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“You say that like it’s easy,” Leo countered.
“I’m aware of the difficulties, but we don’t have the time to worry about them. Between the three of you, I’m sure you can come up with a way to make it happen.”
It was more than clear that the capos didn’t share Mari’s conviction, and I could understand why.
Seattle had a population of over 700,000. Even though we’d already moved a ton of people out of the city, there were still hundreds of thousands of citizens to remove and no place to put them. The compounds were secure, but most were already at capacity. The extra men we’d sent recently were a good protective measure that seemed to be working. Not a single hint of Cash catching wind of the safe space, which I knew gave us all some relief.
But that didn’t mean we could afford to send more people there. The larger the group, the higher the risk my brother would find our little hideaway, and the second he did, it was game over.
“What about the clubs?” Gabriele’s obvious change of topic was probably for the best. Mari’s teeth were starting to grind. “We’ve got them on a skeleton crew right now, but?—”
“Shut them down.”
“For how long?”
“Until Cash is neutralized.”
Gabriele’s eyes widened, but he didn’t voice his shock, unlike Leo, who huffed loud enough for us all to hear. “We can’t shut down the clubs. It will destroy our income and probably kill the economy.”
Mari’s glare was hot enough to melt metal. “Better the economy than the people who support it.”
An irritating click, click, click came from Mathias’s screen, and he winced when he realized we could all hear it. “Can we afford to close everything?”
“That’s a lot of money to lose,” Gabriele agreed.
Grey leaned forward. “We’ve got enough to keep us going for a little while, but it would be in our best interest to end this soon. Once we rebuild, we have plans to recoup any losses we incur.”
The idea of going bankrupt was terrifying, but I knew better than to doubt Mari. If whatever she had planned didn’t work, Grey’s plan would. We’d be back on top before anyone noticed we were floundering. That was only if we ended up financially fucked.
“Not everyone can afford to leave,” Gabriele said.
He wasn’t wrong. I had no doubt in my mind that anyone Cash could hurt would die screaming. He’d do it just to draw Mari out. In fact, I was surprised he hadn’t already. Then again, he’d tried to kidnap Aislynn three times, so maybe he just hadn’t been able to get hands on his preferred bait.
“I have calls in to get help for the people who actually need it.” When they still looked unconvinced, she sighed. “Look, I understand this is a lot to take on, but we don’t have a choice. We’ve gotten lucky with the body count so far, but it’s only going to rise. The best thing to do is get anyone nonessential out of the city. Any of our people who want to leave can go without punishment—we don’t need to worry about someone going AWOL on the battlefield—but there’s no guarantee of their position when they return. Anyone who stays better be ready to give their life for the cause.”
Leo leaned forward. “Some of our men are cowards. If you give them the chance to leave, they will.”
“Some will,” Mari agreed. “There will be more who stay, if only to say they were here on the ground when we stomped out Cash’s influence.”
“You have that much faith in your men?”
“I have that much faith in myself. If I’m a good leader, my men will rally. They’ll fight behind me, not because they’re being commanded to, but because they know it’s their duty. Anyone who runs now is a chickenshit who doesn’t deserve to live under my banner. Not all men can be counted on during times of war. It’d be best if we get them out before they fuck us over.”
It was obvious they both respected and resented Mari’s opinion.
“We’ll give the word,” Leo promised.
While he and Mathias got to work on their phones themselves, Gabriele leaned closer to the screen. “About the evacuation notice. I’ve got a friend who has contacts in the news centers. He can probably help us out.”
Mari blinked at her uncle, her voice low and dubious. “A friend.”
“Yes.” Gabriele’s face stayed unmoving while his ears grew red.
Mari hummed under her breath, fingers tapping along her leg again. “This friend of yours got a name?”
He swallowed, looking away for a split second before turning back. Mari didn’t push, though I could tell she wanted to. “Do you trust him?”
“With my life.” Those three words held so much longing that it sent goose bumps over my skin. Whoever the guy was, Gabriele had more than friendly feelings toward him. Feelings I doubted he’d shared with anyone else.
