Page 93 of Unruly

Calisto nodded. “That’s true.”

“So what, we sit back and wait?” Wolf scoffed. “I don’t like that.”

“Neither do I,” Cross said.

Dante cleared his throat from the end of the table. “You could always make a few calls, Cross. I am sure Andino and Johnathan would be more than willing to step in and close ranks for a short while if you needed them to.”

“This is a Donati problem,” Cross replied.

“I know that, but—”

“As it is, it’s bad enough when organized crime in New York is being splashed across the news. Their organizations tend to get passing mentions simply because we’re the trinity here—the Three Families. It’s a shitty nature of the business that we get lumped together. My attention is their attention, in a way. They know that. I have no business actually bringing them into the mess and pushing them under the spotlight even more.”

Cross waved a hand, saying, “Beyond that, I don’t want to cause problems for their families or their organizations as a whole. This will absolutely do that for them. It’s a Donati issue—I will not have other men clean it up for me.”

“Okay.” Dante sighed, adding, “The option is there, though. Should you need it.”

“So what the fuck do we do, then?” Zeke demanded.

Cross scrubbed a hand down his jaw, and allowed his best friend and consigliere’s attitude to brush off his shoulders. He excused Zeke’s behavior and mood because who the hell could be calm and patient at a time like this?

None of them.

That’s who.

“We focus on making people safe,” Cross said. “Those who need to be sheltered will be. The men on the streets doing business will have to be a little more careful for a while. We’ll put our effort there. Hopefully, attention will have calmed down a little from the police.”

“And then what is your plan?” Wolf asked.

Zeke looked to Cross, too.

Everyone did.

“If attention has calmed down enough, we’ll just … wipe ‘em out.”

“It won’t be that easy,” Calisto told him.

Cross shrugged. “It’s an option I tend to favor.”

“You’ll need inside information as to the organization, the men, addresses, and a whole bunch of other shit,” Dante pointed out.

“We’ll work on that, too.”

That was that.

For now …

“How did Catherine’s meeting go, Miguel?” Cross asked.

On the FaceTime screen of the iPad, Catherine’s right hand man and former handler flashed back in view again.

“She didn’t tell me much when she called the other day,” Cross said. “Just that it went well.”

Miguel nodded. “It did go well, from what I gathered.”

“No issues, then?”

“I think she wants to wait until she’s back home to give you the full details.”