Their Rivalry

41

The best revenge in the world is massive success.

Madrid, Spain ~ Ava's POV

Katherine, Miguel's mother, together with my father, had gone ahead to cover up the truth about what went down in Moscow. They had blamed the deaths of the De Los Santos family on Emilio's insatiable thirst for revenge had made, which also caused his demise.

Whether or not the members of the Spanish mafia believed their story was not on my list of worries. At least I wasn't going to be on the receiving end of numerous accusations.

Later on though, I got to know that most of them actually bought the story because they had already been aware of Soledad's mother's death. And at least a handful knew that Emilio had retaliated by assassinating Vladimir II. However, how Emilio succeeded in killing the late Boss was lost on them.

What I wanted to know, was how an entire gang had been so oblivious to vital information that had been circling in and around its mafia? How could an entire older generation of the mafia have kept such secrets for so long?

Eli requested on Cami's behalf that Emilio's body be buried alongside the De Los Santos. The request had been on the basis that Emilio hadn't really gone back on his vows to Lorenzo, and so wasn't really a traitor. I didn't have the time to argue with her on the fact that he'd gone against a treaty created and signed under Lorenzo's leadership, and had tried to take the life of her Doña. For Eli's sake, I agreed.

Emilio's body got buried in a grave next to Vittoria's. Leonardo had been buried in between his parents. I shed just a tear over his grave, having already cried enough over his death bed. I laid a bouquet of black roses in front of Leonardo's headstone. He'd left me to lead the two mafias alone, but I wasn't going to let him down.

I called for Miguel once I had a seat behind the desk in my study. When he arrived, I informed him that I wanted a meeting scheduled for tonight. The entire gang had to be present immediately after dinner.

Leila had made an appearance during Leonardo's burial. Her presence accompanied with the smiles she mustered through her tears was one of the most encouraging things that day. She told me she'd found the painting Leo had requested for of us together by the waterfall in my old room.

I asked if she could send it over once she returned, but she refused. She wanted me to make the trip there myself for it if it really meant that much to me now. In view of that, Leila and I would return together to Leo's private island the next day.

I was the last to arrive at the conference hall on purpose. I wanted to give my friends the time to speculate on why I'd called a meeting at this hour. They all stood up to acknowledge my presence and waited for me to take a seat before doing same.

I cleared my throat in the loud silence. First things first. "To any one of you who believes that I'm not fit to lead both mafias alone, please put a hand up."

During the preparations for the burial, I'd gotten wind of the members discussing how incapable I was for the task at hand. Most had put their faith in Miguel, forcing me to give out orders through him. It'd almost seemed as if he was the one ruling the Spanish mafia now. Almost.

When the hall continued to remain silent, none lifting a hand up to speak against me, I chose to continue. The purpose for this meeting was to initiate a division of labour. The entire inner gang couldn't stay only in Madrid to run two mafias simultaneously and expect things to run smoothly. I needed eyes and ears everywhere.

"Effective tomorrow, Henry and Eli, I want both of you back in England to run things while I'm away. Miguel and Ellie, you'll remain here to keep an eye on things. As for you Camilla, your presence here is much needed since I'm putting you in charge of all weapon operations."