Page 32

Chapter 32

Vito

We're in Massimo's office at the estate instead of his residence. He doesn't want us at his place much these days, but I won't push him on that right now.

His office is a command center, buzzing with menacing energy as we plot battle.

Massimo is on the phone with Gabe standing close by him.

Daniele, our bloodhound who can ferret out intel and people who don't want to be found, hunches over her laptop.

Crispin, the head of our tech team, operates all the computer equipment, some of which show aerial views of what I'm assuming are our enemies' positions.

Zio Marco, minus the icy light blue eyes, reminds me so much of Babbo thatit hurts. He's ready for the field—strapped with weapons and wearing a bulletproof vest under his dress shirt. He shrugs into his suit vest and jacket.

I shake my head. "You guys and the goddamn monkey suits."

He smirks at me, buttoning up his jacket. The material is snugger than usual, but loose enough not to restrict movement. " Nipote ." Nephew. His eyes scan the room behind me. "Where's Raf?"

"I told him to stay with the protection teams for Sophie's ultrasound." Besides myself, there's no one more I trust with that job. "Which I can't believe Creed is still allowing to go ahead, given this development."

"Sophie has some cramping and mild spotting," Massimo says, coming up beside me. "Otherwise, Creed wouldn't risk it."

"Fuck, is Triple S and the baby okay?"

" Mamma 's with them, helping to keep them both calm. She had the same experience with all of us." Massimo's dark brows furrow, showing his worry. His phone rings, and he glances at it. "It's Alessio; he's calling me back to give me whatever he can on Mancini. Excuse me."

I turn to Zio Marco. "Update me."

"Come," he says. "Alberto is on the screen with Crispin."

Alberto Romani, Raf's uncle, is our Capo for the San Jose area.

We walk over to the bank of computer screens, and Crispin nods at me, his knee bouncing up and down. It's always like he's drank three energy drinks, but he speaks with a contradictory, slow drawl.

"Vito." Alberto dips his chin in hello when I come into view on the screen. His Italian accent is heavy, and his bushy brows are pulled together.

"Catch me up, boys."

"It's Mancini," Crispin confirms.

"Holed up with Novak in a factory on the outskirts of San Jose," Alberto adds.

"How did we miss picking up Novak in our area? How long has he been here?" I grit.

We've been watching for Czech mafia soldiers, and Novak himself, for months. I'm not accusing Crispin or anyone else, but in a way, I am. It's one thing for a low-level grunt to be trespassing in our territory, but the head of the criminal faction pushing and testing our control of our territory is a different beast. Our intel and systems should've picked him up.

"He just arrived by private plane," Crispin explains. " With Mancini. Both used aliases for the flight manifest. My facial recognition software embedded in the airport's surveillance system picked them up."

Crispin embedded his program into all the major surveillance systems in California; it's immensely helpful. Case in point: today.

"One of their tech people tried to loop the cameras to block them from being caught on the surveillance. On their end, it looks like it worked; they won't suspect that we know they're here."

"Good work, Crispin." I run my tongue over my teeth. "So… enemies are traveling together like a bad case of genital warts."

"Is the enemy thing for show?" Alberto wonders. "Or is this a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"The first question is, when did Mancini evolve from an insignificant rival to our enemy?" I ask. "The shit that went down between Babbo and him was years ago."

"Time only allows disgrace and embarrassment to fester," Zio Marco says.

I guess that's true; nothing is more fickle or dangerous than a narcissistic, power-hungry dick with a bruised ego.

"I think the enemy piece between Novak and Mancini is for show," Daniele pipes in from the sofa. She doesn't look up from her laptop as she hammers at the keyboard. "I've intercepted their communications that go back years, but they're all encrypted. I'm working on decoding the content of the emails."

"So, maybe Mancini took out Slovak and all his leadership so Novak could take over the Czechs?" Alberto muses.

I start to pace, cracking my knuckles. "That isn't crucial right now. The bigger question is, why the fuck do they feel they have the balls to come into Santoro territory? And what's their end goal?"

"Neither of their organizations have the manpower or resources for war against us." Marco frowns. "Especially not to fight us on our turf."

Gabe joins us. Gabrielle Ricci is a big guy, just as big as Massimo, and we refer to him as death-on-two-legs. I felt he'd make a great second for Massimo, rather than me and Marco job-sharing it, but Gabe feels he's best suited for protecting Massimo's back as his head bodyguard.

"Alessio didn't have much to add about Mancini and his intentions," he says. "Only that Mancini's human trafficking routes and supply have been severely cut off the past year, and he's looking for new sources and routes. He also said Eduardo Tocci may be backing them."

Previously, we suspected Tocci might be supporting the Czech mafia's efforts to push into our territory but never had any proof. If those two and Mancini are banding together; they could have the resources to at least try and challenge us.

But to gain what?

There's no way they'd overthrow us. Challenge us yes, but our hold here was too strong, especially with all our allies.

"Well, whoever Novak and Mancini are working with," Alberto says, "they must be planning something big and think they have a sure thing to risk coming into our territory."

"If they're allying with Tocci, Las Vegas is landlocked; they need our ports on this section of the West Coast for a transport route, which we'd never allow. There's someone else involved here." I fist my hands, growling, "We're missing something."

Massimo joins us. "Alessio is certain something's going down with Mancini regarding human trafficking. Glass, with the FBI, feels the same based on chatter they've been hearing."

Human trafficking is a lucrative enterprise; however, we refuse to make our profits that way. None of the Chamber organizations condone it, and we don't allow human cargo to move through our ports.

I glance at Massimo. "If Novak and Mancini are working together, that's likely why the Czechs were testing us earlier with the low-level grunts transporting those women."

His face is dark, and his jaw rigid. "I want both Novak and Mancini alive. They have questions to answer before we tear them into pieces."

Massimo's monster is peeking out. He usually keeps that beast well-caged, only letting it come out when he's periodically getting elbow-deep into the blood and gore of wet work.

His phone buzzes in his fist. He's beside me, and when he opens it, I catch part of the conversation, seeing one of his texts.

You have her travel plans. You know what to do

Unease buzzes in me that his message might be about Eden, but I reassure myself that Eden has no travel plans. I want to say I know my brother well enough that he wouldn't act on Eden; not only because of the sanctity of Gilly's, but out of respect for me. However, if he feels he's protecting me, I'm unsure of the lengths he'd go. There's a darker vein in Massimo than anyone realizes.

Alberto pulls my thoughts away by asking Massimo if they have the go-ahead to proceed.

"Yes," Massimo says. "But reconnaissance only for now."

"Massimo," I growl. "They're here in our territory without permission."

"Yes, I know." His fists clench. "I need to know their bigger agenda and who else is involved first. Mancini was initially loosely implicated in the threat against Sophie. Creed has linked Mancini and Morales through Magna Titano Group, the shit construction company. Now Mancini is here."

I shove my hand over my hair. "Because of the connection to Morales, you're thinking maybe not just a human trafficking ring, but they're connected to that death ring."

That sick fucking ring also had sex slavery as part of it.

Massimo's look is dark. "As soon as Sophie's appointment is over, I want her back here; Creed will have her on lockdown until we know more, for sure."

"What if something is wrong with the baby or Sophie, and they need to go to the hospital?" I'm trying to prepare from all angles as I take out my phone to text Raf for the protection teams to prepare for a level-one threat.

"Creed already has Andro getting everything they need for emergency care to be set up here, including Nina and a few other trusted medical team members."

Nina is Dom Jude's sister. She's a doctor, and Dom had ensured she had nothing to do with the gang. The Jude children hadn't been born and raised in the life; their mother kept them far away from it until Tomas came for Dom when he was a fiery fourteen-year-old because he wanted his son to rule after him. Dom finally agreed, against his mother's wishes, but only on the condition that Nina would never be pulled into gang activities.

Nina may not be involved with the Saints, but with the uncertainty of the Chamber, I'm leery of letting anyone outside our family into our inner sanctum.

"It's only if it's needed," Massimo assures me. "I spoke with Creed, and the cramping and spotting has stopped; they'll know more after the check-up and ultrasound."

As much as Massimo is reassuring me, he's eyeing me with a dark expression. I know he's not telling me everything, likely something he learned from one of his phone calls.

After Raf confirms he's received my message, I stare Massimo down. "What?"

" Zio Marco," Massimo turns to him. "Finish coordinating everything with Alberto to get the teams in place, then get on the plane with your team and get your ass to San Jose. Crispin and Daniele, I need you to set everything up for surveillance and command oversight. All of you, stay in touch with Vito for anything you need, and keep me updated about anything regarding Mancini and Novak."

He grips my elbow, and Gabe steps to the side as Massimo leads me away.

"What the fuck, Mass?" I pull my elbow free and glare at him. But inside, my unease has exploded with thousands of red flags.

He pulls me far enough away from the others so our conversation can't be heard. He's unreadable and tense. "I've heard back from Glass."

"I sent him the picture of the tattoos that Eden took last night, thinking his resources might be faster. He got two hits. In both incidences, the same tattoo was on a Slovak soldier."

Slovak, as in the Czech mafia.

Eden's attackers were connected not only to Morales, but also to Simon Novak.

Both have connections to Mancini.

Whatever was in play regarding Gilly's could be connected to the threat against Santoros.

I need to get to Eden .

Massimo's big body crowds mine, and he speaks in a low, dangerous voice. "You will hide your fucking emotions. We don't need anyone else to know about your transgression ."

"Fuck you." I seethe and jerk away. But he follows me.

"I'll deal with it, Vito. I'll make sure Ed is covered. You are not to go there or call her."

My teeth grind. He's right, and he knows it.

"Don't you fucking dare inform the Chamber about this connection."

His jaw works.

"Massimo," I growl. "I'm certain at least Lixin and Amazu are connected somehow."

"Your theory is far-fetched, and there's no evidence."

"Are you willing to risk Eden's life?"

This feels like my brother and I have reached a make-or-break point. I've already chosen Eden over my family, but this could be what makes me pull the trigger on my idea about leaving this city and my family behind forever.

His jaw clenches so hard that the muscles at the back bulge and twitch. Then he relaxes. "You really do love her."

I relax. Marginally. "This might be what Aiken stumbled on; if someone in the Chamber is connected to or supporting human trafficking or a death ring…"

Massimo fists his hands. "I won't inform them for now."

With Glass's intel, I better understand Massimo's reconnaissance-only orders. We need to know the full threat and which part to cut off first. Otherwise, we could focus our resources on taking out the lower-level threat, and the bigger one could attack us while we're distracted.

"We could be dealing with separate unrelated events," he warns.

"True. But there's one too many connections here to ignore."

And in our dark world, we don't do coincidences.

"I should be in San Jose." The last thing I want is to leave Eden here, but I can't be on-site to protect her myself. I'll give Ohith and Axin the heads-up for that; they'll be all over it. So, I need something to distract me from my current impotence as the protector of the woman I love.

"I need you here coordinating and overseeing all the security parts." Massimo rams his hand through his hair, mussing it up from the usual neatly styled state. "What a goddamn nightmare."

And one big convoluted fucking mess.

"I'm going alone to debrief Ed that Santoro family problems are overlapping or connecting with Gilly's."

It's like packing salt into a festering wound—which I've been known to do before—the reminder I need to stay away from Eden.

"No one has suspected anything," I grit in a low voice. "I know how to act and keep my feelings hidden."

His nostrils flare, and he looks on the verge of losing control of his monster before he resumes control. "I'm not risking your life, Vito."

"Massimo—"

"I'm just being the grumpy motherfucker you always accuse me of."

My mouth goes slack. He's never been much of a jokester, and since Babbo died, I haven't heard a single one from him.

"But don't push me on this," he warns darkly, sliding right back into that broody, unreadable brother he's been lately. "I have enough on my fucking plate, including trying to convince the 'Ndrangheta to push back our meeting. I can't leave with the enemy on our doorstep."

That reminds me of the text I saw.

"Who's travel plans are you monitoring and have plans for?"

Something passes over his face before he's back to his stoicism. "Focus on what's currently on our plate."

"Mass—"

"I'm not at liberty to say right now."

He's the Don; he's at liberty for whatever the hell he wants.

I snort. "You're a dick as well as a grumpy motherfucker."

His jaw shifts, and his expression darkens. "I'll tell you when the time is right. Now go and do your fucking job."

I give him a two-finger salute, backing away. "Point received and heard, Your Highness ."

"Vito."

But I've already pivoted on my heel and am stalking out the door.