Page 11 of Sacred Sin

“They left this with a knife through it at the front entrance to one of our warehouses on the docks.” Fausto held out a faded, crumpled piece of paper in disgust.

I grasped the note from his hand before Tony could read it out loud. “We’re coming for you.” That was all it said. I frowned and looked at my brother. “I don’t know why you’re so upset. It’s just a note, and nothing implicates the Irish. Why do you assume it’s them and not the Russians?”

My personal server had been eyeballing Fausto since he sat down. I waved my hand in the air, indicating for her to bring us a round of drinks, and tried not to look pleased when she scrambled away to do my bidding. I handed the note to Tony, who also gave Fausto a perplexed look.

Something dark slithered in my gut. A sense of foreboding and a feeling that we hadn’t yet heard the full story.

“Attached to the door with the note was Daro, upside down, with his blood drained.” The pounding music continued to pulse through the club, but none of us were paying attention anymore.

“What the hell?” Tony rose to his feet. “Haven’t we had peace with the Irish since Papa passed away?”

“We have,” I weighed in, “but their leader passed away several months ago without a direct heir and no instructions regarding who he wanted as a replacement. Four men within the clan have been vying for the position of top dog in their organization. I haven’t heard if there has been a vote yet as to who the new leader will be, or possibly is. We don’t have a lot of intel on the Irish.”

“We haven’t had to,” Tony agreed, “but it sounds like that is about to change.”

I shut down whatever Fausto was about to say, adding, “This is a calling card of the Irish, but every player knows it. Maybe this is a trick by another faction.”

Both my brothers sat back and contemplated my theory.

“Assuming it is who it seems to be…” Antonio steepled his fingers while he spoke. “You’re saying we still don’t know the name of the stronzo leading those feral Irish? Who can we use as a spy that they won’t recognize?”

“I believe that’s my problem.” Romeo sat down, followed by Massimo. It would have been a Vitale family reunion if our other two brothers had been here. Tano was in Italy for his honeymoon, fucking his new bride, and questioning his life’s purpose.

Vincent was busy overseeing renovations for the opening of another restaurant location for Buono Come Il Mamas.

“The question remains: Who do we have that can infiltrate the Irish to find out who is responsible for this?” I reiterated what Tony had already asked.

Romeo’s blank expression would have been more convincing if his posture wasn’t so rigid. Since Vittoria’s pregnancy, his need for control had reached new heights. Every threat felt personal now.

In truth, I’d been avoiding his over-controlling nature ever since he’d announced Vittoria was pregnant, or as he put it, “carrying the baby prince of our empire.” I’d laugh if the prince turned out to be a princess.

That wasn’t the only way Romeo had changed. He was softer around his wife, mostly because he’d finally found someone worth putting first. That had a way of changing a man.

Since Romeo wasn’t taking control, I did so myself, turning to Massimo. “Simo, do we have any new soldiers with the gift of spying?”

“Luca, or either of the Bianchi brothers.”

Romeo’s jaw tightened. He didn’t like either option. Luca was loyal and had been with us since our father’s passing, and the chances of him being recognized were high. The brothers were newer to the famiglia and far too good-looking to blend in and not be noticed.

“What about Dante?” I threw in my suggestion. Dante was one of Simo’s most trusted operatives and so good at disappearing into the shadows that most of our soldiers wouldn’t recognize him in a crowd.

Simo frowned at me. “Why Dante?”

All eyes turned to me, and I was acutely aware that my answer had better be good or Simo would dismiss it without a second thought. His dismissals irritated the shit out of me, which was usually why I avoided the heavy lifting when it came to making suggestions and kept my nose in my own business. This situation, however, could and would escalate and we needed a solid strategy before things got messy.

“He’s the dark avenger, doing Massimo’s dirty work mainly from beyond closed doors. I doubt he’s ever been caught in the light of day, as the man is stealthier than a shadow.”

Simo wouldn’t like it, as Dante was the day-to-day guy but operated primarily incognito, taking a lot of Simo’s overflowing plate of responsibilities. There was also the risk of course, of his identity being discovered, possibly changing his position within the Vitale familia.

“It’s a risk to your operations, Simo, I know, but he’s our best bet to get the information sooner rather than later so we can cut off the head of the snake before it bites us.” I added this for his benefit so he would know we appreciated what he brought to the table. I sure as fuck did, but mostly because he was Romeo’s consigliere, and they were tight, which took a lot of the stress off the rest of us.

Everyone turned to Simo and waited for him to reply, but I could already see in Rom’s body language that his mind had been made up. Simo seemed to as well, and graciously offered his number one guy for the mission.

With that settled, the discussion moved to beefing up security and going through names of vetted newcomers who were looking to work with us, a few of whom were cousins on my mother’s side.

So far, we’d managed to keep them in easy positions and far away from anything dangerous, as per our aunt’s request, but they were already older than we were when we took the reins of our businesses within the Vitale empire. I could tell by the direction of this conversation that our cousins were finally going to move up the ranks.

I drifted as they debated over names, like two teams calling out their first picks. It wasn’t due to boredom as I had thoughts of my own regarding the names being bantered about, but because of Marko. Something wasn’t right and it didn’t look good that an attack occurred on us while his location was unknown. He was family to me, but only me. Romeo wouldn’t hesitate to do what was needed if he had any suspicions about Marko’s involvement.