“Morning, Angela. Why don’t you join me in my office but let Larson and Antonio know to be in my office in twenty minutes before you do.” I give her a slight nod as I walk past her into my office.
I expect there to be stacks of paperwork waiting for me to dive into, but my desk is clear of any. Angela must have completed them for me, for which I’m very grateful. I power up my computer and log into my email. My inbox floods with unanswered emails and I groan with the amount of work I need to get done, regardless of the help. She can only do so much as I’m the CEO and there are things that need my stamp of approval.
Pulling up the gun sales, they look good but some of the inventory numbers look off. I scroll through the document and notice there are seven crates missing. I put the order in and I know for a fact that I’d ordered thirty-eight and the inventory is showing thirty-one. My brows furrow as I go back and forth trying to decipher what I’m seeing.
Angela enters my office, closing the door behind her. She’s carrying some documents and a tablet in her arms, ready to report to me of what’s been going on. I’m sure as hell going to ask her about this. I glance up at her, noticing that she’s dressed differently. She looks more confident, bold, and her outfit is screaming executive. I smile inwardly at the fact that she took my advice. She looks more confident, radiant, and professional. This is the woman I want working for me. I needsomeone who won’t be pushed around and can hold down the office.
“So, can you explain to me why we’re missing seven crates from our order?” I reel back to business with a little more bite to my tone than I had meant, kind of.
She doesn’t even flinch. If you flinch at something so small, you’re going to be eaten alive. Good, she’s learning.
“We don’t know why they’re missing. The boys went to the drop and found thirty-one full crates but the other seven were ripped open and empty. This is what I was going to bring to your attention today as the drop happened yesterday.” Angela scrolls through her tablet to bring up the feed and hands it over to me.
I scroll through the feed, trying to see who the perpetrators are. Something doesn’t seem right. There’s a time lapse missing as it jumps to the open crates and my men go in for pick up. There’s definitely a mole and I have a feeling they’re working with the Albanian Mafia. Not only did a few of the others get their shipments stolen, but I’ve now been a victim.
“Did anyone report seeing anyone abnormal at the drop?” I don’t look up as I rewind over and over, trying to catch anything or anyone who shouldn’t be there. I know every single person who works for me and I can spot an outsider right away.
I don’t understand how this is all happening. We have tight security and all of the Mafia groups have come together, making us the biggest and most deadly alliance. At this point, I have a feeling that someone isn’t being as loyal as they’re portraying.
My office door swings open to Larson and Antonio striding in. I don’t miss their grave faces, which makes my blood run cold.
“We’re needed in the conference room. The other leadershave arrived unexpectedly with urgent matters,” Antonio announces as he walks over to one of my safes, punching in a code and grabbing a pistol. He hands it over to Larson, who tucks it into the back of his pants.
A few other men come to my office expressionless waiting to escort me to the office. Great, my first day back and everything has gone to shit. They won’t dare do anything on my turf, nor bring attention to my office. With the unannounced arrival, my men are ready to defend me, if needed.
“Angela, stay in my office and see if you can get any more information. If anything happens, you know what to do to get everyone out.” I stand from my desk and follow Antonio towards the conference room.
The office is quiet with staring eyes wondering why there’re massive men surrounding me. I mean, I can’t blame them for being wary. I square my shoulders, lift my head up, and walk with confidence to the room dominated by men.
As we open the conference door, Antonio leads the way and everyone stands as I enter the room. I receive slight nods before everyone takes their seats once more.
“Good Morning. This is a surprise visit. I would say that it’s nice to see you but from your expressions, it appears that it’s going to be anything but nice.” I acknowledge them before taking a seat at the head of the table.
Larson and Antonio take up each side of me, standing behind me like brooding guards. I notice Egmen glaring daggers in my direction and I’m really over his piss-poor treatment. I don’t know what the hell his deal is but I’m about two seconds away from launching over this table and swiping it off his face.
“We don’t mean to come here with any disrespect. With everything going on, we felt we needed to meet as soon as possible. We caught word that you were back in town andfigured you wouldn’t mind our dropping in. We had some issues in New Jersey that we needed to bring to everyone’s attention,” Arrid, head of Swedish Mafia, speaks up.
He pulls out a tablet and hands it down the line until it comes to me. I play the feed and notice men covered head to toe in black sneak into the warehouse. A few of them have some sort of tool in their hands and pry open the crates. A dark vehicle pulls up to the sliding doors and they quickly fill the trunk with the guns and take off with a squeal of the tires.
“Do you have any idea who this would be? This isn’t the first raid and it’s happening more and more. I want to know how they’re finding the drop locations and times.” I rewind the video and watch it once more.
There’re no symbols on any of the men but I do notice a license plate. I glance up at Larson and pause the screen with the clear view of the plates and hand it over. We don’t have to speak but he knows exactly what I need. He motions for one of the men outside the doors to take up his spot and heads out to investigate the findings.
“We were hoping you would have answers. You haven't been hit yet and were gone for a period of time. Quite convenient for you to surface after this incident,” Egmen, the head of Turkish, accuses me.
My body goes taunt. The audacity of this fucker to throw an accusation at me amongst the others. I see red. I didn’t just go through hell to come back to being accused of setting this up. Especially when my alliances are strong and large. I have enough money and supplies, I wouldn’t even think about stealing. If I needed more stock, I would make one phone call. I also work with the military. I don’t need their shit.
Everyone around the table sucks in air with bulging eyes at his statement. This tells me that I never crossed their minds as someone who would steal from them. He’s gone rogue andfrankly, this has me wondering if he’s the rat. Would be dumb on his part, considering his territory is significantly smaller than mine.
“What grounds do you stand on throwing accusations at me? Because I was on vacation? Little do you know I had other pressing matters to deal with. I have more than enough supplies that I don’t need to betray my allies, nor would I ever. For your information, I was just raided yesterday. So think before you open your damn mouth.” I lean forward spitting venom.
“Who the hell do you think you are to speak to me like that, little girl?” His face goes beet red.
Deniil begins rolling up his sleeves before he slowly gets up from his chair and strides over to Egmen. His hand shoots out striking his throat. He begins to squeeze the life out of Egmen. Deniil knows where I was. He knows that I didn’t go on a fancy vacation but put my life at risk for another.
“You stupid, stupid man. Don’t ever speak to a woman like that again. We didn’t come here to start a war amongst our people. If you want to keep this alliance, show some fucking respect.” His Russian accent is more enhanced with the amount of anger he has.
He brushes his suit off and sits back in his seat as if nothing happened. He gives me a knowing look as if telling me he may be thinking the same as me.
