Page 141 of More Tricks

Even though I tried to keep the absolute shock off my face, it was impossible. “I’m sorry, did you say wife?”

“Yes, we’ve been married a year now,” she answered. “In order to keep me safe, we live apart during the week, and he comes to spend the weekend with little Michele and me. He told me about you, said that you were what he needed to pull this off so we can be a family for real.”

Holy fucking shit, how many other surprises was I going to get with this guy?

Tommaso came down the stairs looking at something on his phone but came to a halt when he saw the two of us talking. “Oh, ah…”

“Don’t worry, we’ve already introduced ourselves to each other,” I said, giving him a disapproving look.

“Good, that’s good,” he stammered, unsure of what to do next. “The others here with you?”

“They're in the front room with François,” I answered. “Was there a better place you wanted to talk?”

“Yes, I’ll grab them, and we can head downstairs. Leonardo, gather the others and meet down in the prep room,” Tommaso ordered before he went to get my guys.

Taking a sip of my coffee, I glanced at Cynthia. “So you know everything?”

“There are no secrets between us, Two Tricks,” she answered sharply.

“Hey now, no need to get territorial. I have seven of my own men to deal with. There’s no way I want to add another. Besides, I'm not the other-woman type,” I reassured her. “I know his father was talking about some bullshit marriage, but trust me, I don’t want any of it. What I’m interested in is helping your husband get into power and being someone I can have to watch my back while I deal with the asshole gunning for us all.”

Cynthia took a deep breath and hugged her son tightly. “Sorry, I’ve been a secret for so long, I forget that not everyone is trying to steal what’s mine. People see him as unattached, and to protect us, he can’t let anyone know. All that’s going to change, though, with your help. I’ll finally be able to come out of the shadows and be by his side as a wife should.”

Tommaso returned with my crew following after him down into the basement. With one more glance at Cynthia, I sighed. “Be careful what you wish for. This is a hard life for anyone to survive in. Keep those you trust with your life close and those you don’t closer.”

Leaving her with those parting words, I joined the others.

Chapter twenty-three

Dax

The prep room was clearly the code word for war room because everything he’d given us was in its raw form all over the space. It was behind a fingerprint-locked door that must have been constructed to be a panic room of sorts. It was under the garage, leaving the rest of the space open to be used as a child’s play area.

“When you said base of operations, you meant your own home?” I asked once the door was shut, keeping what we said to just his room. “Your wife didn’t seem to know that we’d be coming over today.”

“Look, I get why you feel this is a slap in the face, but it’s the best way to keep her safe. My men are always around to look after her and Diego is too prideful to even consider that I might be right under his nose without him knowing. I wasn’t planning on falling in love or her getting pregnant, but I loved her too much to let her go. So, instead, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her and my son safe, like being the new ruler of the East Coast criminal empire,” Tommaso explained as he leaned against the massive wooden conference table.

“Any other tidbits of information you haven’t shared with us we might want to know about?” Eagle asked, crossing his arms and giving him a look that a lesser man would have crumbled under.

“No, that was the last thing I’ve been holding to myself for good reason,” Tommaso snapped back. “None of us really trust each other, and I get that, but you can’t take every slight as a sign I’m going to fuck you over. That being said, are you still willing to share your plans?”

Everyone looked at me, even Tommaso’s five guys who were seated at the table. “Let’s get started. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. First off, how many men do you have on hand to help us with this takeover?”

“Trusted men, a thousand, men who will help pull this off so they don’t die… altogether fifteen hundred,” Tommaso announced.

My jaw hit the floor. I knew he said he had guys at the ready, but for him to have pulled that many and know where they stood on the matter was fucking crazy. “So we have fifteen hundred men, including us, here to pull this off?”

“Dax, I don’t think you’re understanding that I’ve been planning this for two years,” Tommaso pointed out. “The moment I found out Cynthia was pregnant, I knew I had to find a way to be top dog. Nothing would be safe if I was at the whim of others. Family is collateral to everyone in our world, and I won't ever let that happen to my wife and child.”

Pulling back a chair, I took a seat. “Now that’s some shit I can get behind, and with that many, we can count on this being a cakewalk compared to me thinking we only had a few hundred max.” I pointed at one of the lackeys. “Let me see what maps you have of the city, the areas surrounding Diego’s New York house, and his son’s. I’ll also need to know what kind of firepower we have at our disposal. I’ve got a few ways to get some but the less we have to tip off our hand, the better. Wait, where’s Betta?” I asked, looking around the room.

Tommaso looked at me curiously. “Why would she be part of this?”

“Isn’t she your right hand?” I asked. “If that’s changed, then fine, leave her be. Otherwise, she better get her ass in here. She’s got her own part to play in all this.”

He left the room without another word, and the rest of us got to planning. The five guys were leaders of different areas where his men were integrated. Some were just in the city, keeping an eye on activity, while others were inside the De León Cartel. They’d been able to manage so many people by having them report to one contact person. Any real-time information we needed, they were the ones to give it.

Our biggest part of this plan was hitting multiple locations all at the same time, causing so much chaos they couldn’t react to it all at the same time. We knew the location of money houses, drug storage, and cartel hangouts. They were going to have so much blow up in their face, they wouldn’t know what hit them.