Sufferable Acceptance

Six

Theo

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since she left her note on my dresser and disappeared. I had been looking for her this whole time, but failed. I wasn't even sure what I would say to her if I saw her again. Part of me just wanted to be near her again, hear her laugh, ask her about her day. Unfortunately, Elena was harder to track down than I ever thought possible.

"What do you mean she isn't real? I spent the night with her, you saw me in the bar with her, how the fuck does she not exist Marcus?" I asked.

"Oh I'm sure she's real, probably very much alive as we speak, but there is no one living in Maine, working in a high school that goes by the name Elena that matches your description. I'm sorry, but there's nothing more I can do. Everything you gave me was a dead end. No prints, no identification, nothing. Just admit you got played and move on" Marcus tried to explain.

"I don't need to move on Marcus, I need to find Elena. I know she's out there somewhere just find her for God's sake. I trust you to be my right hand man, what does it say about my leadership if my number two is unable to find the one person I've asked you to find-"

There was a knock at the door.

"What" I yelled at whoever was interrupting us.

"I'm sorry sir, but I have a message from your father. He says there was another attack at the shipping docks. Same as last time. Organized, fast and they didn't take anything they just destroyed some inventory." Tommy said from the doorway.

"Shit, who the fuck are these people. They have some balls pissing off the Romanos. That's it, I'm done playing nice". I shouted. "Tommy, call my dad and tell him we'll be right over and to wait to do anything irrational before I get there".

"Yes sir, I'll get the car ready sir." Tommy said as he closed the door behind him.

"Gio, let's go, you're coming with me to the house. Marcus you stay here and find anything you can about Elena. With all those computers of yours in that den it shouldn't be that hard". I said, grabbing my coat as I headed out of the office.

*****

I got to the house quicker than normal, I drive faster when I'm angry. Whoever was messing with our inventory was asking for a war. There wasn't any family in particular that I could think of that would try messing with us. As far as I knew we were on good terms with everyone.

I stormed into my dad's office and from how full the table was it looked like Gio and I were the last to arrive.

"Theo, sit down, we have a lot to discuss" my dad said. "Someone is trying to get us angry enough to start a war, but with the year we've had we need to be careful. I thought when we took care of that rat last month that we had taken care of our issues, but it seems as though someone is trying to send us a message."

Back in the day my dad, Lorenzo Romano, was a legend. He had to inherit the family business at too young of an age after my grandfather was murdered by the Russians. Everyone doubted that he would be able to handle the responsibility of being the boss, but over the past forty years he has done nothing but impress. It wasn't a secret he was ready to retire. The only thing keeping him from stepping down was me.

The only thing we shared in common was how much we disliked each other. In his eyes I could never do anything right, and in my eyes he was losing his control of the family. Situations like these did nothing to help our disagreements.

His lack of trust in me was starting to cause issues within the business. I had a strong following of men behind me, but that didn't matter. The boss's word was final. No matter how much momentum I carried as the underboss I held no true real power until I took his seat.

"We can't afford to be unprepared should another strike take place. Until we make a better plan I want us to lay low and retreat for a while. Keep business steady and our customers happy, but don't do anything reckless without my approval." my dad told the group.

"Come on," I said, causing everyone to look my way, "we can't hide forever. How will it look if we go into hiding? It will let people think we are vulnerable and losing our power. There has to be other options" I insisted.

"Theo enough. There isn't another option. My number one priority is keeping my family safe. I can't do that with you running about pulling off risky elaborate plays. Until we have a stronger army, and more protection in place I want us to wait for our turn to strike. We are defenseless until we find out who is calling these attacks. I want everyone working on figuring that out. Theo I don't want you pulling any stunts until I know we're protected. Do I make myself clear?" My dad pretended to ask, but I knew it wasn't a question it was an answer.

"Yes sir" I said as I glared at my dad.

"Alright, everyone out. I want everyone working on figuring out where these attacks are coming from. No one works on anything else until we know who it is. I want a few of you to take a look at the shipping warehouse and do an inventory loss. Dismissed." Lorenzo said.

I stayed back to talk with dad and Gio alone. I would follow his orders, but not before giving a small protest.

"Don't, even start with me Theo. I know what you're going to say and I don't have the energy to argue with you. I have bigger problems than the shipping warehouses." He snapped.

"The notes are back. This time they're directed to Sophia. Torrez found one in the mail addressed to her. Same message, same everything. I have to assume it is related to what is happening with the docks. Someone is trying to mess with my family and I have had enough." He shouted.

Shit. The letters were a bad sign. The last one was directed at mom, and it took her months to even feel safe to leave the house again. I would be quick to hide too if I received a personal death note. I had hoped we wouldn't be seeing anymore letters.

"The notes could just be a distraction. The last one was targeted at mom and nothing happened. What are you going to do? What do you want me to do?" I asked. This wasn't a time to argue, I knew these letters upset my dad just as much as they upset me.

"With Alfie out I'm just not sure what we do anymore. I trusted him to keep the family safe, but after his accident I just don't know what to do." my dad admitted.

What happened to Alfie was my fault. I hired him a long time ago to do our dirty work and keep the family safe when we were under attack. I sent him on a job that ended up being sabotaged. I still don't know how he made it out alive. It would take him months to recover, if he ever did fully recover. Hurting Alfie was the biggest message from whoever wanted to hurt us. It was a personal attack to me. I shouldn't have let Alife go alone, but he never had a problem completing a job before.

"It's killing Alfie that he's not able to work and protect us right now. It's eating him alive, but I think he found a solution. He says there's someone from his training days that he trusts to come work for us. All I need to do is set up a meeting and make a decision for myself. It's not ideal, but we can't afford to risk not having protection in this house. You and I are both too busy to babysit the house. If Alfie trusts them, I trust them. But Theo, I need your support on this or it's never going to work." My dad tried to convince me.

"No way. We can't open up our home to just anybody right now. That's too risky. I love Alfie like a brother, but I don't trust whoever this friend is. We can't risk that" I said standing up from my seat.

"I'm not asking for your permission on this. I am asking for your support. Alfie said he could get in contact with them this week. If they agree I want you there at the meeting. This isn't a negotiation, this is an order." My dad instructed.

I knew if I stayed in that room I would have said something that pissed off my dad, so I just left up to my room knowing this plan was a mistake.