Dinara
I have to be confident, and I must appear as though I’m on the side of the men because they are in a dangerous state of mind. They will just kill us at this point, without a care of what Ivan will do to them.
I stand up on a chair and hold my hands up. “What has happened today is a fucking travesty. This is not right, and our brethren need to be avenged. But this is not the work of the Quinn family men. They are not in this to betray you.”
“How do you know?” the gun holder calls. “How do we know you’re not just trying to cover with them?”
“Because they won’t benefit from this. You outnumber them and outgun them; they will lose. No, someone else is doing this without the knowledge of the heads of the families, and we need to find out who that is and make them pay.”
The men grumble, much like Robbie’s men did, but I shake my head. “It is right to be angry. The heads of the families are angry too because it is like killing their own brothers.”
“Ivan does not care about us. He only cares for his little drama battles with the Sorvinos and Quinns. Even Natalia, who once worked amongst us, is now fucking an Irishman and has his child.” It’s a man in the back, and I shake my head.
“It’s not true. The heads of the families are not embroiled in personal drama, no more than any of you are.”
“They don’t care about us and our needs.” Another shout from the back.
“Show yourself if you’re so confident in saying that,” I demand. “Because I challenge any of you to tell me a time you went to Ivan for help, and he turned you away.”
They murmured amongst themselves, and I looked at them as individually as possible, trying to make eye contact. “This is someone trying to divide the families because united the family coalition is more powerful than everyone, even the government. They want to divide us, not to provide for you but to take from you what you have gained. There are other enemies, not each other.”
The men shuffle around, and I nod. “Robbie,” I look down at him, “take Aidan and personally look into who is responsible for this attack. We, as leaders, should get to the bottom of this, and we will. Then the men can have their pound of flesh for revenge.”
Robbie moves toward me, and I hold a hand up. “Send your best guy to protect me. I’m sure you know someone almost as good as you.”
I look into Robbie’s eyes, and he nods. “I’ll send someone. Let’s get into this and find the fuckers who are fucking with our families.”
I give one final glance around. “Of course, Ivan will still take care of these men’s families. Their sacrifices will not be for nothing.”
The men nod amongst themselves, and I know I’ve managed to get headway.
I step down, and the men disperse to arrange to get the bodies out and to their families to be buried. Robbie leads me out of the laundromat, and I move closer to him. “We have to try to keep the men loyal. This is dividing the families which already were on a shaky unity.”
Robbie nods. “I’ll send Callum to guard you. He’s the best after myself and Aidan.”
I nod. “Just drop me at the office, and I will dig as much as possible from there.”
We chat briefly about who it could be as he drives me to the office. He leaves me there, and I greet Angelo and Rudy as I take the elevator up to my floor. Once in my office, I boot up my laptop and start searching. I also take out my phone and start making calls. I need CCTV footage. I need witnesses. I need to make sure the cops don’t get wind of this.
I know Robbie will get me in a few hours, so I need to make quick work of this.
I have just finished talking to Carmine when there’s a knock at my door, and I look up. “Hi.”
“I don’t know if you remember me,” Callum says. “I’m Callum.
Robbie sent me.”
“Yes, I was expecting you. Find a space and stand guard. I am in the midst of trying to figure out who is trying to fuck us over.”
He moves to the side of the room where the window is and looks out. “I heard someone is attacking soldiers of the families.”
I glance at him. “Yes, someone is trying to divide us.”
We fall into silence, and I start sending encrypted emails to the contacts that can help me. I don’t notice until he’s right at my desk that Callum has gotten rather close. I glance up at him curiously.
“You okay?” My gut tightens slightly.
“You’re a very beautiful woman, Dina,” he says softly, giving me a charming smile.
I smile back. “I’m flattered, Callum, but I really need to concentrate here.”
He moves a little closer and puts a hand on the back of my chair, leaning over me. “You know, perhaps there are other ways to unite the people on our level.”
I push my chair out, forcing him away, and I stand so we’re on more equal footing. “Sorry, Callum. You have gotten the notion that I am interested in a romantic relationship, although I’m not sure from where. I can assure you that I’m not interested in pursuing any relationship right now. I’m focussing on my career.”
“What about you and Robbie?” he says suddenly as I sidestep to get around him. I pause for the briefest moments.
How does he know about Robbie and I? My heart beats hard in my chest, but I maintain my calm. “What about us?”
“I know you were together years ago. What is it now? Five years ago? You were twenty-five?” He looks at me intensely, and I get the creepiest feeling from him. I don’t like Callum, and I don’t trust him.
“What? When we were working on negotiations between our families? That’s all that was, nothing more and nothing less. I’m not inclined to romantic relationships, as everyone who knows me will tell you.”
I walk to the office door and stand there. “And quite frankly, your forwardness to someone who ranks above you is fucking irritating. How dare you speak to me in such a condescending little tone. I think you should leave. Right fucking now.” I glare at him to prove my point, and he scoffs. He stops just in front of me, and in a low voice, he murmurs,
“You’re making a mistake, Boss.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t utter another word if I were you unless you want those to be the last words you ever speak.”
He walks out, strolling down the corridor. Halfway down, he starts whistling; it’s creepy. I wait until he’s in the elevator before I phone Rudy and tell him to make sure Callum leaves the premises.
After he agrees, I sit back down at my computer, but it takes me a long while before I feel calm enough to resume working. I can’t wholly hyper-focus, though, because I have a heightened awareness of how much danger I thought I was put in with Callum.
The only problem is I don’t know if it was physical danger or if he was just a dickhead. Most men don’t like taking orders from a woman, so it might just be his reaction to that. But my gut still says something was up.
I don’t want to tell Robbie because I know he can go off his rocker with jealousy. It’s part of why we split all those years ago, even if he doesn’t know it.
I jump slightly as Robbie knocks on my door.
“Callum says you sent him away. Did he do something wrong?” I can already hear the anger in his voice, so I smile.
“No, there are just some things I don’t want people to overhear me doing, and I had Rudy and Angelo downstairs, so I thought I’d be alright until you got back.” I stand up and look around. “I don’t know if there are cameras here, so we’re just colleagues.”
Robbie chuckles. “Indeed. Would you like me to drive you home?”
“You just want to get in my bed again.” It’s a small tease, and his charming smile wins me over.
“Not tonight, I swear. I will drop you at home, ensure you get locked in alright, and fuck off back to my own place for the evening so you can get some actual rest.” He leans against the doorframe, and I lick my lips.
“You’ll have to. You’re an absolute distraction.”
“Deal, let’s get going.” He leads the way down and out to his car. It’s a slow drive to my new home, but as we enter the area, I notice black smoke billowing ahead of us.
“I wonder what that is?” I point to the smoke.
“Probably a fire near the park again. Those happen when the weather is this dry,” Robbie comments casually.
My stomach drops, though, as the smoke gets bigger and bigger as we approach my street. “You don’t think?”
“I do, unfortunately.” Robbie pulls into my street, and we see fire engines outside my house as it blazes.
I swallow hard. “Someone is determined to destroy everything I own and probably to kill me.”
Robbie protectively puts a hand on my leg. “I’ll find them and make them wish for a quick death. Which I will not give them.”
I look at him. “What now?”
“Come back to my place for now. At least you’ll be safe there.” He does a U-turn and starts back down the road. “I’ll call the guys and come have them sort this.”
“Do you have food at your apartment?” I ask curiously.
“Listen, I missed shepherd’s pie for you last night. If you haven’t eaten Molly’s food, you’re missing out.” I stare at him, and he chuckles,
“You’ll see what I mean.”
“Who’s Molly?” I ask, a little put out.
“She’s the woman that has taken care of all of us for as long as I remember but hates what our family does, loyal as fuck and not someone to start with.” I grin. “You’ll see, she’s an Irish lass if there ever was one.”
I look into the side mirror to see the smoke still billowing. I take out my phone and text Carmine. “I’ll send the Sorvino team to deal with the fire brigade. Let’s just get somewhere safe and not out in the open.”
He reaches over and squeezes my leg softly. “It’s going to be okay, love.”
I don’t know about that.