Pretending to Be an Untouchable Crime Boss

Ferucci didn't want to wait a bit, he wanted to go out the second as James gave him the order, the free will to kill Marco however he wanted to.

He ached for blood, for the blood of the people who went against James.

His hand twitched and his pulse quickened as he imagined what he's going to do with Marco with his best men.

But first, they grabbed whatever they could.

Searched all of Isabella's office for documents, all the USBs, even the laptops. Then they emptied the treasure room. All the money, all the jewelry, golden bars… everything that had value they grabbed it.

And they found one interesting thing, a small safe under her table, but it was locked. So the guard did what they thought was the best way to open it, and started shooting the shit out of the lock with a shotgun, and, well, it opened somehow.

James was the first who knelt down and opened it, and what he saw in there was confusing at least to him. In the safe were three USBs and nothing more. He picked it up and it was more than a USB as he opened it up. It had a lock pad on it.

"What is this?" He asked, holding it out.

"I think that's a crypto USB or what they call it." One of the guards said. "It stores cryptocurrencies on it."

"Cryptocurrencies?" He asked as he looked back at it. He knew what those were, and how much money it was worth, but never dipped his hand into it.

"I can be worth millions." The guard said again.

James looked back at the safe, grabbed two more out of it. "So it needs to be hacked or something?"

"Well, I don't really know how it works but, I can give it to Dani." He said.

So James gave all three to him not knowing that those USBs weren't storing cryptocurrency but something more dangerous.

As he stood up, with the help of Hector, his attention went away from those USBs to something that he just realized something…that he didn't really care up until this point. He looked down at his watch, and they had been in the house for an hour.

"Where are her people?"

Hector just shook his head and then Ferucci answered his question. "At the gate when I came in, they said they left when they realized Isabella left the Circle."

"Left?" James asked back because it doesn't make any sense to him.

Isabella still was a gangster woman who led a family, and only eight guards at her house. She well over had at least a couple hundred people under her and no one even showed up.

"Maybe it was because of Sinatra, they could have bought all of them or something, because it's a little unbelievable all of them would just leave her..." Ferucci said, but he actually had a point which James and Hector also realized.

"Fucking hell, that would mean they already have soldiers in the city..."

The deal wasn't just about the money, but her people too... they asked for money and people, soldiers who were already in the city and Isabella gave them to the cartel... how fucking stupid she was... or desperate, but for what... more power, more influence, what were you wanting Isabella...

"James?" Hector asked as he saw him deep in his thoughts.

He looked up. "There is a chance that this means they are now at Marco, and he is the connection between the city and Sinatra." He said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "He knows about us, about our warehouse. He is the one that directed the attack too."

"There's no way… Marco is just a little bitch." Ferucci said. "Does he really have the balls to do something like this?"

"He doesn't, there is something we don't know about, something they bought him with, there's gotta be something, because Isabella wouldn't be this reckless, nor Marco." James looked at Hector. "How many are counted now?"

Hector quickly looked up at his phone. "Over two thousand."

"Prepare the most experienced men, to ensure less loss." He looked at Hector then at Ferucci. "You're going to strike him today, and as I said earlier, don't let anybody out alive. If Marco does not want to speak, do whatever you want."

Ferucci started smiling, while Hector's hand twitched a little. They both knew it was finally here, finally they could kill without a leash put on them.

"First we need to distract them." Hector said, and his voice now was not kind of happy or excited. "Marco has different coffee shops in the city and also the warehouses in the outskirts. If we launch an attack, then first distract them, so the response time would be slower as Ferucci attacks the family house."

"That's a good idea, how many do they have?" James asked.

"Around 11 warehouses that are close to us, but far for them." Hector said. "We don't need to attack them full on, maybe throw some grenades and Molotov cocktails to burn it down."

While Hector spoke, James was thinking about something, his mind was replaying all the scenes he saw in movies, in documentaries, he read books about the Mafia.

"Drive by shooting." He said suddenly. "I know his top men and they all live in the same area, not just that but the restaurant on 5th street. I was there two times and it's full of his men, not even one civilian, all of them criminals, even the fucking waiters." But of course, he wasn't sure about that, it was a restaurant on a busy street, full of civilians even at night, but at the same time it was the best way to strike down the force that can respond from the heart of the city.

"If I think about it more, all of the coffee shops are too just fucking hangout spots for his soldiers... so let's say 7 coffee shops and that big restaurant, around 200 guys that can respond." Hector said.

"But what about the police?" Ferucci asked. "I mean it was your rule James to not start a shoutout downtown..."

They both looked at Ferucci because what he said was true, it was his rule, but now that they were working with the government, the police actually... could work on their side.

"From this moment on that rule no longer exists. I will call Linda about the police… maybe they could even help us." He said and the room got more tense.

It was still strange to the bodyguards to work with the government and the police. But the thing was only these guys knew it… the bodyguards who went with James to the meeting.

And it was a problem for James, he needed to inform everybody in the family, to not kill officers but actually work with them even though they are enemies.

Or did he really need to do that?

He thought about it since they left the meeting. Hector once said they will follow him without question, so why should he inform them about it, it would just be a problem if some of them started leaking it out.

"They're going to trust you James." Hector said. "Don't worry about that."

James looked at him and he only saw how confident Hector was.

"Good." He looked down at his watch once again. "Is three hours enough to get ready?"

"It's enough. We already have a plan for something like this, so in a half hour everybody will be ready."

James stayed silent for a bit, as he just realized it's really going to happen, he's really going to wage a war, something he never thought about his entire life.

But most importantly he realized that he isn't someone anymore who can ever wash it off himself… and he had never felt better than ever.

"Then today marks the day that we show our true power." He said looking into everybody's eyes that was around him.

"Let's go." He said and turned to leave the room.

But still, that little worry lingered in him… the fear that maybe this step would only drag him deeper into the abyss, deeper into suffering, just like it had happened to Lucian and many gangsters before him. A war like this never came without destruction and countless deaths and it also tore families apart.

And for James, that mattered more than ever.

This life had chosen him, this life had shaped him into someone dangerous, someone uncontrollable. He had accepted it, and now he intended to embrace it for as long as he could. If his men turned against him, there wouldn't be a second thought… he would kill as many as he could, as fast as he could.

The Bellini family would not fall.

On the other hand Hector and Ferucci looked at each other and they both realized the moment had come they ached for years.

Ferucii now could kill without a leash, and Hector now could use all the weapons he bought, even those that James didn't even know about.

The two wild dogs of the family are finally freed.