Page 145 of Broken Mafia Prince
The thought leaves me giddy with hope and excitement, and the smile stays on my face for the rest of the night.
47
RAFFAELE
“Are you sure he’s coming?” Tommaso asks, glancing around.
“He better,” I snap. “I’m freezing my balls off out here waiting for that rat.”
My right-hand glances over at me with some surprise, and I don’t need to be a mind reader to know what he’s thinking. Tommaso will follow me to the ends of the earth, I know that, but I also know that he’s been puzzled by my actions as of late.
He’s too loyal to question me, though I can see that he’s bursting at the seams to ask me what the fuck is going on.
Even though he knows I’m not the biggest fan of my father, he’s also never seen me openly defy him—or in this case, sabotage him.
“With the amount he asked for, he better show up,” Tommaso grits out, just as impatient as I am to get to this over with.
Finding a mole in my father’s ranks was almost impossible, and not just because the men are loyal to him. The hard part was convincing the people we spoke to that we weren’t on a mission to expose traitors within the family. I reach for my phone toring the burner number Jay gave to us, but I hear the sound of footsteps hurrying toward us.
In unison, Tommaso and I whip out our guns and aim them in the direction of the intruder. We go still and silent, waiting. A moment later, Jay bursts into the clearing, eyes flying about nervously. He’s a lanky man in his early thirties, with thinning dishwater-blond hair and a nose that was broken sometime in the past and healed wrong.
“Sorry about the delay,” he says, eyeing the guns leveled on him. “I got held up in one of the casinos. And then the guys were trying to rope me into hitting the brothel. I keep on telling them that?—”
“If I wanted to know what you do in your free time, I sure as hell wouldn’t be doing it in the dead of night at negative-zero temperature.” I enunciate each word so it’s clear to him that we aren’t pals.
“Oh.” His eyes widen.
“You have some good news for me, Jay?” I ask.
He nods rapidly, then goes down on his haunches to dig around in his duffel. Tommaso and I exchange a glance when he begins to mutter under his breath. I fucking hope for Jay’s sake that he’s not some deluded lunatic here to waste my time, and he actually has information about my father’s operation to sink the Montanari shipment.
He finally glances up with a grin and hops to his feet. “Found it.” He waves a rolled-up sheet at us. “This is the layout of the docks, with the position of the Montanari soldiers marked in blue.”
I step closer as he spreads the sheet open over an empty crate, peering at it. My eyes widen when I see the number of soldiers Enrico has stationed to protect his shipment. Behind me, Tommaso whistles.
“Where the hell did he get so many people?” he asks, incredulity in his voice. “I hope he hasn’t pulled his men from every business he owns.”
We exchange a look, our minds heading in the same direction. He raises an eyebrow, and I shake my head subtly.
“If he’s really done something this stupid, it’s the perfect time for an attack,” Jay says, voicing what we were both thinking.
“What else do you have in that duffel?” I ask, irritation creeping into my tone.
“Your father’s men communicate through encrypted channels I’ve found a way to infiltrate,” he explains. “They rely on that network to time their attacks perfectly. The key to this operation is hitting them all at once, giving the Montanaris no time to respond. Once I scramble their signals, they won’t be able to reach each other, throwing their whole plan into chaos.”
“You’re sure about this?” I ask.
He nods, flashing me an excited grin. “I used to be a hacker in the Army, so I know what I’m doing.”
He better be, because if one single mistake happens, my father will destroy the Montanari shipment—and that won’t bode well for my new relationship.
“Of course, I’ll need the rest of the money to proceed.” He narrows his eyes at us.
I nod at my right-hand man, signaling him to step forward with the briefcase of cash. I wait for Jay to reach for it before I clasp my hands around the handle, stopping him. I make sure my eyes lock with his, letting him see that I’m serious.
“The full amount is in there,” I begin. “A million dollars in washed, untraceable notes. I know once a rat, always a rat, but you’re going to sabotage my father’s operation and keep your fucking mouth shut about it. Or I’ll find you. I’ll find everyone and everything you love and burn it to the ground. Then you’llspend the rest of your life paying back every dollar you took from me.Capisci?”
His head bobs in a quick, terrified nod. His eyes are wide like saucers. With a shark-like smile, I release the briefcase into his hands and gesture at the blueprint. “I’m expecting excellent news, pronto.”
