“Boys, give me an update. Everyone has been calling, and I need some fucking answers,” he says wearily.

Carter and I run through what we know, which is not much at this point. The Russo brothers have taken our money and very sneakily made it appear that they didn’t even receive it in the first place. It is currently our word against theirs, and while our word will always win, the fact that they are now out for revenge for the deaths of his men plants a small seed of doubt in the other families’ minds. It’s enough to topple us if others jump on board, which they undoubtedly will, because when you are at the top, there are many people waiting in the wings for their opportunity. The constant battle to remain the head family is tiresome at times.

We talk at length, and together the three of us decide to visit every venue and property they own, put a tail on the rest of their family, and do a forensic accounting audit on their files—the ones we have, anyway. All their phones will be bugged by the end of today, and we have already planted some of our girls into their other strip joints to see if we can get their girls to talk, all the while keeping our ear to the ground.

With Sebastian away for a while longer, it is decided that I will start local talks with our contacts on his behalf. A job that I have done before and one that I have no problem with. It will take me out of the compound which, given they want my head is not the smartest, but I will take Carter and a large team with me wherever I go.

After discussing things for close to an hour, we end the call.

“Carter, get the team to go to the Happy Holidays Hotel at Ozone Park and grab Little Red’s things, would you? She checked in yesterday before the shooting, so she hasn’t been there even a night.”

“Little Red?” he fires back in question, his eyebrow raised and a smirk forming on his face. “She's still here, then?” He already knows the answer.

“Yes, she is still here,” I say, offering him nothing else in reply, pretending to busy myself with paperwork on my desk.

“Perhaps I should take her off your hands?” Before I even realize it, a deep rumble leaves my chest at his prodding.

“Okay, okay...” A full grin takes over his face, palms up in surrender, as he steps backwards through the door. “I will leave the pretty little thing with you, then.” He promptly steps out of the door as soon as the last word leaves his mouth, so as not to get his head bitten off.