger for Romeo and Elio to be silent as I answered the call, putting it on speaker.

“Andre. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Cut the crap, De Luca. I want my daughter back. I know you have her.”

“Your daughter? You mean the girl who escaped the Bratva and came to my territory for help?”

“You’re lying. Lina wouldn’t have done that. She knows what her responsibilities are.”

“Does she? Or do you think you’ve spoiled the girl a little too much? And the first time she doesn’t get what she wants, she throws a tantrum?”

“Tantrum,” he spat out on the phone. “If you don’t give me back my daughter back, I will fucking come and get her back.”

Elio grinned at Andre’s words.

“Then come and get her,” I said. “We’ll be sure to give you a warm welcome.”

I would fuckinglovefor him to come into my territory, with all the might of the fucking Bratva and any traitors he had been able to lure away from Emilio.

He sputtered something unintelligible through the line, but I hung up on him before he could form words. I turned to my brother.

Elio chuckled darkly. “You think he’ll do it? For his daughter?”

“He is more concerned about what it will do to his reputation if word got out that I have his daughter than he is about her well-being. What would the men following him think?”

“That they have made a mistake,” Romeo chimed in. “And he would be dealing with nothing but chaos for a while.”

I nodded in agreement.

“What do you want us to do?” Elio asked.

“I want you to find where the Bratva is keeping their merchandise. I don’t think it’s in New York with them. At least, not after the initial inspection.”

Elio frowned. “You think he would use Chicago?”

“He does have Andre to show him all the good hiding places.”

“That’s risky. And stupid. If Emilio got even the slightest hint that it was in his territory, he would stop at nothing to get to it. Then they would be out millions of dollars.”

“It’s bold,” I said. “And it serves as a statement. It sounds like something Boris Novikov would do.”

“What, is the little shit calling all the shots now?” Romeo murmured.

I turned to my younger brother. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he was. Senior Novikov is getting up in age. And there had been whispers that his men were dissatisfied with some of his decisions lately. Like pairing up with the Devil’s Wings MC.”

Which wouldn’t have been such a bad decision, considering that they now have us surrounded on both ends. From New York to California, where the MC’s chapter was located, to some of Andre’s contacts in Chicago, had the Devil’s WingsMC’s president been anyone but Cameron O’Connor—a fucking traitor to the Irish Mob near the Canadian border.

No one had forgotten the embarrassment he caused the O’Connor’s name by getting scammed by the FBI and telling all of their secrets. He ran to California with his tail tucked between his legs. And if there was one thing that was unforgivable, it was working with the feds, knowingly or worse—unknowingly.

“Elio, I want you to contact Valentino and see if he could find anything. I don’t think the Novikov Bratva is hiding anything important directly in Chicago, but perhaps somewhere near it. Have him burn anythingRussian. I want to draw them out to this war. If a runaway wife wouldn’t do it, a loss in merchandise will.”