Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Once inside, Raven checked his home, looking for any sign of a break-in. There was nothing. They were all clear. He doubted anyone would be stupid enough to come at him a second time in less than twenty-four hours.
He waited as she did this, and afterward, he took her to his observation room. The screens were all aglow with activity.
“Wow, this is some stalkery shit,” Raven said. “What is this?”
“This is security footage from the majority of businesses and locations I own.”
Raven stepped toward the cameras. “You’re spying on them.”
“I have no choice. Someone wants to overthrow me. I like to always be one step ahead.”
“And so far, you haven’t found your culprit.”
“Not yet.”
“Who are your prime targets?” Raven asked. She looked away from the cameras to face him. “You’ve got to have some of them that stand out more than others, ones that give you doubts.”
“Fine.” He stepped forward and tapped on the screen, bringing up three pictures. “The first is Leonardo Marchetti. He is one of the few capos I kept. He was one of Garofalo’s men, however, there was nothing to link him to the young girls, or the sex ring that was uncovered. Every time I look into him, he seems clean. He doesn’t even hurt his own family, but he has that connection.”
“Weak, but I can see it.”
“Next, we have Paolo Fiore,” Carlos said. “Now, he took over from his father. He is a hothead. His father shared the same name, and he was also profiting from the sale of young girls, but I found out he was getting his soldiers to go to their local parks to take kids.”
“Sick fuckers.”
“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”
“Why put the son in charge?” Raven asked. “Why not have a clean break?”
“It was the son who found the details of what his father was doing. He came clean, so I didn’t see a reason to remove him.”
“Ah, sneaky little bastard. If he is our suspect, that is.” She tutted. “Using your father’s weakness to take his place. I like it. Complete betrayal, but then, Daddy clearly deserved it. So why is Drago in the picture? I figured he earned his place as being loyal. Yada, yada, yada.”
“And that is why I suspect him,” Carlos said. “It’s too easy.”
“How?”
“He was the underboss. By their own rules, he should have taken over, but instead, he hunted for someone else to take the spot. Why?”
“He doesn’t want it?”
“I doubt it.”
“Have you ever thought that some people are great at peeling potatoes, and others are better at scrubbing them clean and turning them into wedges?”
Carlos frowned. “What?”
She sighed. “Drago’s good at being a second. Personally, I prefer the whole wedges-with-skin idea, but, whatever. He’s a good underboss. He doesn’t think he would be suited as leader. It makes good sense. Why risk losing the whole cake if you’re happy being just the slice?”
“Are you hungry?” Carlos asked.
“No, why?”
“You’re talking in food metaphors.”
She smiled. “They’re easy to understand.”
“I’m not ruling him out.”
“Wow, touchy. I’m not saying we rule him out, but I’m giving you a different perspective. Just because you don’t like him, that can’t be a reason to put him on the endangered list.” She rolled her eyes. “Let’s get back to it.”
She clicked her tongue and stared at the men. Those were his three suspects. He didn’t have anyone else.
“We’ll keep Drago for now, but I do feel we’re wasting time on him. Okay, now give me a rundown of everything we know.”
Carlos smiled. “Take a seat.” She might think Drago wasn’t a threat, but at least she was still willing to take it seriously.
She pulled out a chair and sat down.
“So with Marchetti, I know he wanted to take over. He had plans to be the Boss, but after all the shit with Garofalo came out, he had no choice but to lay low. If he even tried to take the role as Boss, people would have gotten suspicious of him. In the last few months, I have noticed an increase in his number of soldiers.”
“Where is he capo of?” Raven asked.
Carlos told her, and she pursed her lips, getting to her feet to go to the map he had on the wall.
“I know the bratva are here,” Raven said. “We’ve had some run-ins with them at the club on travel. It never ends well. He could be building up his army to keep his people and his city safe.”
“Logical, only there has been no bratva activity, and I reached out to them. No powerplay. Nothing.”
“Interesting,” Raven said. “So he could be our guy, but would it be too easy?” She pursed her lips as she turned back to him. “Next.”
“Now, Fiore controls the docks, and ever since I put a guy on there to keep an eye on shipments, Fiore has been pissed. He keeps trying to come at my guy with false allegations. I think he’s hiding something at the docks.”