Signed To The Mafia King - Chapter 114: Chapter 114

LUCA
“I think there's going to be trouble, Boss.”
Rafael's back was ripped into shreds, most still dripping blood from the gashes.
Despite the bruises, he still had a cigar stuck to the corner of his lips, refusing to wince like pain wasn’t a thing that applied to him.
“Tell me again. What happened?” I questioned, settling into my chair across from him.
My office reeked of whiskey and barely leashed anger. I could feel it snapping like the air a few minutes before lightning struck.
Outside, the chaos of my men’s voices clashed through the windows, somehow making the silence between Rafael and me louder.
Mikhail walked through the door, his own shirt spattered with blood. He closed the door behind him and settled into the chair across from me.
“What happened?” The words ripped out of my lips, gritted out more like.
Rafael replied. “It was a hit. Four of our guys from both camps went down. The car was parked by the warehouse like usual, but this time, they weren't filled with our men.”
I stood, my chair scraping against the marble tiles. The grating sound only seemed to piss me off more. “And why the hell am I just now finding out about this?”
“We had to handle the wounded first,” Mikhial said, wincing as he shot a look at the blood soaking the bandages around his chest. “We didn't want to roll up here with a body count before we knew who was missing.”
“Who’s missing?” I asked, bracing for the number of men I'd lost.
Mikhail's jaw tightened. “Nico. He’s one of mine. And Peretti who is one of yours.”
One of Alina’s men was dead and another of mine? It wasn't as bad as I'd thought. “Who was stationed on that route?”
“We rotated the team last week, like you ordered,” Rafael said. “We were keeping it unpredictable.”
I paced to the bar and poured myself a shot of whiskey. “What do you think? Was it a message or a mistake?”
Mikhail walked over to me and poured himself a drink, passing one to Rafael who shook his head. His shoulders were tense, the anger bleeding off of him in waves.
“It was Alberto. I know he's the one.”
The name had my stomach twisting. I turned slowly to meet his eyes. “You're sure?”
I couldn't blame my wife's uncle, and couldn't retaliate on him without proof. There had to be something.
“No,” Mikhail admitted. “But it fits too cleanly. This is exactly the kind of hit that he would call on us.”
My phone rang in my pocket and I pulled it out, darting a quick look at the screen. It was Mr. Talciro but I was too tense to have a conversation right then.
I ended the call and slid the phone back into my pocket.
Rafael pulled the cigar from the corner of his lips. “The bodies weren't robbed. No questions was asked. That's a challenge or a message.”
I turned my back to them and gazed out the window. This was the worst possible time I could conceive for a thing like this to happen.
My territory was expanding which meant my men were sprewd thin. Alina was sleeping in my bed, and our family was expanding to include Leo and Maya.
I had different priorities now.
I dragged a hand down my face.
“Mikhail,” I said. “And you too, Roberto.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“I want eyes on Alberto. I don’t care if you have to pull every man you have. Find his leverage points, what he wants, who he’s talking to, what he’s afraid of. And keep an eye on his son, Enzo.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Rafael,” I added, “Send in two units to Alina’s house. If he’s making a move, she’s the one he’ll want to hurt.”
Rafael nodded once, then turned to limp toward the door.
When the door shut behind Mikhail and Rafael, I finished the drink, and slammed the glass down.
I didn't like being caught off guard, especially not like this.
I found my phone and called Marco into my office. When he arrived, his hands were folded across his chest and there was a twitch in his jaw that he didn't bother to hide.
I looked him up and down. Since the day we'd gotten rid of Victoria’s body, he'd been missing, barely coming into the office if he could help it.
“You've been scarce around here.”
He raised a brow, tilting his head just enough to let the sarcasm settle. “You’ve had your hands full with Alina. I’ve had mine full with your soldiers. I've been keeping the balance around here.”
I felt my spine snap at the bait in his voice. Did he expect I wouldn't spend time with my wife? What with everything going on around us?
“I have a task for you. I need you to find me a security footage. Alina’s mom was shot. I need you to go to the store where it happened and get me the footage.”
Marco nodded sharply. “I'll get Darion to get into their system and find us everything he can.”
“The police is yet to show up asking about that man who was thrown over my wall.”
Marco shrugged. “Better for us. We don't want them asking questions until we have all the answers we need to feed them our truth.”
Marco turned and left. The moment the door shut again, I pulled out my phone and hit Pietro’s number.
He picked up immediately, voice faintly breathless. “Boss.”
“Where’s Alina?”
There was a pause. “She’s home. In the sunroom with the kids. She hasn’t left the house since.”
My shoulders relaxed a fraction, but only just. “Anyone come by?”
“Your father was here.”
My fingers tightened around the phone. “When?”
I decided he wasn't the one I needed to get that information from and ended the call. Instead, I called Alina.
Her flat voice when she answered made my throat flatten like something sharp has scraped it. “Come home.”
I straightened, all thoughts scattering like leaves in the wind. “What did he say to you? What did my father say to you.”
“Luca,” she said, her voice shaking in a way I hadn’t heard since the first day she'd shown up in my study asking me to marry her. “Come home. Now.”
She ended the call.
I grabbed my coat and keys, nearly at the lot when the cold panic slid into my gut like a knife.
Alina never asked for help, and she never, ever sounded like that.
And my father always knew where would hurt the most to sink the knife.