𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗲

9 - An Eye For An Eye.

"I'm a fighter. I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I'm no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who won't hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat."

- Muhammad Ali

I promised myself that I wouldn't let guilt swallow me whole. Wallowing wasn't going to keep Noah safe. The only thing that would was making sure that Russian bastard Sergei ceased to fucking exist. It was simple. To protect my family, I needed to eliminate the threat—completely, and I needed to focus on how to make that happen. And if there was one thing I knew about myself, it was that I didn't do anything half-assed. My motto was clear—either go big or don't bother.

And this time, I was going all the way.

The plan wasn't overly complicated. Just a series of steps I had to take, small ones for now, but they were all leading to a massive strike.

I sat at my desk, tapping my fingers restlessly against the surface, my eyes scanning over the plan I'd drawn up. Irving and Sawyer were out gathering intel, and I was waiting for them to bring back the information I needed to set everything in motion. This wasn't something I could rush, but I wasn't exactly known for patience either.

Sawyer pushed the door open and stepped in, snapping me out of my bitter contemplation.

"Any luck?" I asked, fixing my eyes on him, hoping that he brought the news I'd been waiting for.

Sawyer nodded, his lips twisting into a smirk. "We've got a lead, Frankie. A big one." He approached my desk and settled inti the seat across from me. "There's a large shipment due to land at Sergei's warehouse in Englewood. Timing's tight, it's happening at dawn."

Exactly what I fucking hoped for. Sergei's shipments were everything to him—the lifeblood of his whole operation. Hitting that would send a message so loud, even the deaf would hear it. I squeezed my fists, feeling the leather of my chair crunch under the pressure.

"Good," I said, my voice a little colder now. "We hit that shipment, and we hit him where it really fucking hurts."

Sawyer grinned, knowing this was exactly the break we needed. He stepped back slightly, waiting for my orders.

I stood up, pacing a bit, running the details through my mind again. "Get ready," I said. "But listen, no word about this to my father. This is between you and me. No one else gets involved."

Sawyer nodded. My father's temper was legendary, and his overprotectiveness would only get in the way of my plan. This was personal. Noah was my responsibility, and Sergei was my fucking problem to solve. I didn't want anyone else to get in the middle of this.

"We're going to need the big guns for this one," I said, moving back behind my desk. "This needs to be quick, clean, and leave no trace that points back to us. Get Irving to gather up our men and make sure they're armed to the teeth. I want eyes on that warehouse from the moment the sun comes up. No one, absolutely no one, gets in or out without us knowing."