Page 10 of Owned By the Mafia

“I respect Molly plenty. It’s the Russian princess I don’t respect.” I sit on the barstool next to him.

“She’s not a princess. She isn’t related to Katya. She’s simply someone who works for them, so you’ll probably find she’s more agreeable than the heads of the family are.” Ronan stabs a piece of fish with his fork and eats it.

“I…” my phone buzzes, and I take it out. It’s Aidan.

“Hello?”

Aiden’s rushed voice comes over the phone loud enough for Ronan to hear. “Our boys got jumped at the pier boss. Before they were attacked, they called, saying something fishy was happening with the Italians there. It was a huge fight, apparently. I’m going to the pier now.”

I stand up. “I’ll deal with the pier. You go to the office and summon the boys.”

I hang up and look at my brother. “Still think we can work with them?”

“You know how many Italian crime families there are in New York? Check what’s happening and maintain the peace as best you can. I don’t want a war, Robbie. I mean it.” He goes back to his food, and I leave. I gun it to the pier, and when I arrive, I see a few of our paid cops standing there.

“Mr. Quinn, it’s quite bad. We haven’t called it in yet, but there’s no saying if anyone else has.” The one-beat cop says as he walks up to me.

“How many dead?”

“Six, all your men. No injuries or deaths for anyone who did this,” he looks around. He is an Irish lad himself, someone the Quinn family took care of when he was young.

“Call it in, but make it a fight among each other. Use Detective Brooks. He’ll smooth this over. Don’t let the media get wind of this at all.” I straighten my suit. The men are going to be fucking pissed about this. How the hell am I supposed to keep the peace?

I take out my phone as I walk back toward my car and dial Dominic. The rage filling up in me slowly is palatable.

“What is it, Quinn?” His tone is harsh, and I know he’s a busy man.

“The boss the Sorvino family appointed over me, Dinara. I need her number. There’s been a hit on my men, and it will cause a lot of infighting if we don’t sort it out immediately.” I stop at my car. “The men called and said it was Italians before they were all gunned down. There’s not one dead Italian to show for it. My men are going to assume it’s your men.”

Dominic sighs. “You know it wasn’t my men.”

“Do I?” I ask. “How do I know you have control overallyour men?”

“Do you have control over yours?” I keep quiet, and he continues, “My men respect me. They wouldn’t do this, but I’ll ask them anyway. I’ll send you Dinara’s number now. And don’t take a snotty tone with me again, Robbie Quinn. Iwillput you down.”

He hangs up, and I climb into my car, waiting patiently. The notification goes off, and I check Dinara’s number. I save it after memorizing it, and then I dial her.

It goes straight to voicemail. I know she doesn’t have this number, so it isn’t actively blocked. She must be in a meeting, probably with the family. I drive back to the Irish territories quickly and head to my headquarters. It’s only my men in there, as many of them as I can count. Some are still out working, but word will get to them, and I need it to be my word and no one else.

Aidan is trying to talk over the men, but they’re not listening. I put my fingers in my mouth and whistle loudly.

“Shut the fuck up!” I on a crate in the front of the room so everyone can see me.

“I know you’re all angry as shit because we were attacked, but, at this point, we don’t know who it was…”

“It was the fucking Italians, Robbie,” someone calls out from the back. I’m sure it’s Mac.

“Listen, there are loads of families that are Italian. Just because the one we’re working with are assholes doesn’t mean they carried out a hit on our men.” I look around. “So no fucking fighting back.”

There is a complete uproar, and I take my gun out, firing three shots into the ceiling. As ceiling dust rains down and the men fall silent, I roar, “No! Fucking! Revenge! Kills.”

The men shuffle their feet, and I sigh. “Anyone who retaliates before we get the facts is as good as dead to the Quinn family. Now, I will find out who did this, and if it is the Italians we are aligned with, I promise you, I’ll give you as many guns as you can carry right to the Sorvino front door. But until we confirm it’s them, I don’t want anyone starting up shit.”

The men mumble their agreement. They know I’ll shoot them in the fucking head if they carry on the way they did. There is only room for one chief, and sorry, Dina, that’s me.

I can see my men are unhappy about the situation, and I look around. “I would just like to remind you, from the older fellas who came in with my Granda and my da to the younger guys who came through with Ronan, that the Quinn family hasalwaysprotected its own—first and foremost. We’re hard-working Irish folk on whose backs many nations were built to greatness. We will let you have your revenge on the people who killed those men today. Those men were my brothers, as sure as Ronan, Daniel, and Jarryd are. As sure as you are.”

The men nod at this point, and I know I’ve struck a chord. I allow myself a slight grin. “Please, men, I’m asking you for a wee bit of time to get to the bottom of this. Then we will take our pound of flesh.”

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