Mateo Caputo (Unseen Underground 2)

“Good.” Lorenzo glanced at me. I was the main contact for Mr. Blue. “Make sure it gets done, Mateo.”

“On it,” I said, gritting my teeth as the satellite phone rang again. “I’ll call him as soon as we finish up here.”

Lorenzo nodded. “Anything else to report?” he asked Dante.

“Nope.” There was shuffling on the line. “I gotta head to a meeting.”

Lorenzo didn’t say another word as he ended the call. Him and his brother hadn’t been on the best of terms since Lorenzo had become boss, but now that Dante was in another state, expanding the business, they seemed to be building bridges. “Christian, get in touch with our contact on the inside here, see if they can find anything else.” He paused as Christian stood. “But be discreet.”

“Goes without saying,” Christian replied, his voice rough. He’d been quiet lately, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with him. He was usually more opinionated, telling it how it was, especially to Lorenzo. Maybe it was because of all of the changes happening lately. He’d been made the underboss, but we all knew it was only a matter of time until Dante came home and claimed his rightful place next to Lorenzo.

I frowned at Christian as he sauntered around the table and toward the door, staring at his cell as he went. He paused in front of the door, cursing quietly then shoved his cell into his pocket. He fisted his hands at his sides, his body strung tight. Maybe there was something else going on with him? We’d never been close, and it wasn’t my place to ask if he was good. I didn’t go poking my nose in other people’s business because I didn’t want anyone paying extra attention to mine. But if it was going to affect the organization then maybe I should say something?

I shook my head. No. I needed to stay out of it. I had enough going on in my own damn life, I didn’t need the stress of other people’s problems.

He jammed his finger on the buttons on the device next to the door and once he’d input the code, the door opened with a whoosh. Christian left without another word.

Lorenzo cleared his throat and I turned to face him, but his attention was on the door too, watching as it closed. His narrowed eyes turned around on me. He’d noticed the way Christian was acting. Not that it surprised me. Lorenzo read people like a book. “Anything to update me on your end?”

“I—” The vibrating of the satellite phone echoed on the table again, and I didn’t hesitate to end the call. “Nothing that needs to be worried about,” I told him, mentally going through a checklist of what had happened over the last couple of weeks. I’d moved into a house nearer the mansion and the kids had gotten their own bedrooms. That had gone without a hitch apart from leaving a certain blue-eyed woman behind. I told myself over and over again that she was a small bump in the road, one that I would forget about soon enough. My brain just hadn’t caught up with my demands yet.

If that wasn’t enough, I also had three soldiers beneath me, all looking at me to direct them in the business. I’d never thought about moving up in the ranks, and maybe that was why Lorenzo had made me a captain. I was trying to teach them the way Lorenzo had taught me, but I was learning that I had to find my own way. I had to make the connections with these men and create a loyalty that ran both ways. It was easier said than done.

Lorenzo made a noise in the back of his throat. “How are Romeo and Rafael doing?”

I scrubbed my hand down my face as I thought about Romeo. Since the meeting with The Enterprise things had been…strained. I’d put him in his place and it was clear as day that he didn’t like it.

“They’re—” A three tone beep blasting through the command center cut me off, and I spun around on my seat, searching for the screen that showed the main gate. It was a warning button that one of the soldiers had hit to let us know someone was here.

Two soldiers stood on either side of that gate, guarding it, but sitting in front of the metal work separating the outside world from the mansion was Romeo’s car. What the hell was he doing here? He knew better than to turn up unannounced. And while we were in a meeting to boot. He was pushing his luck and my patience was wearing real damn thin.

My satellite phone rang again, and I didn’t hesitate in answering it this time. “Romeo,” I snapped, feeling Lorenzo moving closer to me. I stood, glaring at the screen as I watched the car idle in front of the mansion. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Are you with Lorenzo?” he barked out, completely ignoring what I asked him. My teeth ground together. I snapped my mouth open to put him in his place, but he beat me to it. “Let us in. We have a problem.” He paused. “A real big fuckin’ problem.”

I glanced at Lorenzo who could hear the conversation even though it wasn’t on speaker. He tilted his head in acknowledgment so I ended the call and clicked on the button to let the two soldiers at the gate know to let them in.

I didn’t look away from the screens as the gate opened and they drove through. There were cameras on every inch of the house, so I tracked his movements. They pulled up right outside the front ornate doors. Romeo flung himself out of the car and speed walked inside. A minute later, there was a knock on the command center door, and I let him in.

He barged into the room, his face turning red with anger. “I just caught someone stealing out of my car.” He paced the room, his hand pushing into his hair and grabbing it. Neither me nor Lorenzo said anything as he continued, “I was doing my usual rounds—”

“Fuck.” I slammed the command center door closed, realizing what he was saying. “Explain,” I demanded, barely getting the word out with how tight my jaw was locked.

“I went into the restaurant over on ninth to give them their usual order, and when I came out, I saw someone take a bag out of my trunk and hand it to someone else.” He halted a few feet away from us. Dammit. They’d stolen one of the bags he delivered each week. Each one had at least a hundred thousand dollars worth of product in them. “I don’t know how the fuck they got into my trunk. It was locked. And I—”

“Where was your backup?” Lorenzo asked, his voice calm. Calm was good to any other person, but with him, I knew it wasn’t. He was getting ready to deal out a punishment, one that would send a message to anyone else who thought they could steal from us and get away with it.

“Rafael was inside with me—”

“So you left the delivery items unattended?” Lorenzo boomed, jerking forward. He grabbed Romeo by his collar and slammed him against the wall. “Is that what you did?”

“I…” Romeo’s gaze darted to mine, but I wasn’t going to help him. I’d told him he needed to take Rafael and Mario with him. They were both new soldiers, but Romeo wasn’t. He knew the score, he knew we had to take precautions.

“Where was Mario?” I asked, leaning against the back wall, my body turned to face the door, but my attention was solely on Romeo. I was an expert in giving off a vibe that nothing was wrong, but inside I was a raging fiery ball.

“He…” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. Romeo never showed emotion. He was a brick wall, unreadable, never giving a single thing away. But right then, he looked like he was about to shit himself. Lorenzo may have been his cousin, but that didn’t matter when it came to Mafia hierarchy. He was a soldier, and he hadn’t listened to orders. “I didn’t call him.”

“So, you ignored my orders?” I raised a brow, not moving a single inch.