Page 76 of Cage of Thorns and Blood

“Yeah, whatever,” he says. “I have to go. If you find yourself in any real and imminent danger, call me. If my sister is in any real and imminent danger and you don’t call me, I’ll kill you. I’ll message you James, my right-hand man’s, number. Call him, and set up a meet. He can go over logistics for whatever we need to send these Greeks running. I’d say don’t bother with an invite to the wedding, but Cindy would kill me, so send an invite for the happy day.”

“Yes, okay.”

“And, I should say congratulations, but really I only have commiserations, you poor fucker.” He hangs up, still chuckling to himself.

Jesus Christ, he’s an asshole. How Renata turned out so well adjusted is beyond me. She might seem crazy to some, but the crazy of her family is way worse. She’s the sane one of the bunch.

My phone pings, and it’s a text with James’ number. I call him as I go to find Clifford.

After a long talk with Clifford, James, Vlad, and Silvio, I’m feeling much better. Tired, but better.

My mind wanders to the woman on the bed upstairs, hopefully naked and draped in the family jewels. All I want to do is put this all behind me for a while and enjoy her.

My phone buzzes and I glance at it, annoyed. The annoyance ramps up when I see Nico’s number. I answer. “You’re on speaker; I’m sitting with Clifford now.”

“You owe me one. I’ve had a guy who can hack anyone, even presidents and kings, look into all of this. He found some dark web chatter, easily found who the guys are who hit your shipments, and guess what, fucker?”

“What?”

“They haven’t just hit you, but they have really fucked up.”

“Oh, why?”

“You heard of Nikolai Volkov?”

I scoff, “Of course.”

That guy and his family are people me and mine have always been very careful not to cross. Not only is he a big player, but he has senior members of the government either on his payroll or allegedly blackmailed.

“Well, these idiots killed one of his delivery crew. My contact has sent me the intel, and it’s verifiable.”

“How? I mean, how can it be verifiable and so quick?”

“It’s in their own words. These people are not geniuses. They are vicious little fuckers; I’ll give them that. He will send you all the intel. Name’s Reece, and he works with the men who provide my Cinders with security. Send me an email. He’s also called the Volkovs, and their response means you and I don’t have to worry about these fuckers.”

I glance at Clifford. “Think we’ll stay at alert for some time,” he says. “Plus, I’d really like to get my hands on them. It doesn’t sit well with me not paying them back for what they’ve done to some of our men.”

“Fine. Call him. Nikolai Volkov; I’ll send you his number. I don’t think he’d mind the help on this.”

“He might simply shoot me,” Clifford drawls. “We are competitors, after all. Russians and Italians working together? Not really heard of.”

“He’s not Russian,” Nico snaps. “Plus, he’s worked with me on a variety of projects.”

The glance I shoot at Clifford is incredulous. “He has?” I ask.

“Yes. Look, you and I don’t deal in anything that crosses over into what he deals, right?”

“True.”

“Let’s be honest, as much power and money as we have, if someone like the Volkovs wanted us gone, they could damn well do it, I am sure.”

“Maybe,” I say.

“Definitely not,” Clifford grouses.

“Either way, if he had issues with you, trust me, you’d have known.” Nico sighs. “He’s a very astute businessman, and he has half the fucking government in his pockets. He doesn’t give a shit if we move metals, or you move jewels. If you started mass shipment of rocket launchers, you might have yourself a problem; until then, we have very different income streams.”

“The problem is new kids on the block always want it all,” Clifford says.

---