Page 87 of Vito

The door opens, and Creed walks in. I make a mental note to return to this conversation with Massimo, then turn to our baby brother.

Like Massimo, Creed wears a perfectly tailored suit. The ink on his exposed skin starkly contrasts with his executive attire. But my baby brother pulls it off like a model-rockstar-business man.

"How's Triple S?" I ask.

Creed goes straight to his beverage counter, pours a bourbon, and downs it, then pours another. "She's home withMamma.She feels I'm overreacting and imagined seeing Morales."

"And what do you think?" I ask.

Creed sips his next bourbon instead of shooting it back; his brows pull together. "I've been on edge and heightened alert ever since finding out that Sophie's pregnant." He rams fingers through his hair. "But I'm sure the guy looked right at me and smirked like he was toying with me. But… I don't fucking know."

Creed isn't involved in the mafia world, but that didn't make him untouchable. He's still a Santoro, and our enemies are still his enemies.

Massimo looks as pensive as me that someone is toying with us and using Creed and Sophie to do it. "I have Daniele searching—you know she's like a bloodhound with a scent. I've also got Crispin to run Manuel Morales' image through whatever city surveillance systems he can access. If that turns up nothing, we'll broaden the search. We'll see if a dead man really isn't dead."

"Do you want me to reach out to Jesús, Creed?" I ask.

He frowns. "The Garcia Cartel wasn't involved in what happened with Sophie."

"Jesús is an intel gatherer; he could have heard whispers if Morales or any of them survived."

Creed considers, then nods. "I also let Tag know. He and his team are digging to see if they can find anything that indicates Morales or any others survived. He's all over it because it could mean risk to Severyn if any of them did."

Massimo and I don't know all the details, but Creed worked with a team to save Sophie. Tag is the team leader, and Severyn is the woman who was taken with Sophie.

"Something else related to that past threat to Sophie came up today." Creed leans back against his desk. "I've heard rumblings that Silvestro Mancini is trying to fly under the radar on the West Coast with Magna Titano Group—a shit construction company. If he's involved, it's likely a front."

Possibly for his most profitable revenue source of human trafficking.

"Andro confirmed that Manuel Morales and Magna Titano Group, AKA Mancini, had dealings together before Morales was taken out," Creed adds.

Andro is Marco's son—our cousin—and Creed's right-hand man. As for Silvestro Mancini… During the threat against Sophie, it looked possible that Mancini was the unknown third party providing the resources to back Morales and Sophie's father, but that had fallen apart when examined closer.

Or maybe it was only meant tolooklike it did.

"I've been looking into Mancini," Massimo rumbles.

Both my eyebrows lift high. "This is the first I've heard of this."

He crosses his arms, staring at me. "You've been distracted."

"The fuck I have."

"Focus," Creed barks, looking between us before settling on Massimo. "What have you found out, Mass?"

"Mancini is a snake," he grits with something akin to hatred flashing over his face before he's unreadable again. "It would be right up his alley to support the Czechs with their human trafficking and trying to push into our territory. We control all California ports and prevent a pipeline for moving flesh."

I frown. "There are two problems with that theory. One, there's no evidence that Mancini and Novak are aligning. And two, they hate each other."

Simon Novak is the Czech mafia's leader, who took over after the previous leader, Alois Slovak, and all his inner leadership circle were killed.

Depending on who tells the story, it was Mancini who slaughtered Slovak and his inner circle in retaliation for killing his wife, or it was the Czechs claiming Mancini betrayed them and that they had nothing to do with his wife's death.

"Allegedlyhate each other." Massimo sips his vodka. "Alessio Candreva is of the theory the hatred between Novak and Mancini is a front."

Alessio Candreva is the Don of the largest Italian family in New York, and we're friendly with him. We know he's no ally of Silvestro Mancini, even though they're both part of theLa Famiglia.

"Mancini took out Slovak and his inner circle so Novak could take control?" I frown as I contemplate. "That actually could make sense."

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