*Giovani*
I led Gabriele and Alessandro into my studio, shutting the door quietly behind them. I ignored both of their presences as I calmly headed for the liquor cabinet. To get through this conversation without exploding, I definitely needed a drink.
I grabbed my strongest bottle of brandy since the whiskey was missing. I poured three glasses of amber liquid and turned to Alessandro and Gabriele, offering the glasses.
Gabriele took his but Alessandro only stared at judgntally. I shrugged and downed the glass ant for him before grabbing my own. I rounded my desk and settled into my chair, finally ready for this.
“What did you find?” I asked, as calm as I could be.
“There was a small cat tattoo on his hand,” Gabriele started, “identical to the one we found on the others.”
“So he’s one of Dmitri’s n?” I asked, gripping my glass tightly.
“Yes,” Gabriele responded easily. “We did manage to find out that Dmitri is, in fact, the new head of the family. We got news from one of our n in Russia who managed to slip into their ranks. Apparently, Dmitri and the majority of his n are already in Italy.”
“Of course,” I sighed. “Anything else?”
“Unfortunately,” Gabriele glanced at , a bit hesitant like I was a bomb that might explode. But sighed as he said, “We’ve also been monitoring the Russo branch here in Italy. We thought they might make contact and fortunately, we were in luck.”
Gabriele nodded to the folder already sitting on my desk, and I wondered briefly when he had gotten it to before opening it up.
There was a photo–probably taken from security footage–of a man I would recognize anywhere, the man who had stared right into the cara, who had taunted us as he killed our n at the shipping yard attack. His smirk as he put a bullet through Lain’s head was still fresh in my mind. I would never forget this bastard.
Any attempts to remain calm flew out of the window. My blood pumped as my fury rose, and I clenched my teeth together, the photo crumbling around the edges as I gripped it too tightly.
“Who is he?” I growled, staring at Gabriele demandingly.
“You are looking at Dmitri Zaytsev,” Gabriele replied calmly.
Alessandro jolted, wide-eyed and I dropped the photo, swallowing down my anger. My suspicions were correct after all. Dmitri had led the attack.
He wasn’t just ordering his n around. He was participating. This was personal to him.
Alessandro snatched the photo, glaring darkly at the photo as he morized the face of the man who had tried to kill his sister twice.
“He’s not hiding anymore,” Gabriele said, sharply. “He’s been causing all sorts of chaos besides us. He’s already attacked Econova and Noquent. Econova’s withdrawing from the contract we’ve been trying to build with them because of it. Noquent’s lost ten months of supplies in the past month already.”
“Dammit,” I slamd my fist onto the desk.
Econova secured funding for us, and without it we’d take a considerable toll. And Noquent... if they decided to pull out of our contract with them, we’d lose shipping rights to almost seventeen countries.
“He’s making himself quite a na in only the month he’s been active, “ Gabriele said darkly, “He’s vicious and has no rcy. From what our mole said, he even took over the Zaytsevs by slaughtering every other one of his cousins who had a claim. He’s not playing around anymore.”
“Now he’s coming after us because of our syndicate killing his cousin all those years ago,” I said. I glowered at the face of the man who had caused so much trouble, my anger rising as I thought of everything he had hurt.
Dahlia, pale and bleeding out on the cold floor–I would never forget how terrified I felt that we would lose her, or the lost look in Tallon’s eyes as he waited in the hospital for the news that his sister might be dead... the employees who had lost their lives on the attack–including Lain, who was so young as a bullet got put through his fucking head... and that bastard smiling like he thought it was funny.
I rembered the image of Olivia–the haunted look in her eyes as she stared at helpless and aimless, one second from falling into the abyss where I’d never get her back.
I shook my head as I hardened like a stone, my anger building to the one thing I wanted more than anything else.
Revenge.
I downed the rest of my drink and slamd the glass over the picture of Dmitri.
“If he wants a war, he can have one,” I said, darkly.
Just as I turned to Gabriele to discuss our next movents, I heard a low chuckle from over the window. Alessandro was looking through the curtains, grinning widely as he stared at sothing outside.
“Alessandro,” I called him sharply.
He glanced at boredly and then turned back to stare at the window.
“Why the fuck are you smiling? You obviously haven’t been listening to the conversation you so desperately wanted to be a part of, so what’s more important than this?” I snapped.
Alessandro chuckled, then glanced at with a sly grin. “I was just looking at Olivia in her bathing suit. She’s so gorgeous.”
I hardened, but my curiosity was piqued as was my possessiveness. I walked around my desk and over to the window while Gabriele just sighed behind us, shaking his head.
I glanced through the window, peeking just a bit, and sure enough, there was Olivia. Dressed in a tight little bikini, she was absolutely gorgeous under the hot sun, a big smile on her face as she relaxed in the hot tub with Dahlia.
My jealousy reared its head as I realized Alessandro had been spying on them this whole ti, gazing at all the skin Olivia had been showing.
I grit my teeth and shoved the curtains closed, purposefully placing my body between Alessandro and the window. I glared at him, telling him to move silently and he shrugged, walking away like he didn’t give a shit.
“I’ve had my fill anyway,” he said casually, his hands shoved into his pockets and I wanted to punch him in his stupid smug face.
I clenched my fists, breathing out to regain my calm so I didn’t actually give him a new shiner. He’d only just gotten rid of the one Tallon gave him.
“Now were you actually paying attention, or did you need to run over everything again?” I said, irritatedly.
“I heard the conversation,” Alessandro said, crossing his arms as he watched head back to my desk. “We should hit back just as rcilessly as he does.”
“No, we take this slow, give him no chances to escape and then we destroy that fucking family for good this ti,” I said. “Understood?”
“I disagree,” Alessandro argued, his temper showing up as he stepped forward. “We need to be ruthless and quick, or they’ll do more damage than we can fix!”
“It’s not that simple,” I said angrily. “If we make any reckless moves, they could gain the upper hand and he could vanish again. We have to be patient to catch this asshole, no sudden moves for the ti being.”
“More waiting?” Alessandro glared at , stepping forward. “I don’t care if you’re a fucking coward, but I’m not waiting just so he can go after my little sister again!”
“Alessandro!” I snapped, getting to my feet. “Acting recklessly will only put Dahlia and our organization in more danger. If we try to make a move before we’re ready, we’ll lose him. We need to act logically, not emotionally. If you can’t do that, I will put you on the sidelines. Do you understand ?”
Alessandro’s mouth twisted unhappily, looking very much like he wanted to protest, but I was not willing to entertain his childish behavior today, not this ti.
“Fine,” Alessandro said, finally. “But we need to dismantle that organization piece by piece.”
“Agreed,” I nodded. That was the one thing we could both agree on. It needed to be destroyed inside and out so there could never be a chance for them to rise again.
If I could have, I would have rushed in and killed the bastard right then, but I wasn’t going to let Dahlia or Olivia be put in any more danger.
“Gabriele, focus your team on Russo. We can use the contract with Vexion to start cutting off their assets. Isolate them slowly so they’ll be forced to show their hand,” I said firmly. “In the anti, Alessandro, take a team and track the whereabouts of Dmitri’s n. He’s got his footprints in my city, and I want to fucking know where.”
The two of them nodded.
“I’ll focus on protecting our assets, including the compound. Double security for the ti being and I’ll contact Haletone to provide more weapons. Do not go anywhere without bulletproof vests or firearms, got it?” I warned them, firmly.
This was sothing I was not willing to negotiate on.
“I get it,” Alessandro scoffed, “but if that bastard shows up in front of , I’ll put a bullet in his skull. I don’t care what or where I am.”
“I would expect nothing else,” I smirked.
“I’ll get Manon on fixing the contracts with Econova and Noquent, we should at least be able to salvage what we can from this ss,” Gabriele nodded.
“Do it then.” I nodded in agreent. “I’ll et you all later tonight to go over things so more.”
Gabriele pulled out his phone, already speed-dialing soone as he opened the door and walked out but Alessandro lingered for a mont.
He stared at , with an odd look to him.
“What is it?” I said, impatiently, hating the way he was just staring at .
“I’ll follow you on this,” Alessandro said calmly.
I blinked in surprise, mostly at how respectful he was actually being right now. After weeks of disrespect and blatant hatred thrown in my face, especially the blackmail, it was a nice pace of change.
For once, I saw the boy who he used to be, the one who used to follow around every sumr, begging to play chess even if he lost every ti. He wanted to win just once, to prove that he could beat at sothing.
At the ti, it had seed so important that I not give a false victory, that I didn’t realize how discouraged I must’ve made him. Maybe that was the start of this envy and rivalry he thrived on.
“You will?” I asked, cautiously, not entirely believing him.
“Yes,” Alessandro nodded but then hardened, giving a stern look. “But if your way of doing things sses this up or puts my family in any more danger, I won’t hesitate to do things my way.”
With that, he turned his back on and walked right out the door.
Well, so much for being respectful.
I sighed, sliding into my office chair as I glanced at the photo of Dmitri Zaytsev that lingered on my desk.
Well, you bastard, I thought, you’ve fucked with the wrong person.
This is war, Dmitri. I hope you’re ready for it.
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