Page 69 of Brutal Devil
“I’m telling you, Priest, I don’t think the Bratva were behind this shit,” Scorpion insists solemnly.
“What went down with Antonio and his boys,” I say, rubbing my jaw. “It doesn’t make sense. Why the fuck would Antonio try to start a turf war? He knows we’ve been playing nice with the Bratva and how hard-fought that tentative truce was. To do something so stupid, expose us this way…”
“He had to have known what he was doing,” Scorpion agrees. “The operation he started was nowhere near our territory.”
“It was so deep inside Bratva grounds that it may as well have been up the Pakhan’s ass. And he didn’t run it by any of us first. He was totally out of line.”
Neither of us says it, but if Antonio hadn’t been clipped, I would have had to give the order myself. Those kinds of reckless mistakes can’t happen, and if they do, they need to be dealt with swiftly. A message needs to be sent to all our capos and soldiers.
“You think someone put Antonio up to it?” my brother asks.
“It’s a possibility.”
And one I’ve been considering ever since I saw my cousin’s corpse.
“But who? And why?”
“It could be Amedeo. He put on a good show tonight, happy to sacrifice himself for the greater good of the unified families. But that could be nothing more than a front. It’s also possible that Antonio got greedy and he was trying to make a move.”
It wouldn’t have been the first or the last time that a capo decided to break ranks to show himself worthy enough to oust a don. I’ve seen it done before, made men who work their way into a position of trust and authority, only to try to undercut the don who put them on the fucking pedestal. Sometimes, it’s worked. Either way, it ends in blood.
“No good either way,” Scorpion says, echoing my thoughts.
“Right. We have to find out who’s behind Tomasso and Antonio and his boys.”
“I’m on it.” My brother’s voice takes on a hard edge.
I know I can trust him; my brothers and I have an unbreakable, unshakable bond. We’re all we have left.
Or, at least, we were.
I have Luna now.
The thought makes a strange burst of heat flare to life in my chest.
I rub it absently, the damp fabric cool and smooth. “I want you to give Amedeo a security detail. We’ll tell him it’s for his own safety since whoever was behind clipping Tomasso is still out there. But I want those men on him like hawks on a fucking mouse. I want daily reports on everything he says and does. I want to know when he eats, when he sleeps, when he shits.”
Scorpion nods. “It’ll be done tomorrow.”
“And get back in touch with your Bratva connection. I want his complete assurance that the Russians weren’t behindAntonio or Tomasso. If I don’t have it, I’m going to have to strike.”
“Also done.”
I pat him on the back. “Good. Thank you, brother. I know I can always count on you.”
Feeling restless and grim, I settle into the seat and turn my attention to the nightscape passing rapidly by as Roc shoots through familiar streets.
When, and if, I strike the Bratva, it’s going to turn into an all-out, bloody war. The Russians are fearless, and they don’t go down without a fight. After years of brutal infighting between us and the Revellos, the last thing I want on my hands is another decade of death and violence in the streets.
I’m going to have to play this next hand very, very fucking carefully.
Because the future of the unified Andriani and Revello families is hanging in the balance, along with everything and everyone I care about.
Chapter 17
LUNA
I’m being carried through the air, floating like I’m weightless.
