Page 118 of Vito

"Holed up with Novak in a factory on the outskirts of San Jose," Alberto adds.

"How did we miss picking up Novak in our area? How long has he been here?" I grit.

We've been watching for Czech mafia soldiers, and Novak himself, for months. I'm not accusing Crispin or anyone else, but in a way, I am. It's one thing for a low-level grunt to betrespassing in our territory, but the head of the criminal faction pushing and testing our control of our territory is a different beast. Our intel and systems should've picked him up.

"He just arrived by private plane," Crispin explains. "WithMancini. Both used aliases for the flight manifest. My facial recognition software embedded in the airport's surveillance system picked them up."

Crispin embedded his program into all the major surveillance systems in California; it's immensely helpful. Case in point: today.

"One of their tech people tried to loop the cameras to block them from being caught on the surveillance. On their end, it looks like it worked; they won't suspect that we know they're here."

"Good work, Crispin." I run my tongue over my teeth. "So… enemies are traveling together like a bad case of genital warts."

"Is the enemy thing for show?" Alberto wonders. "Or is this a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"The first question is, when did Mancini evolve from an insignificant rival to our enemy?" I ask. "The shit that went down betweenBabboand him was years ago."

"Time only allows disgrace and embarrassment to fester,"ZioMarco says.

I guess that's true; nothing is more fickle or dangerous than a narcissistic, power-hungry dick with a bruised ego.

"I think the enemy piece between Novak and Mancini is for show," Daniele pipes in from the sofa. She doesn't look up from her laptop as she hammers at the keyboard. "I've intercepted their communications that go back years, but they're all encrypted. I'm working on decoding the content of the emails."

"So, maybe Mancini took out Slovak and all his leadership so Novak could take over the Czechs?" Alberto muses.

I start to pace, cracking my knuckles. "That isn't crucial right now. The bigger question is, why the fuck do they feel they have the balls to come into Santoro territory? And what's their end goal?"

"Neither of their organizations have the manpower or resources for war against us."Marco frowns. "Especially not to fight us on our turf."

Gabe joins us. Gabrielle Ricci is a big guy, just as big as Massimo, and we refer to him as death-on-two-legs. I felt he'd make a great second for Massimo, rather than me and Marco job-sharing it, but Gabe feels he's best suited for protecting Massimo's back as his head bodyguard.

"Alessio didn't have much to add about Mancini and his intentions," he says. "Only that Mancini's human trafficking routes and supply have been severely cut off the past year, and he's looking for new sources and routes. He also said Eduardo Tocci may be backing them."

Previously, we suspected Tocci might be supporting the Czech mafia's efforts to push into our territory but never had any proof. If those two and Mancini are banding together; they could have the resources to at least try and challenge us.

But to gain what?

There's no way they'd overthrow us. Challenge us yes, but our hold here was too strong, especially with all our allies.

"Well, whoever Novak and Mancini are working with," Alberto says, "they must be planning something big and think they have a sure thing to risk coming into our territory."

"If they're allying with Tocci, Las Vegas is landlocked; they need our ports on this section of the West Coast for a transport route, which we'd never allow. There's someone else involved here." I fist my hands, growling, "We're missing something."

Massimo joins us. "Alessio is certain something's going down with Mancini regarding human trafficking. Glass, with the FBI, feels the same based on chatter they've been hearing."

Human trafficking is a lucrative enterprise; however, we refuse to make our profits that way. None of the Chamber organizations condone it, and we don't allow human cargo to move through our ports.

I glance at Massimo. "If Novak and Mancini are working together, that's likely why the Czechs were testing us earlier with the low-level grunts transporting those women."

His face is dark, and his jaw rigid. "I want both Novak and Mancini alive. They have questions to answer before we tear them into pieces."

Massimo's monster is peeking out. He usually keeps that beast well-caged, only letting it come out when he's periodically getting elbow-deep into the blood and gore of wet work.

His phone buzzes in his fist. He's beside me, and when he opens it, I catch part of the conversation, seeing one of his texts.

You have her travel plans. You know what to do

Unease buzzes in me that his message might be about Eden, but I reassure myself that Eden has no travel plans. I want to say I know my brother well enough that he wouldn't act on Eden; not only because of the sanctity of Gilly's, but out of respect for me. However, if he feels he's protecting me, I'm unsure of the lengths he'd go. There's a darker vein in Massimo than anyone realizes.

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