Maximus

To say that I was angry was an understatement.

I told my brothers that under no circumstance was I to be called into the office tonight. That this evening was to be spent with Stella and her family, and yet here I am storming into the family estate.

Stella is an understanding woman, but I left her brother's engagement party. That would piss anyone off.

"What could be so important that you call me when I say I am out for the evening?" I say to Romano meeting him at the estate's foyer.

Romano glanced up from his phone. "Carnellio."

My feet stopped moving and my spine straightened. "What of him?"

"We have his accountant." Romano answered motioning with his head to follow him.

Following my little brother, I took small breaths, trying to keep myself calm. "How did we find him?"

"Remember those idiots Shaw caught trying to break into our containers?" He asked opening the door down towards the basement, where aggressive negotiations take place. "Well, turns out that the bank account they were given to pay them was actually real. Luka was able to track it down to the accountant."

I glance to Romano. "I was not expecting that to go anywhere, I expected that to be a dead end. Huh, well is the accountant speaking?"

Romano looked to me, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Oh, he's singing."

I chuckled darkly. "How much did it take?"

We walked down the stairs, reaching the basement floor. "One look at Vinzo's face."

I tsked. "Some people can't appreciate ruggedly handsome men."

"What can I say, I'm an enquired taste." Vinzo said appearing around the corner. "Lorenzo is down the hall waiting for you."

"Where you going?" Romano asked.

Vinzo checked his phone when an alert came in. "I'm meeting up with Smoke from the Riders of Silence."

My brows drew together. "Everything okay?"

Vinzo hummed. "Yeah, he is helping me look into something. Nothing for the family to worry about, just something personal."

Looking at the scared man I slowly nodded my head. I didn't like the idea of him going out by himself to work with someone outside the family. But, the man has a past and I cannot fault him for trying to work it out in his own way.

"Well, be safe out there, Carnellio is still hunting for us." I clasp his shoulder and pass him by to find my older brother.

Walking down the hall, it took me a short couple minutes to find Lorenzo.

"About time you got here." Lorenzo called down to me, leaning against the wall and looking into a one-way mirror that showed the accountant in the other room.

Rolling my shoulders, I go to stand beside him, looking into the mirror at the accountant. "Well there better be a good reason as to why I am."

Lorenzo looked over to me. "I see your pissed at having to leave the party."

I glanced over to Lorenzo, taking in his face which told me he hasn't slept in a few days. Finding Carnellio has been his only job. Putting my attention back on the accountant I answer. "As I said, there better be a good reason as to why I am here."

My older brother chuckled darkly and motioned to the man. "Luka was able to follow the money to this man. I sent Vinzo and the men to collect him, paper files and all hard-drives to give us all information he has on Carnellio and possible partners."

My eyes ran over the young man who fidgeted in his seat. He is most likely thinking how this gig must have sounded perfect when he signed up and now he is wishing he walked away from something that was too good to be true.

Our accountant who does our banking, ensures that nothing can be traced back to us. She handles the private company's 'legal' money and makes sure that nothing is out of order. Than for our more lucrative income or expenses she runs it through a different name to ensure that if someone searches the account they won't find us.

"What about Carnellio, surely he will notice his accountant is missing?" I ponder aloud.

"Good." Lorenzo spat out. "I want him to feel us coming after him. Let him know his noose is tightening. Luka already drained every account we now have access to."

Romano cracked his neck. "That's going to piss him off."

"Let him be angry." Lorenzo muttered. "Let him become furious, it'll make him act and when he does we'll be ready. Right now, every location that was on the accountant's documents are being stormed by our men and will all be burned to ground."

Romano looked over at Lorenzo, his hand coming up to scratch his short beard. "You'll be making a pretty loud point."

"That's the point." Lorenzo said looking to Romano.

My little brother dropped his hand and looked at the man across from us. "We already know Carnellio is going to come after us one more time, which will be good because that means he is out of his hole and we can find him. Us burning down everything he owns won't make him sit like a dog, it'll make him snap. He will came at us hard along with whoever he is working with. Who we still don't know the identity of."

Lorenzo tilted his head. "You scared little brother of a fight? We all know there is one coming to put him down and make an example of what happens when you fuck with us."

Romano turned so that he now faced Lorenzo and I. "I'm not scared, I'm aware that we now have more collateral damage to protect."

When his eyes shifted to mine, my spine straightened and my mind picked up what he wasn't saying. "Stella."

"His first move against us was made through her, he will do something against her when he acts out." Romano added.

I took even breaths with my jaw clenched.

He will not touch her. He will not touch my child.

Lorenzo took my silence as the opportunity to speak up. "We can put extra security on her and at the shop when she is there. If Carnellio comes out for her, he won't get far."

My head turned to face him. "You're not using her as bait."

My brother shook his head. "Of course, I'm not. The reason I am not suggesting we put her on house arrest is because I have met her. I know that if I told her that she is on house arrest it wouldn't go well and might stab someone with her sewing needles. Then she would rally the other females and I don't need that either. So yes, she gets extra protection. It's up to you on what you want to tell her."

Fuck.

I knew he was right. There is no way I could ask Stella to stay inside till we deal with Carnellio. One, she wouldn't stand for me locking her up and two I would never be able to do that to her.

"I won't inform her of the possibility of being in Carnellio's crosshairs. Don't want that stress to risk her or the baby. I'll explain the extra security to be something work related." I muttered, trying to come up in my head of how to explain it to Stella.

A 'bing' sounded in the hall making Lorenzo check his phone. My hand itching to go to mine and check on Stella. To ensure she is having a good time tonight and also to check in with Sebastian who is watching her.

"Romano go check on our men inside the police and fire department. Don't want to risk anything coming back to us from tonight." Lorenzo said putting his phone away.

Romano nodded beside me. "Will do right after this."

I let out a sigh. "I take it I'm not making it home for bed."

Lorenzo leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "Not yet. Work with Luka, see if he has been able to identify any leads on who Carnellio's partners are."

Nodding I popped my suit button open. "Will do. Ready to find out who they are, they must have been in the game for a while if they have been this good at staying under the radar."

"We will find out when we have evidence, don't be stupid and start speculating who it can be." Lorenzo cautioned, most likely looking to Romano who began shifting on his feet from going through a list of possible enemies.

I motioned with my head to the man still sitting behind the glass. "What are you doing about him?"

Lorenzo smiled. "Oh him, I'm letting him go. I got what I wanted from him now he can go free."

Romano snorted. "I give him only a few hours."

"I'll leave you then, I'm going to get started." With that I patted both my brother's back.

Letting out a breath I start walking back upstairs, my hand taking out my phone. Clicking on a certain contact I start heading to Luka's room.

"Hey, everything okay?" Stella asked, loud laughter in the background.

I chuckled. "I should be asking you that, sounds like a party there."

She groaned. "Anthony's dad arrived after you left, apparently we were supposed to wait but since I was so hangry we started earlier. Anyway, his dad brought the good, fancy wine and I get to watch them drink. But it's fine, I'm happy for them and they deserve a good night."

Taking the stairs to the second floor of the estate I chuckle. "Love, I will buy you a winery."

"Mmhh you better. Is everything okay?" Her voice was light but there was an undercurrent of worry, something I wanted to get rid of.

I take a turn down Luka's hall, my voice working hard to ensure I don't give away my troubles to her. "What makes you think it isn't?"

Stella sighed. "If it wasn't important, you wouldn't have left."

It was my turn to sigh. "I'll make it up to you."

She chuckled. "Oh, I am sure you will. I'll see you tonight, stay safe."

With that she clicked off and I tucked my phone away.

Taking a corner, I spot Luka's room, my desire to get home to my woman tonight rose and my feet brought me to his room at a quick pace.

I barged into Luka's room, the man jumping off his bed and falling to the floor with a thump. "Get up we got work we have to do before I can go home."

He looked up from the floor annoyed but I didn't care, I want to get back to my woman. "I haven't slept a full night in three days."

I leaned against his computer desk, my face blank. "Yeah? Well I haven't had a full day with my woman in a week and work keeps getting in the way. So, get your ass up, get some coffee and let us get to work."

Luka pushed himself off the floor with a scowl. "For the record, I'm doing this for Stella, not for your grumpy ass."

I ignored him. My attention was on texting Sebastian letting him know there will be more security on Stella, to take her to the penthouse after the party and to stay alert.

Luka sat down on his desk, his hand moving to turn his computer on. "You know, hacking isn't what it is on TV shows. Information doesn't appear at the snap of a finger, it can take a while."

Putting my phone away I looked at Luka. "Lorenzo made a move against Carnellio tonight; taking his accountant and burning his properties. It's not an if Carnellio makes a move, it's when. First time he came at us he used Stella and now with her visibly pregnant he will go after her. Get your fingers moving, we need to see if we can trace down any partners."

Luka gave a strong nod. "I already downloaded all the files from the accountant's hard-drives. We can start with who Carnellio was making routine payments to."

Nodding, I sat up from the desk. "I'll go get us a pot of coffee."