Six Months Contract With The Mafia God

Dante set down the phone and stood very still.

The operation had failed. Eve was alive. Angela was captured. The operative was captured. And now his alliance with The Covenant was shifting from active assassination to defense.

He’d been used as a distraction. The Covenant had sent him to assault Brooklyn, to take territory from Dimitri, to pull Dimitri’s attention in multiple directions while The Covenant made their move against Eve.

And it had worked perfectly.

Except the assassination had failed.

Which meant Dimitri was now fully aware of the alliance between him and The Covenant.

Which meant Dimitri was going to respond with everything he had.

Dante moved back to his desk and pulled up the Brooklyn territory map. The red sections showing his consolidation. The dealers he’d flipped. The operations he’d taken over. The money flowing toward his organization.

It was impressive progress for two weeks of work.

But holding it against a full Valentino retaliation was going to be significantly more difficult.

The knock on the door came at 11:15 AM.

”Yeah,” Dante called out.

Luca entered, already knowing something had changed. Luca could read Dante’s moods like a book written in a language only he understood.

”The Covenant?” Luca asked.

”The operation failed,” Dante said without preamble. ”Eve wasn’t poisoned. The operative was captured. Angela was captured.”

Luca’s expression shifted, but only minimally. This was a man who’d survived in dangerous situations by staying calm.

”How bad?” Luca asked.

”Bad,” Dante said. ”Dimitri knew the entire time. He set a counter-trap. The Covenant is going to eliminate the operative before he talks. Angela is in Dimitri’s custody and will be interrogated.”

”Does that mean we’ve lost Angela?” Luca asked.

Dante looked at his second in command and gave him the harsh truth.

”Yes,” Dante said. ”We’ve lost Angela. Dimitri is not going to let her walk away alive. By now, with how ruthless Dimitri is, he would have already started extracting information from both Angela and the operative. She’ll tell him everything she knows about us, about The Covenant, about the operation.”

Luca was quiet, processing this.

”So she’s already being tortured,” Luca said.

”Almost certainly,” Dante confirmed. ”And once Dimitri has extracted everything she knows, once she’s given him every piece of intelligence she possesses, he’ll kill her. She’s expendable. An asset that failed to achieve its objective.”

Luca nodded slowly, accepting the brutal mathematics of their world.

”What about The Covenant?” Luca asked. ”Are they going to come after us for the failure?”

”No,” Dante said. ”They’re going to eliminate the operative to protect themselves. They’re going to cut their losses and move forward. But they’ve made it clear that I still have value to them. Which means I need to do exactly what they’ve ordered.”

”Which is?” Luca asked.

”Hold Brooklyn,” Dante said. ”Don’t lose the territory I’ve taken. Prepare for Dimitri’s retaliation. And keep The Covenant’s interests protected while doing it.”

Luca understood the calculation immediately.

”That’s a heavy burden,” Luca said. ”Holding Brooklyn against Dimitri while keeping The Covenant happy.”

”It’s the burden of being useful,” Dante said coldly. ”And right now, I’m useful. I’m a distraction. I’m a barrier between Dimitri and whatever The Covenant is protecting in Brooklyn. So I hold the territory. I prepare for war. And I survive long enough to figure out what comes next.”

Luca moved to the window and looked out at Rome.

”Dimitri is going to come for you,” Luca said. ”Hard and fast. He’s not going to wait. He’s not going to hesitate. He’s going to try to reclaim Brooklyn and crush your operation simultaneously.”

”I know,” Dante said.

”Are we ready for that?” Luca asked.

”No,” Dante said honestly. ”But we will be. We’ll consolidate what we have. We’ll strengthen our positions. We’ll prepare defensive strategies. And when Dimitri comes, we’ll be ready as we can be.”

”What about going after him?” Luca asked. ”What about taking the offensive?”

”That’s not an option right now,” Dante said. ”Not while The Covenant needs me defending Brooklyn. They’ve made it clear: hold the territory or become expendable. So we hold. We defend. We survive. And if the opportunity comes to strike back at Dimitri, we take it. But not before Dimitri has already struck at us.”

Luca understood the strategic reality.

”So we’re in reactive mode,” Luca said.

”For now,” Dante confirmed. ”Until The Covenant tells us otherwise.”

Luca was quiet for a long moment, and then he asked the question that Dante knew he would ask.

”Do you think Angela talked?” Luca asked.

Dante turned to look at his second in command.

”I know she talked,” Dante said. ”Dimitri is too smart to keep her alive without extracting everything. He’ll have her confess to every detail. He’ll know about our alliance with The Covenant. He’ll know about the infiltration plan. He’ll know about the assassination methodology. He’ll know enough to understand exactly what we were trying to do.”

”So he knows everything,” Luca said.

”Everything that matters,” Dante confirmed. ”Which means he’s not going to hesitate. He’s not going to wait for more intelligence. He’s going to strike with everything he has.”

Dante moved back to his desk and began pulling up defensive strategies for Brooklyn.

”Get the team together,” Dante said to Luca. ”We’re moving into full defensive posture. I want dealers reinforced. I want supply lines secured. I want contingency plans in place for every possible scenario Dimitri might throw at us.”

”When?” Luca asked.

”Now,” Dante said. ”Tonight. We don’t have time to waste. Dimitri could move at any moment.”

Luca nodded and headed toward the door.

”Luca,” Dante called out, stopping him.

Luca turned back.

”We’re going to survive this,” Dante said. ”Angela was a tool. The operative was a tool. The assassination attempt was a tactic. But we’re still here. We’re still operational. We’re still a threat to Dimitri. And as long as we’re a threat, as long as we’re useful to The Covenant, we’re alive.”

”And after?” Luca asked. ”After we’ve done whatever it is The Covenant needs us to do in Brooklyn?”