1. Benito

CHAPTER 1

"I'm telling you…I want that courier in front of me by tomorrow morning. I know he's up to something and I have a feeling that I'm gonna break him and then I'm gonna take care of him. For good."

I glare at my brother, Tomas, and he growls under his breath. "I'm doing my best. The dickhead disappeared and my guys are having a hard time tracking him down."

"Then get more guys. Try fucking harder. This is ridiculous. We run the biggest organization in Washington and it's stupid that I cannot get my hands on one damn guy that I know is fucking stealing from our organization."

Tomas grimaces. "You think I don't know that. I absolutely know that we need to get this locked down before it comes out and we're a fucking laughingstock among the families."

"Then find…him," I grit out between clenched teeth, stalking across the parking lot to my dark SUV sitting a few feet away from us. "I want this wrapped up before the meeting in two days. There's no way I want this to come out without a punishment. We need to make sure that no ballsy asshole decides that it's okay to raid from our coffers. Punishment makes them think twice before they try."

"I know that," Tomas grunts under his breath as he stalks after me. "I'm doing my best, asshole. Keep it under control."

"You get it under control,"I growl as I reach my car and the driver hops out to open the back door.

A loud pop cracks through the night and my driver, Enzo, drops to one knee and then falls face first to the ground.

"What the hell?" Tomas snarls and then pushes me in the back seat before crouching and running into the night.

I jerk myself up and pull my gun out, my eyes searching in the dark lot. I don't see anything at first but then I see movement off to my right. I do not fire though. I can't say for sure that that is not Tomas.

Frustration eats at me and my finger tightens on the gun, needing to do something, anything.

My brother is out there somewhere and he's tackling an unknown danger on his own. I don't like it. I don't do inaction. It's not in my nature.

After what feels like forever but in actuality it was probably only minutes, I hear thuds and then silence.

Tomas appears in the open door and growls, "Why didn't you shut the fucking door? The whole car is bulletproof and you'd be safe."

"I don't need to be safe, asshole. Not when you're wandering around out there chasing someone."

"You're the head of the organization. You need to stay safe."

"You're my brother. So do you. Did you find him?"

"Nope." He bends down and his fingers touch Enzo's throat and he sighs, shaking his head. "He's dead."

I groan under my breath. "He's been with me forever. I can't believe this. Who would want to kill me?"

Tomas laughs, "You immediately jump to they're after you."

"Yeah. Because there's absolutely no one who would want to kill Enzo."

"Not entirely true but I think they were shooting at you. And you know damn well there's a long list of people who would love to kill you. Any of the leaders of the families would love to take over our territory and if you're dead, the organization would have some serious problems with in-fighting."

I shake my head. "You know damn well that you'd be in charge."

"I don't want it. You better not die because I do not want it."

I roll my eyes. I know damn well that if he had to he'd take over. He might not like it but this is our life. And if some mysterious, faceless asshole took me out, I know that he'd fucking wreck this town to find the person who did it and then he'd end them in the messiest damn way he could.

My brother does not suffer fools lightly. And if you go after me…you're a damn fool. You're gonna die.

"I'm gonna go look around. I've already called Tony and he's on his way out here." He glances down and even in the dark I can see the sadness in his eyes. "He'll take care of Enzo."

"I'll drive myself back to the house and then I'm gonna go see Trudy."

"I'd really rather you didn't do that, brother."

I glare at him. "Too fucking bad. She deserves that meeting." Trudy is Enzo's wife. They've been together for thirty years. Enzo was my father's man. He should have retired but after I took over last year after my father's death, he refused. He became my driver instead of an enforcer with the crew.

That should have made him safer so this is a bitter pill to swallow. I squat beside him and lay my hand on his cheek, my heart aching.

"I promise you, my friend, I will find out who did this and I will end them myself."

Tomas grunts. "I know you think that you can hunt them down yourself but we don't know who did this. I don't like the way they had the information on where you were. We came here on the spur of the minute for this meeting. They also didn't try and kidnap you or anything along those lines. They were intent on killing you. I think you need to get the hell out of town so that I can do my job and hunt these fuckers down in peace. I don't want to have to worry about you while I do this."

"What makes you think that I'll be safe anywhere? Maybe I go off by myself and maybe that's the damn plan."

"That could be true. We'll send our most trusted man with you. He will not travel with you so that if he makes a move, he'll get him. But he will keep you under surveillance. At all times."

I growl and run my hand through my hair, standing. "I don't like this whole idea."

"Too bad. Tony will take care of all this and then he'll get packed up and ready." My brother turns away, snapping. "So find somewhere to go that is as far off the grid as you can handle and then get the fuck out of town."

Glaring at him, I put my hand over my eyes as headlights blind me. Tony pulls up alongside me and I can see the pain in his eyes when he sees Enzo's crumpled body on the ground.

He nods towards him. "Are you sure he's…?"

I nod my head, sighing. "Yeah. He's gone. Can you get him to the proper place and make sure that there's a story why he was shot? I don't need the police investigating this. We'll take care of this on our own."

"Trust me, boss. I'll make sure the bastards don't bother looking into it. Obviously it was an accident."

I nod my head, wishing that we didn't have to do this. Obscure the way he died. It will not be nice.

But Enzo would understand. All of us know that if there's a problem, there might be a cover-up of our deaths. But that doesn't mean that there will be no retribution.

There absolutely will. And I'll be the one who delivers justice for my friend, my family.