“I would be honored to serve you and our family,” Severu said without hesitation. He kissed Val’s ring, and they embraced. He took the chair at Val’s right that Parisi had been forced to vacate.
Val knew many of the capos would consider Severu too young to be underboss, as many of them had been in the outfit years longer and had more experience, but they were his father’s men, not his. That meant that over the years they had also been around Miceli. Miceli had charm when he wanted and he could be persuasive. Every chance he got, he brought up his belief that trafficking was the new way to make the most money. Others were doing it, and the Saldi famiglia should as well, otherwise they would fall behind.
The dead body was removed and all signs of his demise with him before the servers were called in to bring the food. All talk ceased until they were gone.
The rest of the meeting was spent with capos mainly reintroducing themselves to Valentino, swearing their fidelity and letting Severu know their businesses and when they turned their profits over to the bookkeeper. What they owed, and if they were behind. Three were behind, one seriously.
Valentino sat at the head of the table as each capo came to him and laid out their information in a succinct way. Caj Lastra was in his thirties, with dark hair and even darker eyes. He was a good-looking man but for the strain in the lines showing on his face. He swore his fidelity, renewing his oath, and seemed sincere, but again, Val caught the tension in his jaw and around his mouth. He was one of the men Val and Dario had brought to Giuseppi’s attention and had helped guide to his current position. They had counted on him to be loyal to them.
“There is a problem with your bookkeeping,” Val stated, not giving the man a chance to make any mistakes by trying to lie his way out.
“Yes, Mr. Saldi, there is a problem, and it is becoming more of a problem. I haven’t been able to find the leak. It’s been going on for the last seven months. It started small and has continued every week, someone siphoning the profits. If it came from one business, I would be able to pinpoint the thief, but it doesn’t.”
Bernado confirmed that Caj was telling the truth. He had been going over his books thoroughly and said the thief was hacking in from outside and transferring money out of the accounts. Each transfer was for different amounts, and each was taken at different times, seemingly random. Caj had paid what was due to Giuseppi in full up until three months ago, all the while paying his men without taking his own cut. But the money disappearing was becoming substantial to the point he couldn’t pay both Giuseppi and his men. His soldiers needed the money to live on, so he paid his men, giving Giuseppi less and less.
“Why didn’t you come to my father and tell him this was a problem?”
“I went to Parisi after the fourth month, when I could see it was an outside source. I told him the problem, and he assured me he would talk to your father and they would help me. I didn’t hear from anyone after that.”
Valentino was afraid he would hear that often from the men owing money. The capos would have gone to the underboss and laid out their troubles after first trying to fix them. Parisi had been betraying Giuseppi as far back as two years earlier, nearly three. Maybe longer. Most likely, Parisi was setting up the capos for Miceli, making them ripe for his money.
“We will give you help with this problem, Caj,” Valentino said. “We have someone who will speak to you alone and ask you questions. Severu will introduce you to him over an encrypted line. You will give him full access to your books and answer any question freely, as if you were speaking to me.”
Caj nodded his head. “I appreciate any help you can give me.”
“Until it is fixed, we will suspend the profit sharing as there are no profits. Come to Severu if you need help with your soldiers. You can’t look weak to them, and you want to take care of them. Has Miceli contacted you directly? Or his sons?”
Caj nodded. “Tommaso phoned me once and then came to see me, asking for a sit-down. I heard him out. We have the East Side corner buildings for rent or lease. They’re used mainly for large commercial ventures such as garages, or the larger butcher operations for beef or pork where they are cut up, packaged and frozen before being shipped out. The East Side is mainly our legit operation. We have some smaller businesses in there as well, but for the most part the warehouses are quite large and anyone who leases there needs the space. We vet very closely. Those businesses are all ours, of course—at least, we own the majority of stock in them.”
“What did Tommaso want on the East Side?”
“The buildings at first. He offered a large amount for them. When I said absolutely not, he wanted to meet in person. I took the meeting because I was interested in what he had to say. There’s one corner warehouse three stories high, extremely large, with a deep basement that runs nearly the length of the entire building. He wanted to convince me that could be turned into a lucrative strip club with another, even more lucrative club below the first one, a more exclusive club catering to kinky tastes for men and women willing to pay huge fees to play.”
Valentino drew in a deep breath. He had a lot to talk to Parisi about down in that interrogation room. He hoped Stefano had given him the tools he would need. If not, he had his hands. It would take longer, but he had broken men with his fists before. He needed to find out what each of the other capos behind in their payments had that Parisi wanted before he confronted the monster to see what deal he had made with the devil.
CHAPTER NINE
Emmanuelle stood just inside the alcove of the door where the Ferraro family entered and exited the hotel in private. Leaning against the wall, she pressed a hand to her churning stomach. She’d never felt so violently ill in her life. It wasn’t as though she’d never seen anyone beaten or tortured before. Her brothers were guilty of such behavior when they were extracting information from someone. Emilio and Enzo were as well. It was just that … this was Valentino. Her Valentino.
She had never seen him look so hard. She’d known he could be, but not like that. So cold and distant. So completely emotionally turned off. He’d never raised his voice. He hadn’t raged. He’d smashed a man to pieces with a hammer, one part at a time, asking him questions in that same low, very calm voice. So soft. Almost gentle.
She shuddered. She knew that voice. So patient, as if there were all the time in the world. Ask a question. Listen to the sound of sobbing. Of pleading. Val hadn’t repeated himself. He’d waited the exact time he’d said he would wait and then swung that heavy hammer and broke another kneecap. Or an elbow. Or a hand. He hadn’t hesitated. He hadn’t flinched. He’d simply done as he’d said he would, following through as if Parisi were a child and his lies wouldn’t be tolerated. Just tell the truth.
The screams had been inhuman. Then the words had come tumbling out. Children as young as three, as five, taken from their parents. So much more lucrative to sell. Easier to handle. To keep. Miceli had started with women, but had gone to snatching young teens, preferably very young. Miceli knew someone who’d suggested young children were worth so much more. Did Parisi know anyone willing to pay very high prices for young girls and boys? He wasn’t a pedophile. He liked women, but he knew several men who liked them very young.