Page 19 of Wicked Mafia Sinner

“Da. And then some.”

“Good.”

“How long will this go on?” I hone my attention on Rafael’s second. Drake's voice is even, but I hear the concern in his tone all the same. When cargo stops moving through my international channels, it stops arriving at his docks. A problem for me is a problem for him and on down the line it goes until we are all feeling the effects.

“We will have a lot of angry clients to contend with if we don’t stop the chaos, the missing shipments. You get where I’m going with this.” Drake pulls out his phone and starts shooting off what I guess are messages to his ground crew.

I give a stiff nod. “I do.” The uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach hasn’t gone away for three solid weeks. Only I don’t know which direction to aim my wrath so I’ve sat with the acid build-up churning and eating at my insides. I get we have a problem, I just don’t know how to resolve it yet. This is twenty shades of fucked up and I don’t have answers.

I want to go back to Genesis and wrap my hands around Enzo’s fucking throat and squeeze until he either talks or leaves this world.

But that is not who I am. Not anymore.

I slowly sit forward and anchor my elbows on the edge of the large conference table, all eyes on me. “Enzo’s disappearance from his corner of Chicago stirred up a lot of enemies looking to step into his shoes. Every single one of them shares in his desire to take us down. He set wheels in motion before we put him in that cell for the moment we might take him off the board. He might be a fucking asshole we want to dump in a shallow grave, but you can’t take away the fact that he is cunning and resourceful. Someone picked up where he left off. It’s going to take some time to weed them out and put a name to the person we are hunting.”

“Sounds to me like Enzo isn’t as cut off from the world as we might want to think.”

That’s Luca.

Renewed irritation skates over my nerves, but I tip my chin in acknowledgment. “Maybe,” I offer. “I’ll pass that on to Harlon. In the meantime I’m working some leads down at the docks. Again, understand my brothers that this will take time.”

Massimo mirrors my move and places his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers together. “It feels like we start over every damn three weeks with digging out the rot trying to bring us down. Just yesterday Sloane was at her boutique and someone drove by and shot out her windows. She’s scared to go to work and rightly so.”

Drake shoots back the last of his drink and slams down the crystal glass. “Agreed. All our women are, for fuck’s sake. Katriana won’t go to the park anymore or anywhere. She’s terrified to leave the penthouse.”

Massimo stands and paces to the window. His expression holds the same frustration Drake just shared.

“It comes with the territory. You know and so do they. You all don’t think I want to get this resolved? I know it’s my responsibility because it’s happening in my sector. I know.” I fuse my words with the same gut-wrenching anger I’ve felt since learning someone is moving in on my shipping lanes. Fuck you all if you think I’m sitting on my hands,” I bark, earning me a glare from Massimo through the reflection of the window.

I think he’s going to leave it at that, but apparently he isn’t satisfied with staying quiet. “You say that because you don’t have a woman at home to protect.”

My chest tightens. The ax to the heart is swift. The pain is brutal.

“Fuck you, Mass,” I grit out between clenched teeth on auto. Bad memories burn a path through my brain and aim straight for the black hole where my heart used to be. I know my brother doesn’t mean to stir up the past, but his words light a fire in me all the same.

I don’t feel like forcing my bare knuckles down his throat or killing family tonight so I keep my ass glued to my chair for all our sakes for a second time tonight. “Fuck you and all this flowery love shit. I’m focused on keeping business flowing in while figuring out who is trying to take me—us, actually—out.”

Mass turns on his heel, the wrath of all the gods of any era you want to pick raging in his tight expression. “You think we all aren’t focused on the same damn thing? You hurt, we all hurt. Isn’t that how this works?” He throws his arms out, gesturing to Redthorne Holdings and the rest of our brothers.

I throw up both hands in return. “How the fuck should I know anymore? Seems like everyone is either on diaper duty or too busy making sure the home life is okay before anything else.”

A scowl grips his expression. “What does that mean?” He paces back to the table and leans his weight on his fists, like he thinks his two-twenty bulk intimidates me.

I cock my head to the side and let the chains reining in the old me loosen.

Looks like I might be feeding him my fist tonight after all. I go to push up from my chair when Rafael thumps the table in front of him with a meaty fist.

“Enough. For fuck’s sake. You two want to go measure your dicks, do it somewhere else,” he booms. “None of us want to see you two beat the shit out of each other.”

Luca stands, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a stack of bills. “Um, don’t speak for me. I’ll put money on Rowan, sorry Mass. But you gotta admit he’s the right pick. I mean, look at that scowl. He looks like he’s ready to take some souls to hell with him tonight.” Luca throws a fucking wink at me and smiles like he’s about to pull in a few grand. “I got you brother.”

“Luca, damn it. Shut the fuck up.”

Massimo pushes his weight off his knuckles and it’s like seeing a veil lift off him at the sound of Rafael's voice. “Fuck. Damn it.”

He drags a hand through his hair and lets the weight of his fist land heavy on the table. The grim look on his face matches his next words. “Shit. Man, I’m sorry ’bout that. I didn’t mean it like that or to drag your past up. I don’t wish your heartache on my worst enemy.”

He knows my history and why I refuse to have a woman at my side. I wave him off but the sour taste of the night lingers on the back of my tongue. “Don’t worry about it.” I reach for the whiskey and pour a double, downing it in one swallow.