Page 203 of Fall Before Her Throne

“How?” Fallon braced her forearms on her knees.

A little smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “I’m going to surrender.”

Murmurs shot through the crowd. Fallon immediately started arguing.

“Are you serious? He’s going to kill you,” she said. “No questions asked.”

I doubted it. Greco was proud. He’d want to gloat. “I certainly hope not.”

Konstantin stood, and the entire room went quiet. The Head of the Bratva had an impressive amount of control over his men. “What do you mean you’re going to surrender?”

“Felix, Giulio, and I are making a few pit stops later tonight—first, to Sandrini. I want to take him out to throw his men into disarray, but it has to be fast and quiet. After, I’ll show up in Rossi’s territory—” I turned to him, “—and Rossi is going to ‘catch me’ trying to assassinate him. He will then turn me over to Greco as a pretend show of loyalty. That’s where I’ll spring my trap.”

“What’s your trap?” Makarov asked.

“You let me and Rossi worry about that,” I answered. “While I’m with Greco, I’m going to keep him busy. I need the rest of you to surround Greco’s men and be ready to take them all down at once. That’s why I’ve asked you all here.”

“Aye, all right,” Fallon said. “What numbers are we talking?”

“We have an inside man trying to control their influx, but Ciel and my last numbers put the estimates in the couple hundred,” I said. On top of Sean Porter’s help, we’d also been using Obi’s contact—Cole Hawkins, the founder of the AI tech startup Nexus Solutions. Obi’s favor required turning over their facial recognition data so we could use it to track Greco’s men. “The problem is they’re spread out across the old Tommaso territory, Sandrini’s territory, and the old Vero territory. They have a lot of ground under their control. This plan requires a decisive strike that can capture most, if not all, of them.”

Rossi’s eyebrows furrowed. “Capture? You’re not trying to kill them?”

I let out a breath and held up my hands. “Okay, this is the part that none of you are going to like, but keep your mouths fucking shut until I’m done.”

Fallon smirked and Makarov sat back against the couch with a chuckle, but no one fought me.

“After what happened with the mayor yesterday, the cops are going after every whiff of organized crime. That includes us. But Greco is trying harder than ever to establish his presence here by overwhelming the cops and politicians. He’s making a giant statement, trying to show them who is boss, and they cannot fight back without us.”

Makarov’s mouth hung open. “You want us to work with the cops?”

A rumbling cascaded through the room like a wave.

“What did I just fucking say, Konstantin?” I snapped. “Mouths shut until I’m done!”

He zipped his lips.

“Thank you. Now, I spoke with the mayor a few hours ago. She needs our help, or else she’s dead. We need her help, or else Greco wins. We are not working with the cops. We are working near the cops.”

Thankfully, no one else interjected with unhelpful feedback.

“According to the mayor, they don’t have the manpower to corral them, but all of us—” I made a sweeping gesture to the entire room, “—we do. We know where they are because of Ciel’s surveillance, and the data he’s been able to access from Lucia Greco’s files. It’s our job to round them up and deposit them in nice little groups for the cops to pick up.”

Makarov slowly raised his hand. I rolled my eyes, but called on him anyway.

“That sounds like we’re working with the cops,” he said.

My lips pursed. I knew they’d resist this part. Fuck, even I resisted it. We were criminals. Unless we were bribing them or forcing them, we did not work with law enforcement. Actually…

“The mayor owes me a life debt,” I offered. I glanced at Felix. “We saved her yesterday. This is how she’s repaying it. I’m forcing her hand to make her cops ignore us and go after Greco instead. If that’s mutually beneficial? So be it.”

That seemed to appease them. Makarov, at least, stopped his grumbling and nodded along.

“Giulio and I have the last known locations of where the Camorra have gathered. Their bases, their hangouts, where they’re living. We’ll distribute them after this, and everyone will be split into groups. Once you have your assignment, it’ll be your job to capture Greco’s men at your location. Then, you’ll leave them where the cops can find them—the mayor and I have agreed upon certain neutral locations throughout the city.”

“Is there a catch?” Rossi appraised me shrewdly. “With the cop shit?”

“The catch is that we cannot attack any of the cops,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Understand? I’m being really serious here, and I want everyone to pay attention. We cannot hurt the cops, not even if they fire at us. Our enemy is the Camorra. That is it. If we hurt any officers, the deal I made with the mayor is off.”