Page 32 of The Silence Lies

Raf stands between our cars, perching on the hood of his as he tips his sunglasses down.

Marco and Matteo shift in their seats, and I hear the clicks of their guns as they check the chambers.

“There’s no need for that here. Raf isn’t like that.” In fact, the guy despises the use of guns. It sounds strange considering the guy was once heir to the largest ammunition empire. But after his mother and sister were killed in a shootout, he chose to get rid of the gun business. Now he focuses on more antisocial activities, such as hacking banks and organizations, stealing and cleaning money.

His untraceable skills are what drew me to him. Originally, I’ll admit, it was for more personal reasons. I’m not ashamed to say I called for his help to find dirt on Bianchi. When he said she was clean, I had no choice but to accept that she was the target. It never dissolved the feelings of resentment, just the bubbling anger of blame. I’ve never trusted the Verdis either, but it did cross my mind that Sera could have had ulterior motives the day she was inaugurated.

I guess I was wrong.

Stepping out of the car, I head towards Raf. He’s holding a file under his arm as he spits out his toothpick and replaces it with a cigarette.

“Fontana,” he nods at me, lighting up the smoke. “Ferrantes.”

The brothers stand behind me, less stoic and more prepared for battle. Those two always seem to find trouble, so it seemed worthwhile to bring them along.

“Mancini, what have you got for me?”

“Nothing good, I’m afraid.” He takes a puff of his cigarette, smoke whirling around us. “I followed up on the Rocco family. I wanted to be sure they weren’t working with the Verdis.”

Raf has his own agenda in all of this. He made that clear the day I approached him. He was all too happy to help, and when I told him my own reasons, well, he tried to make me see sense. He never thought Bianchi had a role in my father’s death, but neither of us were there. The only way to be sure was to dig, and that’s one thing Raf is great at.

I take the file from Raf, opening it to find security footage of the two families meeting. Numerous places, various dates and times.

“Looks cozy,” I comment, flicking through the candids.

“Yeah. You’ve got a fight on your hands.” Raf warns, taking a photograph from the bottom of the pile and handing it to me. “They’re bringing in weapons and ammunition. Big quantities, too.”

The image is a container full of weapons. This only confirms that the Rocco family are aligning with the Verdis. While the Verdis deal with cocaine importation, the Rocco’s deal with weapons. They usually sell to gangs, something I know Sera’s father tried to prevent when he was a leader. Now, this falls into Sera’s hands, and that fills me with a fear I’m unfamiliar with. It’s a different kind of fear that stretches far beyond the safety of the innocents around us. I know she’s capable of handling this, but that’s not what seems to worry me.

“This is not good,” I mutter. “Roccos were not meant to be a part of this.”

Raf shrugs nonchalantly. “Maybe the Verdis offered them something they couldn’t refuse.”

“Like what?” The only thing that family wants is heirs. They don’t care for war or feuds, they just want to prolong their bloodline. It’s a chaotic attempt to come out on top. They think they’ll be able to withstand all the other families by remaining impartial. Self-preservation at its finest.

“What weapons?” Marco asks over my shoulder.

“AKs, Glocks, semi-autos.” Raf takes a final drag from his cigarette before stomping it in the dirt. “They’re planning something big.”

“Or protecting something big,” I frown. There’s no way two families would need that many guns just to take down Bianchi and they know it. The Rocco family wouldn’t jeopardize their own safety for the sake of a war. There’s something else going on. “Think you can find out more?”

“I’m working on it,” he smirks, popping a new toothpick into his mouth. “I just wanted you to see what I have so far. There’s more to come.”

“Thanks,” I nod. “Sera needs to see this. We need to prepare ourselves.”

“How are the alliances?” he questions. He’s aware of our attempts to get families on our side. Tallying up, I’d say the Verdis have just as many families on their side as we do on ours. They’ve already got the Carlucci’s on their side. That was bound to happen, though.

The Carlucci family are known to be just as ruthless as the Verdis. They don’t care who gets caught up in their gunfire, as long as they win.

“We’re going after Greco,” I say with a sigh.

Raf whistles, shaking his head. “You think that’s a good move?”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t think it’s a bad move, but I know you. You don’t negotiate, and I don’t think Greco will take too kindly to what I know you have planned.” He’s only saying that because he found the dirt on the Grecos in the first place.

“Is that a warning?” I laugh emptily. “Because you of all people should know the lengths people like us would go to.”

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