Page 6 of Unforgettable Underboss

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ENRICO

“Enrico? Enrico, do you have anything to add? Hello?”

I’m vaguely aware of Aurelio’s words, my mind occupied by Valerie’s green eyes as they filled with tears. I hated leaving her this morning, but I had no choice.

The Boss taps his pen on his marble desk three times to get my attention. “Is there something more important than the future of the Caparelli Family?”

“No, Boss. Sorry, Boss,” I apologize. Closing my eyes, I inhale deeply, focusing on the task at hand.

“Good. As I was saying, Marco and the other captains have reported a lack of police presence in their territories since the incident several weeks ago. Have you noticed the same?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. I haven’t had any sightings of cops from the dirty fucking inner circle reported back to me.”

“Shit,” he curses under his breath.

“Wait, isn’t that a good thing?” Marco asks. “I know we took a drastic step by invading the abandoned casino they took over, but they fucking started it,” he adds, the frustration and anger evident in his tone.

Marco’s girl, Imogine, was kidnapped by a network of destructive, thieving cops embedded in the Las Vegas PD. They’re out for blood, money, and power. True, we’re after most of the same things, but we don’t steal from the community or skim from the police pension to line our own pockets.

Most people only know the mafia as thugs, murderers, and ruling with an iron fist. What they don’t see is that we also keep balance in communities and genuinely care about the territories under our control. We use our wealth to protect the people around us, and union workers, including the police, oftentimes benefit from higher wages and bigger pensions when we strike a deal. Is it a morally gray area? Absolutely. But there’s still a code of honor.

“No one is blaming you,” Aurelio says, addressing Marco’s outburst. “But things escalated, nonetheless. I expected to be followed more closely or have some kind of message or contact with the cops. They can move around more freely and without question, and it’s concerning to me that they haven’t come forward in a forceful show of power.”

“Let’s pounce on them now, hit them while they’re still scrambling to recover,” Lorenzo, our top enforcer, chimes in. He’s on the edge of the couch, his right leg bouncing up and down as his hands curl into fists. Lorenzo looks ready to strangle every single member of the inner circle with his bare hands. “We still have the files that will bring them down. It’ll expose their every dirty deed. Florence agrees it’s a good time to drop that information bomb in the media.”

Like Marco, Lorenzo has a vested interest in seeing the destruction of these particular cops, above and beyond Family business. He was the first of us to get tangled up in a relationship and fall ass over heels for a woman. Florence happened to work at the accounting firm covering up the paper trail of every fraudulent transaction made by the Las Vegas PD. We have the evidence. Now we need to solidify things and pick the opportune moment to unleash the truth.

“That’s what they want,” the Boss replies. “They want us to think they’re running scared and let our guard down. Which makes me wonder what the real plan is.” He leans back in his Italian leather chair, his broad shoulders flexing as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Would they be brazen enough to raid the compound?”

Marco shakes his head as Lorenzo barks out a laugh.

“No,” they say in unison, the idea clearly amusing them.

Aurelio ignores them and focuses on me. He lifts his eyebrow, waiting for my response.

“It would take a hell of a spy to breach the wrought iron gates, guards at every entry and exit, fingerprint and retina-scanning security systems, and tracking devices on most of the cop cars in the city, let alone dismantle it. So, they must have someone on the inside.”

Even as I say the words, I remember my call with Marco earlier this morning before Valerie woke up.Don’t trust anyone. They might infiltrate our ranks.

“And yet…” Aurelio prods.

He knows me too well. We’ve been friends since my mom died, and his family took me in at eight years old. I haven’t thought about my mother in years, but Valerie seemed to pull the memories out of me this morning without even trying.

“My gut tells me they’ve already set their plan in motion,” I say.

The room grows silent as we contemplate what that means.

Aurelio nods and leans forward with his elbows on his desk. “All new recruits, errand boys, bookies, and the like will need to face a test of loyalty. Lock down the compound. No one in or out without a thorough security check.”

“Aye, Boss,” Marco says.

Lorenzo nods in agreement.

“Enrico? You agree with this plan?” Aurelio asks.

“Yes,” I say a little too quickly. I realize I’m walking on dangerous ground by letting Valerie into my home and leaving her there unsupervised. It goes against the new protocol, though technically, I didn’t break the rules since they weren’t in place last night. “Of course, Boss. Whatever you think is necessary.”

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