Secession: A Mafia Boss Series, Installment #2

Chapter 3~ Loyalties

~Victor POV~

Kaleb, Lorenzo, Tony have just reported to me that the drones have detected some movement at the outskirts of the Estate. I nodded my head, contemplating my next move. I wasn’t surprised. My gut told me that Nicolai would see a day like today as the perfect time to come out of the shadows. Furthermore, he would be the only rival stupid enough to come into the most fortified, deadliest compound in the world and actually believe he could make it out of there alive.

Tony said with certainty, “It’s him.” No one knew Nicolai better than Tony. In fact, had Tony not proven his loyalty to me time and time again, I would be more apprehensive about him now, given Tony and Nicolai were best friends growing up. They even served one tour of duty in Afghanistan together. The relationship I have with Tony now was one of mutual respect, trust and even friendship. A thirteen-year-old me would be shocked to hear me say that now, given Tony and Nicolai were my childhood bullies, making my life and my friends' lives miserable. It wasn’t until one day I beat the s**t out of both of them, breaking Tony’s right arm and Nicolai’s nose, that the bullying stopped. Strangely, Tony and I became good friends after that. Nicolai just chose to ignore me from that point forward.

My hope would have been to neutralize Nicolai without the greater family finding out, but it appears that at each turn he was ahead of us. Tony has tracked him down about three prior times within that time span, chasing him to one hideout after another, only to come up empty-handed. We were even able to find some of his lower-level informants, but to my chagrin, they revealed nothing of value before meeting their ends. Nicolai was able to move undetected in and out of the city and up and down the Eastern seaboard, leading me to conclude that the only way I could get to him was to allow him to come out into the open. The last hideout Tony infiltrated, we left one of his informants alive long enough to deliver a message to Nicolai, baiting him to come out in the open using the only card I had, attacking his over inflated ego. I question if he was strong enough, man enough to fight me head on. That was one week ago.

Nicolai and I had two different philosophies when it came to running the Bernardi Mafia. Nicolai was convinced that my efforts in legitimizing the Bernardi family name through a strategic public relation’s campaign, amplifying my celebrity, philanthropic endeavors, hobnobbing with the social elites and politicians was a fool’s errand. He believed that we had to rule by absolute power, never passing up an opportunity to showcase our strength, and reach eliciting fear from all who dared challenge us. For him, similarly, like my father, Don Enzo, respect came from absolute power and absolute fear. Nicolai couldn't care less about the legitimacy and despised hiding our true nature. He wanted to rule out in the open, daring enemies, rivals, law enforcement to come at us if they could. He could not nor did he want to understand that the days of open mafia rule were long gone. Strength and power come from being smart and playing the long game.

I knew that many of my men understood this, that my way of leading had kept them safe, strong, wealthy and respectable, although I suspect there were those who were too stupid to know the difference and Nicolai coming back into the fold spouting tales of the open mafia rule and allure from long ago could sway them to his side.

Lorenzo took a deep breath, bringing me back from my reverie, and uttered, “I can’t believe this. Vic, are you sure about Nick? I mean if Nick is alive, my God, this should be a cause for celebration---”

I angrily interjected. “There is no celebration when Nicolai is involved. He has been f*****g with us for months. Have you forgotten all the s**t he’s done? Nicolai is not going to stop until I’m dead, and he sits as the head of the Bernardi family!”

Lorenzo shook his head, looking pained by the very realization that his brother was indeed a very real enemy of the family. I could understand Lorenzo’s apprehension and inner conflict given the family connections, and the fact that he just found out Nicolai was alive less than 24-hours ago, but at that moment I needed to know where his loyalties lied. I looked Lorenzo in the eyes and asked menacingly, “Lorenzo, do you have a problem dealing with Nicolai?”

I now found myself questioning Lorenzo and his loyalties. Though I knew he would not easily be swayed by Nicolai’s bullshit, he was still the kid younger brother. Lorenzo was twenty-one years old when Nicolai died and had looked up to him. Though Lorenzo and I were cousins and had a close relationship, a genuine brotherhood even, the real biological bond between brothers was something I could not compete with, even though by all means being his Don should have been enough to keep him in line.

Lorenzo appeared to stiffen, knowing that his answer could determine if he remained as my number two. f**k it determines if he f*****g lives. There lies the rub in this whole war. I was not going against a known rival of the Bernardi family, I was fighting a member of the family itself. Nicolai was loved, respected and feared, and I knew that many of my trusted lieutenants now at one point was his trusted lieutenants, and if my response to his presence now was seen as too forceful, I could stand to lose my men. If it were seen as too weak, I could lose my men. This was all before we even spoke about the family connections.

“I will not have any problem doing what needs to be done,” Lorenzo firmly said, making sure to look at me in the eyes with the same dangerous aura.

Tony soon interrupted my stare-down of Lorenzo and asked, “Do you want us to engage our snipers?”

Nicolai had been out in the open for eight months even after finding out about Uncle Vito’s death. If my suspicions were correct, Uncle Vito exiled Nicolai for his crime and knowing that Uncle Vito was removed from his path would have been the perfect time to come out from the shadows. The reason he didn’t was what gave me pause. I needed to know what Nicolai was up to and neutralizing him now before finding that out would possibly expose me to more unknown threats.

I looked at Tony and said, “No, I need him alive, for now. Get our men to triangulate his position. He will not be captured easily, but by all means he is to be kept away from the wedding festivities---”

Lorenzo interjected, “Should we tell the family? My mom?”

I paused for a second before shaking my head no. “If we are able to capture him discretely, I would rather we keep his presence only known by the people in this room for now. I don’t want to broadcast it if I don’t need to. It will be more difficult to neutralize him later if your mom is involved.”

Lorenzo shook his head, “Vic. If my brother is what you say and poses a threat to the family, my mom will be the first person to make the necessary sacrifice as she always has done before. But keeping her in the dark, especially about her firstborn, will cause more opposition than we need.”

Lorenzo was right about Aunt Lita. My Aunt Lita was not someone you could bypass by no means. She was as ruthless as they came. She now stood as one of our only family matriarchs, outside my uncle Don Giovanni Carmine Bernardi, my father’s cousin who oversaw the West Coast. I also remember how she was immediately after Nicolai’s death. It took everything from me and my Uncle Vito to keep her from conducting a full rage war with Don Rossi, himself. She was only pacified after she literally and self-handily neutralized twenty of the Rossi lieutenants up and down the Eastern Seaboard, dealing a blow to the Rossi organization that crippled them for years to come. I paused, contemplating the best course of action. I nodded in agreement, acknowledging that Lorenzo’s reasoning was sobering and correct. I could not have Aunt Lita in opposition to me. I couldn’t help but feel a little proud of my cousin, who has made a subtle but dramatic transformation this past year from the lovable goofball to now a responsible, smart, calculating number two lieutenant.

“I will tell her after the wedding ceremony. For now, focus on the wedding, Renz. Your Caden’s best man, and we don’t want to ruin your sister’s wedding,” I said, looking at Lorenzo, and he nodded his head, in agreement.

“Now, Tony and Kaleb gather a small group to go after him. Keep his identity close to the vest and act naturally. Notify me when it’s done.” I instructed, as all three men shook their heads in confirmation of my orders.