Page 27 of Destruction

“I can work from here,” Roman says. He gestures to the laptop and phone resting on the desk. “The house was getting too stifling, so I asked Benji to bring me; Carter approved it.”

There’s resentment in Roman’s tone over that, but I ignore it. He might be the Boss, but there are protocols in place to keep him protected. No one is allowed to override my orders—not even Cristian—when it comes to safety, but it’d be remiss of us to not have a safety measure in place.

I might not agree with Carter’s decision, but I trust him to look after his son, so I won’t give him too much shit for allowing Roman to run around town.

“How much did you see?” I ask.

Roman shrugs. “Enough to know we have a problem, a big one.” He chews his lip for a moment, his dark green eyes are wide and full of pain. “I think we’ve gone about this all wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Leaning my hip against the desk, I keep my eyes on the monitors, watching as Jude tries to struggle free of the rope, before realizing I didn’t leave themloose, just not impossible to escape from.

“Hollis is trying to track down whoever thought it’d be a good idea to fuck with us, right?”

“Yes. They clearly have more resources available than we expected, if they’re able to bribe our own people against us. Cops not on our payrolls? Fine. They can be easily bought off, but this guy is either holding something over their heads, or his pockets are really deep.”

“That’s what I’m saying. It doesn’t make sense. Especially when it’s both of our Families in the crosshairs. You’re telling me they have the money and reach to pay everyone off? I don’t think so. But…” He pauses for emphasis, worry filling his eyes. “Whowould cops go out of their way for? Who could get them to turn against us, despite the money and other bonds we’ve created?”

Fucking hell.“It’s another member of law enforcement…” I muse.

Roman nods. “It’s something we’ll have to take into consideration. Now, that would make a lot of sense. It doesn’t explain everything, because we pay our men really fucking well, and despite how the dumbass in there,” he nods to the monitor, “tried to act, dirty cops are dirty cops. None of them would have taken the money had they really been upstanding citizens. Hell, I can name five people off the top of my head who were cops and ended up turning around to work for us.”

So could I.Protect and Servemay be the motto of most police departments, but they’re still human. And humans, inherently, are selfish. Sure, you get the occasional do-gooder who gets a bee in their bonnet about getting rid of us “criminals,” but as Jude pointed out,weare the ones standing in the way of the truly bad people.

We might sell weapons and drugs, but that’s because we’re businesspeople. Everyone has to feed their family in some way; trafficking is ours. While the drugs mainly go to the lovely citizens in our territories, we sell to some gangs as well. The weapons we get from the Brazilian cartel are hot-off-the-line—literally—and are coveted by many.

And it’s not just the gangs and other organizations that buy the weapons either. I know for a fact that we’ve had precious “officers of the law” buying our guns. Because they very much need not-legal-because-they-technically-don’t-exist assault weapons to do their jobs. Right.

“Have you told Hollis your theories? It won’t change much, since we don’t know who we’re dealing with, but it will help narrow down the scope of investigation.”

“I texted him while you were tying your new playthings up. He responded with a lot of cursing. Pretty sure he’s been taking Russian lessons from the trips, because I didn’t recognize some of the words.”

I snort. I am not surprised. Everyone’s taken to the newest additions because, as sweet and innocent looking as they are, they’re also batshit crazy. Perfect fit for the Family, really.

“We can get together and discuss the theory with the Martellis—later. Right now, I’m teaching.”

Roman laughs. “How long are you going to keep them in there?”

“Until they either prove they’re not completely useless, or I get bored. Whichever comes first.”

He sighs and shakes his head, but lets it go. He knows there are methods to my madness, having been on the receiving end of them—isstillon the receiving end. His training isn’t done, just paused while we get Cristian back. Honestly, at this point, him getting his ass kidnapped is inconvenient. I have shit to do. I don’t have time to be babysitting untrained and underprepared Martellis—no matter how cute they are when they try to stand up to me.

I watch the monitor for a long while, as Roman runs the Family from his phone, and with each second that passes by, the need to do something rushes over me. There’s only so long before I can hold my true nature back; the one that emerged when I was fifteen and brutally killed two men who were double my size.

It’s easy to contain the bloodlust when someone is holding the leash… Too bad the only one strong—or dumb—enough is currently fuckingkidnapped.

“What do you think of Benjamin?” I ask Roman.

He snorts. “He hates me, but I admire him. He somehow got Lio under his thumb, and anyone who can manage thatis someone to watch. He’s loyal, maybe a little too loyal, and clearly doesn’t think before he speaks.” Roman looks up at me. “But, he’s willing to challenge you and not care about the consequences. I don’t know if that makes him stupid or just reckless.”

“Maybe a little of both,” I muse. “Emilio made a good choice. If he survives, he’ll serve his Family well. He is…amusing. A kitten trying to stand up to a lion, but there’s a fine line between humoring his bravado and killing him for his disrespect. For your sake, and your friendship with Emilio, I hope he learns quickly.”

I wouldn't mind shedding some of Benjamin’s blood, he needs a little bit of a wakeup call, but I’d rather not kill him. I will, if I have to, there would be no guilt or remorse, but I meant what I said; I’d hate to damage Roman’s relationship with Emilio. He needs someone who understands him. Leandro doesn’t count, mainly as I’m not convinced Leandro actuallylikesRoman. So, I’ll train the boy, and it can be my wedding gift to Ignacio, even though he doesn’t deserve it.

“Ignacio has done him a disservice though, by not getting him up to speed quicker.”

“They’ve been just as busy as we have. I’m sure it’s on Il Padrone’s never-ending list of things to do.”

I hum in disgust. “Not good enough. If Ignacio wants to keep him alive, he should have started his training much, much earlier. I want to take him down a few pegs, for being such a neglectful partner.

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