No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 3

"Giovanni's dead," my brother announces, barging into my office and dropping a folder in front of me.

"What?" I snap, flicking through the photos of my best hackers' dead body.

"By who?" I ask, my hand forming a fist on my desk.

"If you look at the last photo you'll see," Alessio yawns, sitting on the couch in my office.

My jaw locks when I see a flower carved into Giovanni's chest, angry red lines forming such a delicate image.

The Fiore Mortale. The same person who's been terrorising my Mafia for the last year, plucking off our allies one by one.

She made a name for herself when victims with a flower carved into their chest started appearing.

Each man killed with a single bullet, then decorated delicately with a flower.

No one knows who she is, or why she started doing the hits. Every single one of her victims has been connected to my Mafia, getting closer and closer, leading us all to believe that it's only a matter of time until she tries something on us.

"We still don't know who she is," Alessio states, my glare moving from the photograph to my brother. "Why the fuck not?" I grit out, angered even more at the fact that no one in my Mafia can figure out who this murderer is.

"She disables the cameras beforehand every time, but for some reason leaves the sound on. Every time there's the sound of heels on the ground then a single gunshot," he explains, "She knows her shit, I'll give her that,"

"We're not fucking giving her anything, I want to find out who's behind all of these shootings," I snap again, my anger getting the better of me as my brothers eyes widen.

"First of all, watch your tone when you speak to your brother, second of all, we're working on it," he says cooly, meeting my gaze. I'm almost taken aback by his cold eyes, something out of character for my usually placid brother.

"I'm sorry fratello, I'm just frustrated that this bitch is running rings around my Mafia," I say, watching the way his eyes soften.

"So you're angry that she's humiliating you?" he asks, a sly smile making its way to his face.

My tongue pokes the inside of my cheek, "Yes," I grit out, swallowing my pride. He laughs at me, "I'm sure you'll figure it out, you're fucking Vincenzo De Santis,"

I smirk as I look at my brother, "You're right, I'll figure it out one way or another,"

My office door is once again pushed open as our younger sister, Azalea, walks in. "We have more information about the Giovanni assassination, Auntie Val found some cameras near his house which weren't tapped," she says breathlessly, immediately capturing both our attention.

Alessio and I both stand up and follow Azalea to the meeting room across the hall where our family is already sat. I scan the table to see Mom and Dad, as well as Uncle Carlos and Aunt Lia, next to Aunt Val and Uncle Marco. It's amusing to see how the whole family is always wrapped up in shit like this.

I take my seat at the head of the table with Alessio on my right and Dad on my left. Aunt Val connects her laptop to the screen and sits back down. "I was looking at footage around Giovanni's house and found a camera a few doors down which shows a man on a bike sitting for the duration which we believe Giovanni was killed. He stays there the entire time so we know he didn't do it, but, he's speaking at some point and nods at someone across the street before riding off," she explains, all eyes on her as she shows the footage.

"Who is it?" I ask, causing her to suck in a sharp breath before zooming in on the face. "Ari fucking Stewart," she says.

My jaw clenches as the tension in the room becomes so sharp it could cut through any of us.