Chapter 106 Chapter 106
Damien’s POV
The conference room was thick with tension, cigar smoke curling up toward the ceiling as the remaining elders of the Crimson Syndicate sat around the long mahogany table. Their faces were grim, angry, fearful a combination that made for a volatile atmosphere.
I stood at the head of the table, my hands braced on the polished surface, looking at each of them in turn.
“We need to discuss the assault on one of our members,” I said, my voice carrying authority even though exhaustion pulled at me. “The death of our brother. The Morellis are systematically targeting our leadership, and we need to respond.”
“Respond?” One of the elders slammed his fist on the table. “We need to know why this happened in the first place! Where was the security? Where were the protections we’ve always had?”
“Security has been compromised,” I admitted, keeping my voice level. “We had a traitor in our organization who opened the gates during the compound attack. We’re working to identify if there are others.”
“Working to identify?” Another elder spoke up, his voice sharp with accusation. “Damien, this is unacceptable. Our people are dying because you’re not paying attention!”
“Not paying attention?” I repeated, my voice dropping dangerously low.
“You’ve been distracted,” the first elder said, and I heard the judgment in his tone. “Ever since that girl came into your life. This college student who got herself pregnant. You’ve been slipping, Damien. Your focus isn’t where it needs to be.”
The mention of Hailey made my jaw clench.
“My personal life has nothing to do with this.”
“Doesn’t it?” The elder leaned forward. “Two elders dead. Your compound destroyed. Your organization hemorrhaging territory to the Morellis. And where have you been? Playing house with some naive girl instead of leading us.”
I felt rage building but forced it down. Losing my temper wouldn’t help. These men were scared, and scared men lashed out.
“My relationship status doesn’t change the fact that the Morellis declared war,” I said, my voice hard as steel. “They would have attacked regardless of who I was seeing or not seeing. This isn’t about a girl. This is about them trying to destroy us, and we’re not going to let that happen.”
“Then what’s your plan?” another elder demanded. “How are you going to protect us?”
“I’m upping security for all of you,” I said firmly.
“That’s defensive,” someone pointed out. “What about offense? What about making the Morellis pay?”
“We will make them pay,” I promised, my voice carrying absolute conviction. “But we do it smart. We don’t rush in angry and make mistakes. We strike when and where it will hurt them most.”
I straightened up, looking around the table. “I’ve already started. We’ve reclaimed several of our territories that the Morellis took during the initial attacks. We’ve hit their supply lines. We’ve made them hurt.”
That seemed to placate them somewhat. A few nods around the table.
“And,” I continued, “my mother is returning to Italy to oversee our operations there. To make sure our family estate and European interests are protected while we handle the Morellis here.”
“When does she leave?” an elder asked.
“Tomorrow morning,” I said. “She’ll coordinate with our Italian allies and make sure we have support from that side if we need it.”
The meeting continued for another hour, discussing strategy, territory, resources. By the time it ended, the elders seemed somewhat reassured, though I could still see the fear in their eyes.
They filed out one by one, offering nods of respect but nothing warm. They blamed me for what was happening, even if they didn’t say it directly.
I stood alone in the conference room after they’d gone, staring at the empty chairs, feeling the weight of leadership pressing down on my shoulders.
That’s when my phone rang.
Lorenzo’s name flashed on the screen.
“What is it?” I answered immediately.
“Boss, we have a problem,” Lorenzo said, and I heard urgency in his voice along with background noise shouting, the sound of vehicles.
“What kind of problem?”
“There was an attack,” Lorenzo said. “A nameless gang we don’t know who they’re affiliated with. But they somehow spotted out our location. They hit us hard and fast.”
My stomach dropped. “Where are you?”
“One of our warehouses,” Lorenzo said. “The one on the east side. I’m sending you the location now.”
My phone buzzed with a text message containing coordinates.
“I’m on my way,” I said. “How bad is it?”
“Bad, boss,” Lorenzo said. “We’ve got casualties. And… the tape. The evidence from the compound. It’s….”
The line cut out.
“Lorenzo?” I said. “LORENZO?”
Nothing but dead air.
I grabbed my keys and ran.
The drive to the warehouse took fifteen minutes that felt like hours. My mind raced through possibilities. A nameless gang? That didn’t make sense. Every gang in this city had allegiances, territories, known leadership.
Unless it was a front. Unless the Morellis had hired mercenaries to do their dirty work with plausible deniability.
I pulled up to the warehouse to find chaos. Several of our vehicles were damaged, bullet holes peppering the walls, and my men were still securing the perimeter.
I found Lorenzo immediately, standing near the entrance with blood on his shirt.
“Report,” I demanded, scanning him for injuries.
“I’m fine, it’s not my blood,” Lorenzo said quickly. “But boss… Vincent took a bullet to the hand.”
“Where is he?” I asked, already moving toward the warehouse entrance.
“Inside. Medics are with him now.”
I found Vincent sitting on a crate, his right hand wrapped in bloody bandages, his face pale with pain and shock.
“Vincent,” I said, kneeling in front of him. “What happened?”
“They came out of nowhere, boss,” Vincent said, his voice shaking. “We were transferring the tape like you ordered, keeping it secure. Then suddenly there were gunshots from every direction. I tried to protect the evidence, but….”
He gestured with his injured hand toward something on the ground nearby.
The tape. Or what was left of it.
The storage device was completely destroyed. Smashed beyond any hope of repair. The hard drive that contained the footage from my compound, the evidence that could have helped us identify more traitors, was nothing but broken pieces and shattered components.
“No,” I breathed, moving closer to examine it. “No, no, no.”
“I’m sorry, boss,” Vincent said, tears mixing with the dirt and blood on his face. “I tried to protect it. I really tried.”
Lorenzo appeared beside me, his expression grim. “It happened fast, boss. One minute I was defending Vincent, making sure he had cover. The next, a devious attack came from the weirdest corner.”
I stood slowly, looking between Vincent’s injured hand, the destroyed tape, and Lorenzo’s bloodstained shirt.
Something about this didn’t sit right.
A nameless gang somehow finding this specific warehouse. Attacking at the exact moment the tape was being transferred. Destroying the evidence so completely it could never be recovered.
“How did they find this location?” I asked, my voice carefully neutral. “This warehouse isn’t on any public records. Only a handful of people knew we were using it.”
“I don’t know, boss,” Lorenzo said, frowning. “It’s concerning. Suggests we might have another leak.”
I looked at Vincent, who was staring down at his injured hand, his face a mask of pain and what looked like genuine distress.