Page 70 of A Seed Of Peril

“They offered... I... I...”

“Offered what, prick?” Dino questioned.

“Who made the offer?” Dominic asked. “Nasuti?” Luigi nodded. Barely. “What was it?” Dominic continued. “Money? Loyalty? What!?”

“Both.” Luigi spit out more blood.

With tears in my eyes from the stress of it all and the turn of events, I asked, “Why, Luigi? Why would you hurt us like this?”

Hearing me upset further angered Dominic and Dino, their eyes nothing but red, their fangs drawn.

Slow to turn his head, Luigi looked at me the best he could in his position. What I saw in his eyes was regret mixed with excruciating pain as the life slowly bled from his eyes. Whether it was genuine or because he was about to die, it cracked a small piece of my heart, nonetheless.Did he think he had it so bad with us that he had to sign his own death certificate? Why couldn’t he have just talked to us?Now, thanks to him, the family and then some were in danger.

More blood spilled past his chin. “I... Had no... Choice... I?—”

Mouth open, he widened his eyes in terror as Dominic pulled out the knife. Blood and bodily fluids leaked onto the floor, flesh and tissue caught on the tiny points of the blade, in its divots.

With an evil smirk curling the corner of Dino’s lips, he leaned in toward Luigi, saying, “See you in Hell.” He then bashed Luigi’s face on the counter until he was unrecognizable and lifeless, throwing Luigi away from him and letting him fall to the floor in a blood-soaked, crumpled heap. Dominic tossed the knife in the sink, his employee’s blood on his hand.

Excuse me—former employee.

Staring back and forth between both men in shock and filled with worry, all I could think to say was, “What do we do?”

Dominic walked over to me and pressed his shoulder into mine, that half of his body teasing me. It wasn’t at all threatening but attractive. That scared me, and quite frankly, I was scared of myself here.

He killed his own family member without hesitation and in a gnarly way. He was a criminal. An intellectual gangster with a macabre complex who knew his way around a knife like he did a paintbrush or his Fazioli. And I loved that. I lovedhim—a man that other men respected and who all feared crossing.

“We bathe the streets with their blood.”

Hoursafter we cleaned up the messes that were Nico and Luigi, Andre called with information. The surviving DiSanti men took whatever money they had and fled the country, presumably to Russia. We were pretty sure they had joined up with Vladislav and his family in exchange for their protection. Like Nico said, Andre confirmed that Vincent was Vladislav’s go-to for underage girls, and that without Vincent’s picks, Vladislav had bled him dry of millions. We were at the top of Aleski’s hit list, but as of right now, none of them were making any movement. That gave us a leg-up to prepare. Dominic phoned the Baldomeros and the Maccarones, and they were on board with supplying us with everything they could give and protecting their empires alongside us.

Andre also warned us of the now very real threat of another mole. Scouring Luigi’s phone records, they showed he was in frequent contact with Dante Vitis, but there was another phone number Luigi frequently had contact with, though we couldn’t trace it to anyone due to it being a burner phone. We did determine that whoever this other mole was, they had knowledge of our schedules and routines. That, at least, shortened the list of suspects.

Snugly curled up under the throw blanket, I reclined back in the chair, feeling my son move.

My monster was coming for all those other monsters who dared prey on us. On Dominic. She was coming for the ones who made their pain his pain. Who replaced his safety with chaos. They became our nightmare, so she was going to be theirs alongside the rest.

I was coming for those who threatened my son’s safety, too.

“What are we gonna do?” I asked, my voice soft.

“Gotta take it one step at a time,” Angelo said. When he and Anthony walked through the door four hours ago, I hugged them tightly, thankful they were okay and unharmed.

One step at a time; one day at a time. We had every set of eyes and ears on the Aleskis as we could. We couldn’t walk around in fear. We couldn’t live in fear. That was what they wanted. Power and control. We refused to relent.

“How do we find the other mole?” I wondered.

“We sniff the fucker out, lure him in,” Dino answered, anger and hurt lacing his words. We were all angry and broken-hearted.

“How?”

In the chair across from me, Dominic simply said, “Patience.”

Something I’d never build enough of, but I had to find a way. If we got ahead of ourselves, we’d fuck this up and likely run off our latest traitor. We had to play our cards right. We were still figuring out how big this web truly was. We had the Aleskis to deal with, as well as the birth of my son. As much as Dominic’s advice made sense, it wasn’t easy to pull myself away from work and hand them all the reins. I wanted to be part of the investigation and intel, but everyone collectively insisted I should focus instead on the baby and centering myself to a place of peace and preparedness.

We all stared into the flames, letting the silence hang comfortably around us.

“Can I run a baby name by you guys?” I blurted.

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