Page 77 of Little Dove

“You’re telling me that Giovanni sent men to take out his brother, Gallo, and Esposito?” Nico demands. “But not Marco? Why?”

“Giovanni has always said that Marco is too hot-tempered and irrational. He doesn’t think things through. So he doesn’t see him as a real challenge, and if he kills Gallo, then…” He leaves that to hang, staring at Nico.

“Then there goes Marco’s alliance anyway and any foothold he has,” Alessio finishes grimly.

“He also has a chance to take out three major rivals all in one go if he succeeds,” Massimo agrees. “But there is no way that just a couple of men are going to be able to get there and sneak in undetected and kill them all.”

“Ivan is sending his men with them and they have orders to leave no survivors,” the man says matter-of-factly. “And I overheard in the conversation that Ivan was sending some of his allies' best men. Ones that are known for getting the job done.”

“And they sent the not-so-great ones here to keep us occupied,” I finish, everything starting to click into place.

“Aurelio,” Pietro says simply. Papa, Urso, and Zeno all leave, knowing they need to move fast to verify the information. “Anything else?” he asks the man.

The man’s eyes are void of any emotion, knowing his time is almost up. Perhaps indifference has already set in, but he’s thankfully not done. “Giovanni has been splitting himself between two different places. He still has the vacation estate that he was using with Parisi, but behind it is another house, one he can access from a tunnel underground so no one can see him leaving or entering it. Most of the time he’s there, but a few of us know that he has another secret location, one he’s hidden frommost of the men and even his brother and nephews. He doesn’t want them knowing, so he only lets it slip to those he feels won’t tell.”

“And you were one of those people?” Pietro asks, sounding unconvinced.

“No, but one of the people he trusted got drunk and told a few of us that were playing poker while waiting for our next shift. It’s a smaller place, and that’s where Giovanni takes his mistresses to keep them off Leonardo’s radar.”

“Where is it?” Dante demands.

“He didn’t know, and he never shared. We just know it exists.”

“Anything else?” Pietro demands.

He’s quiet, and I see his shoulders slump. His time is up and he knows it. “Most of us didn’t want to leave Don De Luca, but the Don is also losing control. It’s not obvious yet, but that whore he married was fucking so many men to get inside information to fuck him over, that he has a lot of work to do to gain trust and favor back. It’s why he wanted the daughter to marry Esposito’s son. It would have gone a long way in rebuilding his standing.”

I glance over at Alessio, who’s eyes have sharpened. That’s new information that can work in our favor. Now to see how to use it.

Pietro takes his gun out and shoots him straight between the eyes, keeping his word. He turns to look at Nico, his expression hard. “Giovanni is making some big moves.”

“And he’s making them with a man like Ivan behind him,” Nico agrees grimly. “Ivan is insane on a normal day, but add in Giovanni’s desperation for power, and it’s a recipe for disaster. Our rats in Ivan’s camp have little to no good information when we require it. Ivan and his sons can sniff them out far better than Gallo or the De Lucas have ever been able to in the past.”

“I’ll put a call out to those we do have and see if they have any information,” Dante offers, pulling out his phone. “Though if Ivan suspects any of them, he’ll have put them at the front line of the fight to ensure we take them out ourselves.”

“I want to know what it is that Giovanni is offering Ivan to secure this kind of cooperation, if it’s not marriage,” Nico says irritably.

“Maybe it’s not an offering,” Alessio suggests thoughtfully. “Maybe Giovanni has something on him to make him cooperate. Or at least enough to agree to provide him aid.”

“It would have to be something pretty big for Ivan to allow him to blackmail him that way,” Dante replies doubtfully. “Esposito tried that once, and Ivan laughed him right out of the meeting. He took out half his army just for the attempt. Took Esposito years to recover, and that was only with help from the previous Don Armani, and maybe some from Leonardo. He and Ivan have steered clear of each other since.”

“Your father is a waste of breath,” Pietro says in disgust, reminding me of the statement he made to Dante weeks ago when he heard his name. None of us are clear on that rivalry, though, and even Papa seems to be in the dark. Or he’s just decided to keep Pietro’s secrets, which is very likely as well.

Dante gives Pietro a cool smile. “On that, we both can agree. Still, he’s trusted enough by Leonardo and Seamus if they are both going to his house for their little meeting to discuss this shit show.”

My phone starts to ring, and I pull it out to see Papa’s name on the screen. “Go ahead,” I tell him, putting it on speaker.

“The fucker was telling the truth,” Papa says briskly. “Leonardo arrived not long before Seamus, and they only had about half an hour to talk before Giovanni and Ivan’s men all showed up to break it up. Fire-fight much like here, with just as many casualties.”

“Any news on whether they managed to take out those they were after?”

“Just got a call from one of our men that was there to check in, and he said Leonardo got away, but barely, and with far less men. He sent a couple of our men after him to see where he went, and he’s just gotten back to his home and closed it up tight. It looks like Gallo wasn’t as lucky. He reports that his guards managed to get him out of the house, but only by being supported by his men. They’re pretty sure he was majorly injured, and his shirt and those of his men were covered in blood.”

“That old fucker is too damn stubborn to die,” Nico instantly replies. “Dante, get through to Eion and find out what the hell happened and what is happening over there. It would be just like Marco to use this as a coup.”

“They’ll never let that happen,” Massimo argues. “No Irishman is going to take orders from an Italian that isn’t even part of the family yet. His sons will take over and that will be the end of it.”

I have to agree, though Nico and Dante don’t look convinced.

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