Page 52 of Little Rabbit

“Alessio,” Sienna scolds. I look at her, arching a brow. “There are more important things happening right now than you worrying about who Sofia is sleeping with, don’t you think?”

“None of this fucking matters right now,” Nico barks angrily. “Deal with this shit when we’re not in the middle of a fucking war.” Lazaro steps back in, and Nico snaps, “Well?”

Lazaro arches a brow at his tone, but I just roll my eyes when he looks at me. “From all accounts, it looks like Parisi’s hit team is still heading for Sicily. His men back home are mobilizing, and the moles say they plan on striking within the next twenty-four hours.”

“Which means, twelve,” I say grimly. “Those fucking moles are constantly trying to throw us off.”

Lazaro nods. “Papa is already working on getting rid of them. Casualty of war and all that. We’ll plant new ones that will give us accurate information. Still, if that’s the plan back home, you can bet your ass Parisi is going to try and do the same thing here.”

“And we have no one in Giovanni’s camp we can call on to get information out of?” I demand, frustrated.

“What about Marco’s?” Sienna asks. “I mean, wasn’t he the one who attacked here first?”

“Fuck,” I hiss, irritated as I start to pace. “This whole situation is a goddamn mess. We’ve got people hitting us from all fronts.”

“So why don’t you hit them all back on each front before they come here?” Sienna suggests. We all turn to look at her, and she blinks. “What? Is that not a thing? I thought that was Mafia 101. They hit you, you retaliate. But wouldn’t they expect you’re going to go after Marco hard in retaliation? So you surprise them and let Marco and the others know you aren’t about to hide away, but you’re going to hit them with everything you got.”

“She has a point,” Dante agrees, looking thoughtful.

“Has it been discovered where Marco is hiding out?” Lazaro questions.

“Word on the street is he’s holed up in a house he bought himself a few years ago,” Dante replies. “Though he went through a few different shell companies and trusts to do it. It would appear that up until all this shit started happening, neither his father or uncle knew about it. Now that shit is out in the open, he has men patrolling and constantly on guard.”

“He’s expecting an attack from his father,” I summarize. “Or possibly his father and uncle.”

Dante nods. “But his numbers aren’t anywhere near either of theirs.”

“And he still attacked here, knowing that he would lose more,” Nico says tightly. “Fucking suspicious.”

“You think he’s got another source of men.” I give Nico a pointed look, and he gives a short nod.

“If he does, it’s probably Seamus,” Dante says grimly. “By now, it will have made its way back to Seamus that Marco and Sinead have been fucking for months. And knowing what’s probably coming, it would be a hell of a lot smarter for him to get on Seamus’s good side and secure more men.”

“How would he do that?” Sienna asks, clearly confused. “I’ve always heard that the different types of mafia didn’t do business.”

“Maybe in the old days or in the movies, but there are constantly things being put into place with different countries and their families. Marriages, products, territories, pipelines, you name it,” Lazaro told her. “And if he’s been fucking the daughter, the easiest thing would be to promise an alliance by marrying her, linking the two families. The promise of more territory and everything else he’ll get after this is all said and done-if he survives-will be something this Gallo guy will want.”

“Gallo has been wanting more power since his Irish ass took over,” Nico says darkly. “But he’s always had a stick up his ass about Italians. He and my father had skirmishes all the time for years, and Leonardo was the same. The Russians mostly kept to themselves until they decided to try and take some of Gallo’s territory when he was going after us and the De Lucas. After that, Gallo was more cautious.”

“And he made sure to put his sons and nephews in positions of power to ensure that shit didn’t happen again when they got old enough,” Dante adds. “They’re just as power hungry as their father. It would make sense that Marco figured out a way to get Seamus on his side.”

“Which is exactly why I suggested that you attack first,” Sienna butts in. “I mean, with that many unknown variables, getting caught here with attacks on all fronts is asking for a giant mess. So go and make that mess elsewhere and then you’ll know where things stand before they try it back here.”

“You’re turning bloodthirsty, coniglietto,” I remark with a smile.

She gives me a bland look. “Look, I don’t have to like all this, but I don’t exactly have a choice. And with all the training I’ve had, it was drilled into me that if I have a chance to hit first, then to take that chance because it might be the difference between me getting away or not. Or, in extreme cases, living or dying. So why can’t that apply here instead of trying to be all complicated about it?”

“She’s right,” Alonzo finally says. “But I also think we don’t have to go in guns blazing. They’d expect that, so we make a statement. Send in small groups, make sure they get the message, and then close ranks and wait to see what they do. Personally, if we had the time, I’d pull together a couple of our best men with tactical training to get in and make a statement by taking out one of their top men, but we don’t have that.”

“So, what, we do a drive-by, take out some of their men?” Lazaro asks, looking unconvinced.

“That’s too predictable,” Alonzo says with a shake of his head. “I’m thinking something more stealthy. We take out something important that might hobble them for a little while and buy us time. Like a house, or some place that the majority of their soldiers will be.”

“But if you blow something up, what’s to say that you won’t kill innocent people too?” Sienna points out tightly, her expression pinched.

“Cara mia,” I tell her patiently, “none of these men expect to live through this. When they signed up, they knew what was possible. And these men, they are not good men. Every single one of them would kill you without a second thought, after they raped and tortured you.”

She winces at that, and I feel a shred of guilt for being so blunt, but I can’t sugarcoat it. This is the life she’s now a part of, and it’s a reality she’s going to have to accept. “I know that, but I can’t stop thinking about what if some of those soldiers don’t want to be there, or are trying to get out and better themselves. Killing them will make it so they never see that. Or what if they have families that they need to provide for? Their children would grow up without fathers, and children are innocent in this.”

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