𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐀

XXIII

D

Another meeting had been called for today, and it was one I could not avoid. I spent most of the morning into the late afternoon in this meeting where we discussed key developments in the case of our stolen items.

It was clear that Vincenzo was the one behind the robbery of our weapons, the man from New York being one of the culprits to confirm my suspicions. He had to have been sent by Vincenzo to retrieve the weapons in an effort to gain an upper hand.

However, he failed in his subtlety by stealing the cigarettes too, which were much easier to track. A silent victory in now knowing who one of our enemies were, it still wasn't enough to have us sit back and relax as if we were ahead.

The man Vincenzo hired most definitely had allies who helped him take our weapons and I was keen on dealing with them too. All we could do now was sit and wait for the call from Charlie who would tell us when the man would be back to collect the guns.

Once plans had been drawn up in relation to the retrieval of our stolen cargo, I along with Roberto, Leo, Matthias and Ricardo were later dismissed from the meeting. I felt my father was punishing me for my defiance yesterday by having me sit out on his current meeting with the other Capo's and our family accountant.

As a capo myself, I felt I should've been there with the others.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Leo spoke up, pulling me out of my reverie. I shrugged my shoulders in response, not entirely sure what my father wished to discuss so privately.

"Not sure." I hummed a reply, lazily leaning against the door frame leading into the parlour. "My best guess would be the economic status of the Famiglia since Mr Cosswald is present. All that money that we've spent on those weapons only for us to not receive it in the end is a blow to our pockets. Sure, we may recover the weapons in time but there's bound to be a few that go completely missing and remain in the hands of our enemies." I figured.

"It's a blow to our image as well." Leo added and I hummed lowly in agreement. "Word will get out that we were infiltrated and that our weapons were stolen. Like you said, even if we get them back, there will be a likely chance that some will have already been distributed back into the underground market. Vincenzo gaining new weapons wasn't the sole goal, he was trying to undermine us through means of chaos. He wants us to be so focused on the weapons, on Loretta's, on the club that we fail to notice when he makes another move. This is merely all a distraction."

"But for what?" I chimed in as my phone buzzed in my pocket. Ignoring it for now, I focused my attention on Leo who reflected on his possible theories. "Why go through all this effort when he can just attack us head on? If it's revenge he wants, why not take it swiftly? Why wait?"

"Because it's not just revenge." Leo stated. "He's taking back his empire, he's trying to make a name for himself—distancing himself from the failures of his past but also embracing it. I've noticed this pattern ever since he made his presence known—first it's the sightings and then the whispers, followed by stunts of vandalism to our establishments—"

"To stealing our shipments, leaving behind notes and turning our men against us." I added, understanding the point Leo was making. "It's the same pattern his father did five years ago leading up to the war."

Leo nodded his head, "Exactly. It also explains that note that was left behind. How the letter 'O' was emphasised was clearly a message to Olympia, the thank you as well as the friend part a mockery of the hostage situation that happened five years ago when the Russo's wanted to exchange her for weapons. I can only guess that his next move will be to crash a gathering of ours as they did before. Your birthday party is most definitely the target, then it's only a matter of time before he completes that pattern and we all know how that ended.." he trailed off towards the end, a sympathetic gleam in his eyes as he hinted at Olympia.