Page 43 of Dare To Free Us

MATTEO

“Thanks Jackie, let me know if you hear anything.”

Hanging up the phone I huffed in annoyance. It was the fifth call I made to known back-door doctors to see if any of them had treated bullet wounds on Russians in the last twenty-four hours. My men had wounded a few— maybe fatally— but knew they wouldn’t go to a hospital.

I’d sent Nico to get info on the bread truck and who might own it, hoping anything could lead us to a location where I could delve out some payback.

I would’ve loved to go after Shura himself but just like his bastard of a father, was hiding out somewhere while he sent his cockroaches to do the work.Cowardly prick.

I could never stomach hiding. Fuck telling the world I wasn’t man enough to show my face with a big middle finger and say; if you want me, here I am.

However, there was no denying that Shura was smart, just like Victor was. The men he surrounded himself with were incredibly well trained and loyal. Already we’d been suffering losses. Shura was not only going after us, but also the Irish and MC.

O’Connell and Storm— the MC president— were blowing up my phone constantly. It was a shit show. No matter how many men Shura lost in the process of coming at us, there seemed to be a never ending string of them. I knew by now he’d already reached out to his uncles for more men but wondered how long he was going to let this thing draw out.

I needed to hit back, hard. Send a message of my own that I would not be fucked with.

They almost killed Arianna and my unborn child, I wanted blood. I’d bathe in it like a hot soak in the tub. Sitting there I could almost smell the coppery tang in the air. My shoulders bunched as I ground my teeth together. They were sore from the accident but I used the pain to fuel the rage.

Closing my eyes I took deep breaths through my nose to keep from breaking something, I wanted to let the aggression simmer, so when the time came I’d take down my enemy in a glorious, bloody fashion.

My phone buzzed against the desk as the ring punctured the silence. “Yeah?”

“Matteo, I got something.”

My back snapped straight. “What is it, Nico?”

“The bread truck was actually a U-haul painted to look like a delivery truck. The name on the rental agreement, they don’t exist. When I called our man at the PD he said there was a car seen leaving just moments after the truck left the lot two days ago, following it. And get this, the car is not registered to a person but rather an investment company, but when they called the number it’s a dead end. It doesn’t exist. The vehicle’s registration is being paid out of an account overseas. After making a call to a hacker my father has used before, I got an address, no name, just an address… right outside of Boston.”

“Nice work, Nico.” That was the reason why I let him get away with so much shit. “What’s the location?”

“A big ass manor out in Jamaica Plain, perfect for housing lots of men. And it has lots of privacy.”

“Get over to my office. Call Vinny and tell him to get here too. I’m going to send Leo and another guy to check it out for confirmation. We are hitting these motherfuckers tonight.”

“Tonight? That’s pushing it a bit, Matteo. We should take more time to prepare.”

I growled under my breath because I was back to wanting to strangle him.

“Stop questioning me. I want to gut this motherfucker. Now get over here, I have to pick up Arianna at three.”

“You taking her over to see Vasilisa?” His voice held a bit of annoyance but I couldn’t give two shits.

“Just get over here.” I hung up on his ass.

As much as I wanted to call Arianna and tell her she’d have to wait until tomorrow I couldn’t do it. She’d been through hell, telling her no didn’t sit well. Plus, maybe Arianna was right, maybe if she had a girl to girl talk she could get Vasilisa to calm down. I was going to have a mutiny on my hands if the men had to put up with any more of her shit.

For the love of God if Arianna and I have a girl I hope she is nothing like Vasilisa.

I smiled to myself thinking there was no way our daughter would turn out to be such a brat. Arianna was too sweet and strong in all the right ways. She’d raise our girl to be a lady that knew how to use her strong will without looking like a spoiled shit. Arianna was brought up with wealth but she never let it define how she treated others or lessen her appreciation for the simple things in life. To have a mini Arianna pulling at my ankles would make me the happiest man in the world.

If we had a boy he’d probably turn out just like… me. Except, I would skip the part where I pretend that loving him was a weakness and too much trouble, like my father did.

I knew my father loved my brother Dante and I in some fashion, but his love was based on how well we bent and molded into the men he wanted us to be. Dante conformed better. Being the oldest he got all the praise and unfortunately was more like my father deep down. He died young but already I could see a cruel, indifferent monster growing inside him. He would have turned out just as heartless and unfeeling as Lorenzo in the end. Knowing he would be Don one day made him arrogant, and in the end, got him killed.

Dante was twenty-one when he decided his name was enough to keep him safe. He went out to meet one of his regular fuck-buddies and took a bullet before he could even get laid. Even Dante’s and Lorenzo’s deaths were similar.Fucking poetic.

Me, on the other hand, I never lacked in the ability to cause pain and violence. But rather,whoI hurt. My father made no qualms about innocent people suffering. To him, everyone was subservient and human life had no value. I think the only reason he stayed out of human trafficking was simply because moving inanimate objects is much less hassle than live captives.

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