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Chapter 48

** REBEL SIMMONS POV **

ONE MONTH LATER...

Feb. 1996 - The Russians are still trying to gain control over the United States. So far, they have set up base on the East Coast. There was an attack on one of our warehouses, 43 of our men and women were killed. 

Feb. 1996 - A Shipment from Italy was destroyed by the Russians. They discovered our drop site, and planted bombs along the dock. 53 members were killed in the explosion. $3.2 million in guns and ammo was lost. 

Feb. 1996 - Launched an attack on a Russian warehouse. 21 of our men were killed. Managed to take out their supply of drugs in Manhattan. 

I took a deep breath as I rubbed my stinging eyes. Its been a month since I last saw Dante, or anyone for that matter. Part of me thought that I'd hear from him, or at the very least try to explain himself for what he did, but instead, all I received was silence. Utter silence. 

I hate to admit it, but the first few nights were more devastating than I thought. The sleepless nights were accompanied by an overactive mind, and laying there without feeling Dante sneak into my sheets during the middle of the night filled my heart with more loneliness than I thought possible. 

So instead of wallowing in my own self pity, I decided to put my time towards three things:

1) Digging through the archives I downloaded (without Dante's consent) and seeing if there's a connection to my father in there somewhere

2) Tracking any information I can get from Povlovski and attempting to reboot the cell phones I got from the assailants. 

3) Getting the fuck over Dante. 

The Balle des Enfers, and Povlovski's supposed attack, was on February first, giving us only five days to prepare for the unknown. 

The twins have been working overtime, preparing and creating an arsenal of weapons to prepare for a counterattack. Angelo hasn't left Dante's side for a second, and the rest of the Vino family was helping with preparations in case anything were to happen at the estate. 

The only time I'm not isolated in my room is when I go for a daily walk with my mother in the garden, and a quick dinner. A dinner that Dante is never present for. 

In the beginning, I use to glance over at his empty seat, waiting for the moment he would burst into the room and reluctantly sit down, just like he has done so many times before. But as more days passed, the less it started to bother me, and the more I began to come to terms with the fact that he's never coming... That he's never coming back to me.

Even with the additional meetings being called, Dante never bothered to make an appearance. Angelo, and occasionally Stephan, have been leading the members and distributing tasks. Both the leaders made sure to keep Dante's whereabouts classified. 

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts of Dante as I continued scanning the reports in front of me. Turns out that the war between the Russians and the Italians began over a turf war. Both Mafias were fighting over control of the United States: The Russians mainly controlled the East Coast, and the Italians ruled over the West. The death threats began in 1998... and prior to that, every report was mainly describing a warehouse or shipment being attacked, nothing more, nothing less. 

I researched Cobra on my own, outside of the archives, and didn't find anything until I began searching for the crimes as opposed to the criminal. There were news articles depicting most of his bigger heists, but never containing a picture, or even a confirmation that Cobra, Jay and my mother even committed the crime. 

Aside from that, finding information on Pavlovski was even more frustrating than I originally anticipated. Since he spent years underground, so no one has ever seen his face before. He had no cyber trail, and the phones I recovered were wiped clean. I tried running a program to restore the phone, and all information on it, only to hit a strange form of security within the memory cards. Bypassing it has been a challenge, and I've been running it through a software for days with no success. 

I sighed in frustration after I read the same sentence for what seems like an hour, and finally closed my laptop before rubbing my temples. 

This fucking sucks. 

I looked at the time to see that it was almost 8pm, and dinner was about to be served. I took a deep breath before standing up and heading out the door. I walked down the hallways that once felt like home, only to feel like a guest that has overstayed her welcome. 

I smiled at the Vino family who were quietly sitting at the table. Isa was rapidly typing away on her phone while Natalia was tinkering with a small device in her hand. Florence and Giana were looking over paperwork while Harry was just staring at the table, his eyes filled with anxiety. My mother, who was informed about everything, sat next to an empty seat, her eyes brightening when she saw me. 

I quietly took my seat next to her, and sighed as I looked around at everyone nervously anticipating the supposed attack. I looked to my right, and once again, Dante's seat was empty. 

"No work at the dinner table, isn't that what you always use to say Florence?" I heard a familiar voice say from the hallway. I looked up to see Stephan smirking as he walked into the room, making everyone's heads lift up and immediately stop what they were doing. But it wasn't Stephan that made everyone in the room stare in awe. 

It was the man who was walking in behind him, a man who's grey eyes were locked directly onto me.