Page 87 of Little Dove

Urso’s lips thin, drawing my attention. “He took the woman that they baited him with, and she managed to kill a few men before she was killed. She didn’t get to Marco, and that was mostly because Sinead appeared out of nowhere and shot her square in the face. It was a bloody mess, and they were all pissed, but the reports from the men say Sinead was the angriest. She was pissed that Marco was stupid enough to fall for the ruse.They were still arguing when they got in the SUVs and tore off. Just left the body there for the cops to deal with.”

“Marco won’t be pleased she stepped in,” Nico muses. “Not sure if it’s enough to kill her though. Especially if he still needs Seamus’s support.”

“The eldest son, Declan, he’ll be the one stepping up while his father is out of commission,” Dante predicts. “He’s as ruthless as his father, though not as cunning. He’s probably mounting an attack on Ivan and Giovanni as we speak.”

“He’s only going to send more men to die.” Alessio sighs with exasperation. “But I can also appreciate that he doesn’t want to show weakness. It’s a fine line.”

“Not to mention, if Seamus dies from this, the war will get bloodier than ever,” Pietro adds grimly. “The Irish will draw men from overseas if they need to.”

“Maybe that’s the plan,” I suggest with a frown. “If Giovanni can get the Irish and Russians to keep fighting each other, no one will be paying attention to us, which means he might think we’ll get complacent and give them an opening to attack us.”

“That is an idea,” Papa agrees. “With Leonardo underground, that only leaves us. After the last attack, Giovanni might assume that all he has to do is find a way in to take us out, and one of the major players is out of the way.”

“Or, they might assume we’ll go home,” Alessio states. “If we’re not involved in the fighting, why would we stay, right? That will leave Nico with only his own men.”

“But they would have to assume we would take the girls with us,” Alonzo argues. “And that means they have nothing to bargain with. We’re not going to leave Gia here alone while the others come with us.”

“If he takes out Nico, then he doesn’t need the girls,” Dante points out grimly. “The Irish and Russians will fight until neither of them have anyone left, and when they’re done, Giovanniswoops in and takes it over for himself, and that’s after killing Marco. If they get Nico out of the way, there’s the other part, and it’s just him and his brother left for the whole of the city. It would be completely Italian controlled, and while they might hate each other, they can fight amongst themselves until one of them wins. The girls won’t play into it. At least not until it’s all over and the winner goes to try and take them back, but they might just forget about them if they’re not on this side of this ocean.”

A tense silence fills the room. None of this bodes well, but it definitely sounds like it’s possible.

“How do we know that Ivan won’t just kill Giovanni when this is all over?” Zeno asks. “Giovanni is relying on him, and his men are not going to turn on their own to join sides with an Italian.”

“Giovanni is a sneaky bastard, and he’s probably already planned several steps ahead to make sure that if the Russians win, he has a back-up plan to take Ivan and the rest of them out, and have allies at the ready if he needs them,” Nico states. “There are other Italian families in the states, and if he reaches out to the right ones, he’ll have plenty of resources for that final battle with us and his brother.”

“Jesus Christ, this is such a fucking mess,” Alonzo grumbles. I have to agree.

“What we need to do is find the secret location where Giovanni and his sons are hiding and take them out ourselves,” Pietro states, leaning forward in his seat near Nico’s desk. “And the same with Leonardo. The longer they go without us knowing where to find them, the more time they have to conjure up more plans.”

“I’m just surprised that none of them are trying to hammer us as hard as they should be,” I say slowly, my mind spinning. “Why would they not take this as a chance to come at us again? They hit us hard last night, but then they go quiet like they’rewaiting to see what happens instead of upping their assaults. Why?”

“The only one who is skilled enough to think like that is Leonardo,” Nico answers. “And he’s probably pissed enough that he’s not thinking straight. Hell, if he’s been hurt after last night, then he definitely isn’t thinking about it. He’ll be vowing revenge on his brother.”

“What about Esposito?” Pietro asks, turning to Dante with narrowed eyes. “In all of this, other than damage to his place, there’s been nothing reported.”

“My contacts inside say that he’s mostly been in his office all day talking with his men,” Dante answers. “He’s pissed that they were able to get on the grounds, but he’s also pleased that he didn’t get caught up and was able to get away like the snake he is.”

“He didn’t stay and fight?” Pietro demands in disgust.

“Not from appearances. He and his guards slipped out and sequestered him into the safe room they have. He left his guards and soldiers to handle it.”

“That won’t sit well with Leonardo,” Nico remarks. “He’ll be looking to pay my uncle back for that slight. Especially since he was the one who offered his home to them.”

“Good riddance,” Pietro mutters, but I catch it. And from the smirk on Dante’s face, he did too.

“I’ve increased patrols,” Dante continues, letting Pietro’s comment slide. “Caesar has stepped up and gotten them in shape. A few of them are worse for wear with his methods, but otherwise everything is running smoothly.” He looks at Nico. “I want him promoted to oversee the men with Davide.”

“You need to get rid of Davide,” I interject. “The man let this happen while you were away, and he didn’t do shit to fix it. He’s a waste for that position.”

Nico and Dante share a look. “I’m considering it,” Nico finally answers. He nods at Dante. “Promote Caesar, and make sure he understands that if he fucks up, I’ll be paying a visit to him personally.”

“Now that we have someone who can actually help lead the men, we need to plan our next move,” Pietro announces briskly. “Perhaps now is the time to go on the offensive instead of waiting for them to come to us. Find a way to draw Giovanni and Leonardo out of their hiding places.”

“Attacking Leonardo’s might be a good start,” Alessio suggests slyly. “If he’s not home, that means most of his men won’t be either. They’ll be wherever he is. Make sure that he knows we haven’t forgotten about him.” I’m in full agreement. I’m tired of sitting around and waiting for things to happen.

Before we can dive into it, the door flies open and Massimo storms in. “You guys need to see something in Amara’s salon,” he tells us grimly.

“What happened to Amara?” I demand, everything inside me screaming to get to her now.

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