Page 11 of Dangerous Vengeance

I pick up my laptop and carry it out to the living room and sit. I’m not sure where to start my search for information, because I don’t know her uncle’s name, but I look up the name Yates in correlation to recent murders. I have to scroll back a little bit, but I find what I’m looking for. Hal Yates was shot in a drive-by shooting five and a half months ago. I click on the story link and read the article posted by the Times. It’s the same shooting that brought down a few of our men too, Italian’s after us for revenge after Leo killed one of their underbosses.

“Shit…” I breathe out. Natalie is after a killer for sure. Whoever pulled that trigger was Italian, not Bratva, but I’ll never convince her, not with the way she’s been digging into our family business. I’ve seen some of her stories already from her previous gigs at other papers. She’s out for blood for sure.

I shut my laptop, now in the know, and set it on the coffee table. There is nothing in that article to indicate the shooting was Bratva-related or the Italians, which means she knows faces of men in our organization. And that means she knows enough to be dangerous at the very least. After losing so many good men to the mole last spring when Dominic and Sven sniffed him out, we can’t afford to lose even a single man to this news article nonsense. And I don’t think it’s something Detective Akers or Sergeant Monroe can cover up on their own. Not with dirty cops working against us for the Italians too.

Wouldn’t that be lovely? If the Italians worked with Natalie thus far to get her intel?

I think about that for a moment. Natalie said she had a source she was supposed to meet with the day we snatched her off the street. I know our men are loyal now—we already cleaned the cupboards when we rooted out the mole. So, who would inform on us? It only makes sense that it’s someone who knows of our dealings because they are our enemy, which means our problem may be bigger than just Natalie.

I lean my head back and sigh. Dominic has put a lot of thought into this, but maybe not enough. I’m glad he’ll be here soon with Sven to discuss our next steps. If Natalie has partnered with the Italians in any way—knowingly or unknowingly—then we have to assume that once the head is cut off the snake, another will rise. It’s possible that even our mole—Nicolas Popov—was working with Italian’s too, that Natalie is the second head on the serpent.

The doorbell rings and I rise to answer it. Flynn is busy now, seated outside Natalie’s door to watch her. I have my other men running errands, so this private family chat will stay very private. I open the door and step aside for my brothers to enter. Dominic leads Sven, both of them dressed in dark clothing with stern expressions.

“Where is she?” Dom asks, stalking toward my den.

Sven’s boots squeak on the marble floors as they walk. I lock up and follow them. My socks dry up a hint of water on the floor from the soles of their boots. It’s raining outside, matching the somber mood of this meeting.

“She’s locked in a room upstairs. Flynn is watching her.” They have a seat on the leather sofa while I walk to the liquor cabinet and grab my best Scotch and three glasses. I make my way back with the refreshment and pour each of us a glass before sitting. “She’s not being the most cooperative, but she’s learning her lessons.”

The men eye me and nod. They understand just what lesson she needs to learn, and they ask no questions about it. I don’t mention how incredible her pussy feels wrapped around my cock—it’s none of their business. And it’s also none of their business that she seems to like it. They know I’d never force her. After what happened to my family, we all know better than that. But we’re good at using women’s own desires against them. In time, she’ll be eating out of my hand.

“And the boss?” Dom picks up his glass of Scotch and the couch squeaks as he leans back to sip it. Sven joins us in having a drink.

“He’s dead; wife locked in the basement with the kids. He handed over credentials and Lenny is sifting through the network. We just need to get in and take Yates’s laptop now.” I watch Dominic drink his whiskey and stew. He’s got a lot on his shoulders trying to keep all our ducks in a row. The past few months have been overwhelming for all of us. So many things have changed.

Dad got sicker and handed over the reins officially. He’s on hospice now. Nick pulled that shit at the docks and the entire family ended up in a shootout with Nick dead by his own hand. Leo sent everyone on a wild goose chase for that woman he claims to love, and since this reporter has been snooping around, we haven’t had a chance to take a breath. Now, Rome is hunting an assassin who we believe has orders to take Dominic out, maybe all of us.

“We need these fires put out, boys. We can’t keep chasing ghosts like this.” Dom pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head.

“Rome will handle L’ombra, Dom, and I’ll make sure Matty finishes this. It will blow over soon enough.” Sven is the voice of moderation, keeping things at an even keel for the moment, but with what I’ve been thinking, I know Dom won’t be happy.

“Listen guys, it’s not that simple.” I lean forward and sigh hard, setting my glass on the table. With my elbows planted on my knees I tell them my thoughts. “You know we rooted out Nick. He was trying to turn half the family against us. Now why would he do that? What would make him turn against us after being loyal for so long?”

Sure, Nick and Leo were best friends and maybe there was some sort of tiff between them, but Nick had been a good soldier for so long. Good soldiers who are treated well don’t turn on their leaders.

“What’s your point?” Dom asks, watching me over the rim of his glass.

“My point is, Natalie has a source. That source is a secret to everyone but her. She doesn’t even know who it is, at least that’s what I gather from the recordings of her phone calls. I think the source is an Italian, and I think the Italians were working to manipulate Nick too.” I pick up my glass again and gulp it as I lean back.

“You think the Italian’s are behind all of this?” Sven shakes his head. “Why?”

“Why not? They’re our sworn enemies. Why not strike right when our leadership is changing? When the men are vulnerable? And with everything that’s happened so coincidentally, it’s the only thing that makes sense.” I rub my tongue across my teeth and nod. “It’s the Italians.”

“So how do we stop them?” Dominic looks to me as if he’s waiting for me to supply the route forward. That’s his job. The only thing I can do is retrieve the laptop and try to confirm if in fact the information is coming from our enemies. That might take a bit more convincing for Natalie to give up anything, but I will manage. She likes my dick a little too much to stay quiet. Maybe if I withhold pleasure from her, it will be a more useful tool in breaking her.

Only time will tell.

7

NATALIE

It’s been five days. I lie in bed staring at the ceiling bored out of my mind. Some woman named Ella brings me food three times a day, and I see the man they call Flynn standing outside my door each time it’s unlocked and open, but Matvey is not around. I can’t believe I miss him. Maybe it’s because in my brain logic says if he’s returning it means I’m useful, and as long as I’m useful I’ll remain alive.

Or maybe it’s because I get aroused just thinking of him. How my mind can go from infuriated with the man to so sexually turned on by him is a mystery, but it happens, and I can’t stop it. I pull the covers tighter over my body and think of the reason I’m here. My laptop contains hundreds of files, images and links to casefiles, police rosters and bank account numbers. It’s solid enough proof that if I found a straight cop to turn it in to, this family would go down for everything they’ve done.

And Hal… I miss him. It’s been nearly six months since he died and not a day goes by that I don’t wonder why he was taken. In fact, I feel deeply saddened at the thought of my parents grieving my death so soon after my uncle died. Maybe I shouldn’t have pursued this so far, like Sheffield said. They’re dangerous. I just know the court of public opinion is much greater than the justice system. If the police look the other way, then my story would just bring to light facts they can’t ignore. There would be public outrage. They’d be forced to investigate.

And maybe they’d find the real killer and my family would have some sense of peace knowing we got justice for Uncle Hal. I don’t even care about my career anymore. It’s not about that. Years ago, it was. When I just graduated from college and got my first real story assigned. I started going after the big fish no one else would fry because they were afraid. It was exhilarating. I’d chase down leads and skirt dangerous rendezvous. So exciting, in fact, that later I’d go home and watch porn and get off.

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