The Storm Before the Calm

Chapter 16

Dominico Vicious Vitale
The last thing I expected to see when I walked into Zio Giovanni's office as I fixed my cuff links was to see Frankie looking straight at me. He didn't know that I knew he was meeting up with Aurora at his club not a little while ago. And now she was on her way to meet with Pablo Silva at the docks for who knows what reason.

"Brother." He nodded to me, handing me a glass of Scotch. I stared at it a moment before taking it, not sure if I could trust anyone in this room now.

"Now that we're all here, there are some things we need to discuss that do not leave this room." Zio Giovanni announced, gathering all of us around. Zio Giovanni stood behind his desk, leaning over it like he also hadn't slept a wink last night, as Zio Dante stood next to him, arms crossed as always. My eyes took in everyone's demeanor.

Antonio was standing to my left, arms crossed like he was ready to be told who to go kill as soon as the meeting was over. His brother-in-law, Angelina's husband, Lorenzo, sat in the chair next to him, whiskey glass in hand as he waited for information also. He didn't seem as ready for violence as his counterpart did. Interesting.

Then, there was Frankie next to me, who never gave me a reason not to trust him. So, I was now wondering what he was doing at this meeting when he rarely has anything to do with familia stuff.

"Last night at the club, my system flagged some familiar faces in the crowd." Frankie spoke up this time, catching me by surprise. He was leading this meeting? And since when is Frankie good at the technology-related skills needed to install a security system like this one?

Something just didn't sound right.

Plus, Aurora knew the faces before his system did.

"First one was Enzo Russo. As we all know, Enzo and Nico dropped off the face of the Earth a few years ago. So I find it very interesting that he decides his first debut appearance is going to be at my club's opening night. It was deliberate on his part." Frankie continued.

"Is this him underestimating us? Or him dangling himself like fresh meat in front of hungry dogs to see how desperate we are?" Lorenzo spoke up. Valid question. But I didn't care about a single other question until someone answered the most important one. Why the fuck do they all want the Russo's? I know why I want my hands on them. So, why do they?

"It's his first chess move. He wanted to surprise us by coming out of hiding and onto our turf. Now, we can expect him to go quiet for a minute, while we make our move." Zio Dante spoke up next, and I agreed. The Russo's are cocky pricks. He knew nobody would've done anything last night.

"We should've just made our move last night, and put a bullet between his eyes right then and there." Tony said, clearly agitated. I needed to know why.

"And what? Risk our in to get our hands on who we really want? He's our only link to Nico Russo. He needs to stay alive for now." Zio Giovanni spoke sternly to his son as he glared at him. But it wasn't a glare at Tony. More of a glare out of pure anger aimed at Nico Russo.

I needed to know why they wanted Nico Russo.

"Patsy Russo was the douchebag grinding on the blonde. He's Enzo and Nico's cousin. He's been in hiding also, not that he's a key factor or important at all-," Frankie continued, but Lorenzo cut him off.

"He doesn't seem important, but he could be. He's the only one that the Russo brothers trust. He could lead us straight to them." He said, and Zio Giovanni nodded at him.

"That might not be a bad idea."

"Small fish, Lo." Frankie continued. "The other random soldier is a Michael Oliviero. And the blonde that Russo was dancing with is Emilia Santaniello. Now, she also seemed like a nobody at first glance, but she's a better link to Enzo and Nico than Patsy is. Apparently she lived at their skin house, like a fucked up little mole. She was completely brainwashed, and helped them lure girls in, finding them victims. She helped the Russo's, and somehow escaped with them when we went in."