Ten

Dante’s POV

"Poisoned food, really?" I threw my hands in the air in anger and frustration at how gullible Ivan was being. The tension from our earlier conversation and fight still lingered between us making everything much more heated.

"I believe her," he said flatly. He walked past me taking a seat at his desk.

"You believe a naive 20-year-old college girl who was just brought nine hours away from home? Of course, she would feel like she was poisoned, she was brought here against her will" I threw my hands up in exasperation. Ivan has been frustrating and annoying since I brought Audrey here. First, he wanted her safe at all costs to the point of sending me hours away, something he has never done before and now he is trusting her over Deborah who has lived with us for years. He is definitely not saying something.

"That girl is smarter than you think and I know for sure she wouldn't raise an alarm if there isn't any. She knows very well what that would mean for her" The certainty in his voice made me somewhat uneasy...

"Besides Deborah has been acting up lately, I was going to call her out on it anyway might as well utilise the opportunity" he shrugged so casually like it is totally okay to tell me he plans on confronting a woman who has been taking care of us for as long as I can remember.

"I don't know what you are doing but it better not affect our family" I seethed, turning to leave. There is no point trying to reason with him or understand him, whatever is going on he is already deeply rooted in it.

"The Wedding will be two nights from now, you'd better get yourself ready. This is the best way to make sure everything goes as planned"

I turned quickly, almost giving myself a whiplash, "Your marriage to her?" I knew that wasn't what he was talking about but he still can't be insisting on something I have blatantly refused to do right?

"There is no need to act up, Dante. I wouldn't ask you to do it if it wasn't necessary"

The fact that he was making this sound so simple, so casual pissed me off even more. He wasn't there that night, he didn't have to hear the cries and pleas, he doesn't have to live with the guilt and forced to live with....he won't be insisting if he did.

"I am not doing it, Ivan" I stood my ground.

He watched me with his face blank but I knew he hated every bit of my defiance, I couldn't care any less right now though.

"Just think of this as protecting our family. Sullivan would keep trying and even though we have everything under control now, we can never tell what his next steps will be and it is best not to find out" he pressed further ...why won't he just drop it?

"It doesn't have to be me, let Leonid marry her, it's fake I'm sure Kate wouldn't mind" I suggested.

Ivan chuckled under his breath, "You better not let him hear that"

"Oh, I heard it quite all right" Leonid's deep voice filled the room as he walked in through the slightly ajar office door. He had a large scowl on his face which already told me the operation didn't go as planned.

"It's not a bad idea now is it?" I continued not to be threatened by his presence.

Leonid is good, one of our best even but smart enough to know his match.

"Let's not go there, Dante. Whatever is going on between both of you better not involve me or my wife cause it will not end well" his voice was bland but the hidden threat behind it couldn't be missed.

If Leonid wasn't our Consigliere and one of the men our former Don trusted with his life when he was alive I would have taken his head off.

"No one is bringing your wife into anything, just ignore Dante. We know you would never do anything to hurt her, not with the way she has you wrapped around her fingers" Ivan joked, his eyes moving to mine signalling me to drop it.

"Whatever you call it. When you both find a woman that you love, you would understand" He rolled his eyes, pulling out the chair in front of Ivan's desk and making himself comfortable on it.

I scoffed loudly, "You must be referring to Ivan, women are not even an option for me"

"Really? I thought it was your marriage you both are talking about?" If he was trying to piss me off he is doing a fantastic job at it.

"I don't have time for all of this. How did the shipment go?" I asked Leonjd to change the topic.

Ivan and Leonid glanced at each other in a silent conversation between them.

"It went fine," Leonid answered, his lips pressed in a thin line.

"You want to tell me the truth or you both want me to go find out for myself?"

They are very fond of TVJs, they always act like I am some unstable killing machine who has no control just because of the one mistake I made that I am still punishing myself for. Ever since the incident they have made it a habit to only tell me when things go smoothly so I wouldn't find out. Ivan might be the Don and Leonid the Consigliere but I have the most respect or should I say I am the most feared in this family. Whatever I want to know, I will know.

"There was another sale at one of Sullivan's clubs" Leonid sighed, both their eyes watching me for my next reaction.

"When was this?" I mummured.

"About three hours ago, I had managed to get there on time to scare most people off but it had already started before then" Leonid explained.

"The girls?"

"We were able to free twelve of them but twenty are still in his custody" he winced as he spoke. Twenty? How the fuck did he manage to get a hold of twenty girls despite everything?

"Twenty girls..." I repeated.

"I am sure it's something we can look into, there has to be an explanation. I asked Vaughn and he assured me everyone played their part in ensuring no more girls were taken" Leonid tried to reason but it was of no use, the truth was obvious.

"For his sake, I hope you both get to the traitor before I do," I said in a deadly voice, already plotting the multiple ways I was going to kill him.

"Dante" Ivan called out with urgency in his voice. I stopped in my tracks with my back to them waiting for him to speak.

"We can't keep saving them forever, Sulliavan is a madman"

"Then we may just have to take out Sullivan and face whatever the Irish Mafia sends our way" I was dead serious and they both knew it.

Sullivan is already a dead man to me, and everyone knows that including him but he keeps pushing his luck just because he is the Irish Don which automatically prevents me from killing him off like nothing.

It is only a matter of time....