*Elio*
I could tell that Caterina was trying to keep her worry from as much as possible, but I knew she was stressed. I hated to leave her and Emilia, but I had a responsibility to my other family, my mafia family.
My n would never be as important to as Caterina and Emilia, but they were a close third. They looked up to as their leader, and I had to make sure that they could continue to do so. Without strong leadership, our organization would fall apart from the bottom up and we would never be able to hold our own against MS13.
I kissed Cat on the forehead and tucked her into our bed. She had been exhausted lately from waking up to feed Emilia throughout the night. I tried to help as much as I could, but Emilia hadn’t taken to bottles very well yet, so many nightti feeds started with and ended with Cat. I was glad Caterina would be able to take a nap today after Emilia’s doctor’s appointnt had tired her out.
I closed our bedroom door as quietly as possible, knowing that even the smallest of movents might wake our sleeping baby. She was a sweetheart for the most part, but she could be a little bear when she was woken from her sleep.
I called Leo from my car. “Alright, I’m on my way to the warehouse. I’ll take the alternate route.” We had gotten into the habit of driving a different way to the warehouse every ti so that it would be difficult to be followed.
It was important before when we were only worried about MS13, but now that the feds were onto us, it was absolutely crucial. I did everything in my power to keep from having any normal day-to-day routines that looked out of the ordinary. If anyone was watching , I wanted it to look like I was just a regular real estate developer and father.
If they ever suspected anything, it would be that I sotis did dealings with sketchy n. But that wasn’t illegal. Everything we did through the real estate developnt company was completely above-board. I made sure that we always had the company as a fallback in case I ever needed to get out of the life. I didn’t want to get stuck in case I decided this wasn’t right for my family.
I arrived at the warehouse after a solid hour of driving in random circles. Leo and Franky were waiting for . I hugged Leo when I saw him. There had been a scary mont there when I thought I really would never see him again. I loved him like a brother and couldn’t imagine what my life would look like without Leo in it.
“Alright, tell what you know,” I said as we sat down inside.
“All I know is that MS13 is less organized than they think they are,” Leo started, “I overheard enough when they had in their captivity to know they didn’t know what the fuck to do with once they had in their control. They aren’t experienced, in spite of what Ignacio wants us to think. He’s a smart motherfucker but he’s working with a bunch of idiots. I think we can use it to our favor.”
“That’s all excellent information,” I told him.
I knew it chafed him that he had been captured in the first place, but the fact that he was able to catch insider intel while he was there just might have made it all worth it.
“I’ve got the numbers, boss,” Franky said. “Two of our guys are dead. Three are unaccounted for, which unfortunately ans they’re probably dead as well. Ten have been taken in by the authorities. It’s a logistical nightmare for the lawyers because of how many people are dead with no clear suspects on who shot whom, but that could work to our favor. Our n know they will be rewarded greatly for not talking, but that doesn’t an the MS13 guys won’t cause problems.”
“I suspect they’ll cause as many problems as they possibly can,” Leo muttered.
I agreed with him. It was likely that they would be told to plant as many false stories as possible. It would be tough for our n to stay silent if it ant that they risked spending even more ti in jail, but we’d make sure they would. We had enough money that we could make their families rich for years to co.
“So of our guys will get bail, but we have a few more who have more extensive records and will definitely end up stuck there.” Franky sighed and pulled out a notebook that held all his notes. He had his own code that he boasted nobody would ever be able to crack. He opened the notebook to his list of nas involved in the incident.
“What are we doing for their families?” I asked. “We need to make sure it’s enough that they won’t ever even dream of turning on us, especially for the guys with kids. I know I would do damn near anything to get back to my baby girl if I got locked up.”
Leo raised his eyebrow at . He wasn’t used to hearing admit that there were certain things that could stop from being loyal to the Valentino family. I never would’ve thought that anything could get to turn, but seeing my little girl’s face for the first ti made realize that there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for her. If she was ever in danger... I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from turning on my own people if it ant I could sohow keep her safe.
“We’ll be wiring money directly to their accounts, more money than any of them have ever seen. I’m encouraging the families to go to Italy so that we can keep them safe, away from MS13.” Franky read out the nas in his list. I recognized several of them as people I had grown up with.
Tis like these made understand why my dad had been so desperate to get out of the life. This shit was painful.
“Of course, everyone who makes bail is going to imdiately be sent to Italy. We’ll forge them new identities and keep them over there so that they don’t have to go back to prison. It won’t matter what the feds have on them. They’ll never find them again once they get out of the country,” Franky said.
I nodded. Although I preferred to imagine that my family had a fleet of private jets simply for our own enjoynt, I knew that it really was for tis like these when shit hit the fan. Everyone’s passports would be confiscated if they made bail, but we didn’t need passports for our jets. We had deals with every place we ever flew. None of our travels were docunted either.
“It sounds like things are as tied up as possible. I appreciate you guys. I trust you’ll keep updated as new information cos in. I’m sure you understand I have to stay out of this as much as possible. If it’s ever discovered that I’m the Don here, I’ll be thrown in prison for life.”
“Of course,” Leo said, “I owe you my life. I’ll do anything to cover for you.”
“Well with any luck, none of us will even co close to having our involvent be visible,” Franky said, “Trust , we’ve been in so tight spots in Italy before, but we always managed to get out of it.”
“Thanks for your advice. I’m going to call up Alessandro to ask him to coordinate for us in Italy. I know he’ll be able to get our guys settled over there. In a few months, Cat and I will make a trip over too.” I sighed as I considered how difficult it would be to pack up Emilia and take her overseas. But I did love the idea of taking her to et my extended family.
I could imagine how my aunts would make a big fuss over her adorable little toes and my uncles would pat on the back as if I’d had anything to do with Emilia’s perfection. Everything that was good about Emilia ca directly from Cat. I could never take credit for any of it.
“Alright, good eting, guys. I’ve got to get back to Cat. I told her I wouldn’t be gone long.”
Franky smirked. “Your baby isn’t even a month old and you’re turning into a family man, I see.”
“Fuck you,” I said without any venom behind it. He was right; all I could think about was my family. All I cared about was my family. The only reason I wanted to take care of this bullshit with MS13 was to protect my family.
As we were walking out of the warehouse, I got a call from an unknown number. I sighed and answered it, knowing it wouldn’t be anything I wanted to hear.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hey, motherfucker,” Ignacio’s grating voice answered.
“What the fuck do you want?” I growled.
Leo looked at questioningly. “Ignacio” I mouthed. He clenched his fists and stopped so he could hear the conversation. I knew if he had the chance, he’d tear Ignacio apart limb by limb.
“I just wondered how you were feeling knowing that your loyal followers are locked up with my n. You know we have connections that you can only dream of, right? You’ll be lucky if any of your guys makes it out of that prison alive.” Ignacio said in a low voice.
“You won’t do anything, you son of a bitch,” I answered.
I had more intel than he realized. He had one single corrections officer on his payroll. He wouldn’t be able to do jack shit. And if he did, my lawyers would bury the entire corrections facility. Ignacio might think he had connections, but he had nothing on us.
“Wait and see, then,” the slimy asshole muttered. “And I wouldn’t stray too far from that baby of yours either.”
“If you value your life at all, you better stop threatening my family. I will tear you apart,” I yelled. “You better get the fuck out of this country while you still have the chance. Your days are numbered.”
I hung up before he had the chance to say anything else. I was shaking with anger.
“Fuck,” Leo exhaled.
Franky just shook his head. “This shit is far from over.”
We had a long, ugly road ahead of us.
All I wanted to do was keep Caterina and Emilia safe.
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