So, the Arco brothers finding weapons in the brothel where Cara was held captive is a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit. Dante joins me on the drive back to the brothel as Sienna decides to visit Cara and see how she is doing, woman to woman. I won’t lie, it delights me a little to think of Cara baring my marks, having to act innocent in front of Sienna. If only I could see it.
We pull up to the brothel, and my gut lurches uncomfortably at the prospect of walking through that monstrosity once more. I want to burn the whole place to the ground after what happened to Cara here; such a thing might even be a mercy.
“Howheartwarming,” Dante comments as we climb out of the car, his attention on the building as we head up to the front door where Cain is waiting for us.
“I hear it’s all the rage these days, backwater brothels,” I smirk in response, fighting down my unease. Dante scoffs in amusement, then he greets Cain with a handshake.
“What have you found?”
“More weapons,” Cain replies and he nods at me before leading the way inside. “And a lot of them. There’s everything from heavy-duty assault rifles to specialized handguns. These aren’t the types of weapons you order if you’re seeking out protection.”
“You said on the phone you think these were repossessed from the Irish?” I ask, striding over one of the bodies that litter the hallway. As we walk, I catch sight of more bodies piled up at the end of the hallway. The Arco brothers have done a real clean-up here. I briefly spare a thought for Noah, wondering where his body is in the mess. I wouldn’t mind adding an extra bullet to his corpse.
“I know so,” Cain replies and he leads us up the stairs at the end of the hallway. “When we found the weapons, we also found Conor, one of the Irish. He was the other guard that was with Cara when she was taken.”
Of course.
I’d been so blinded in my focus at catching Noah as I knew his face, that it had slipped my mind thattwoguards had been involved in her kidnapping. Regret spikes sharply with my next breath, worming its way through my chest; I would have liked to strangle him to death too.
“Where is he?” Dante asks as we’re led into an office, and my eyes go wide. There are crates upon crates of weapons lining one wall, with the guns spilling out of the straw and littering the floor. The room stinks of death and iron from the several dark stains around the room, and Declan stands near the window, wiping blood from his knuckles.
“Dead,” Declan replies shortly, “they all are. But not before they sang like fucking canaries.”
“The Irish didn’t buy the weapons for protection,” Cain explains dryly, “they bought them to start awar.”
“A war?” Dante stumbles slightly as he comes to a stop, and I flex my shoulders, fighting the uncomfortably hot itch that’s starting to crawl up my spine.Thisis the missing piece of the puzzle, but it’s not what I was expecting. The Irish wanted awarwith us?
“A war with us?” I clarify though the answer is clear on Cain’s face.
Cain moves over to the weapons crates and pulls off one of the lids to reveal the heavy-duty weaponry inside. Dante follows him to examine them, and I can see his body tensing like a bolt under his suit. It’s a shame there isn’t someone left over for him to direct his anger into. It bubbles under the surface for me too. If Callahan was preparing the Irish for a war with us, that would explain the type of weaponry here.
It also means Callahan lied to us, playing into our decimation from the Snake in order to garner oursympathy.
“Conor told us everything after I took a couple of his fingers,” Declan smirks coldly, and there’s a lilt in his voice that tells meallI need to know about how much he enjoyed that. “The deal with the Russians was made because of you, Dante, and your marriage to Sienna. Callahan saw two powerhouse Italian families merging and didn’t like it, so he prepared for war. Then all that shit with the Snake happened and war was off the table.” As Dante continues to check through the weapons, Declan dips his head slightly as a show of respect. “Conor didn’t know the details of how the deal crumbled. But when it did, the Russians began taking back the weapons they’d sold, and now we’re here.”
“It crumbled,” I interject stiffly, “because Callahan brokered the deal on credit.”
“Fuck,” Dante growled, “he’s taken us for fools.”
I listen to it all, running it over in my head repeatedly. Callahan prepared for war against us, saw us weakened, and severed his deals with the Russians, why? Did he see an opportunity to be the top dog? Was he thinking he could make an example out ofusand turn the Irish into a powerhouse?
But, the Russian retaliation brought the Irish to their knees, and he crawled to us for help, taking advantage of our need for strength, and we used them instead.
The irony.
Scanning the room, I shift restlessly from one foot to the other. Russians are running heavy weaponry. That’smything.Iset up the networks for arms shipments through my clubs,Ibrokered the deals with our oversea suppliers as one of my first deals after Sienna made me her underboss. Now the Russians are muscling in on that market?
My gums protest sharply, and I open my mouth slightly to ease the pressure from the tension in my jaw.
Fuck.
Will this change things? Will Dante call off the wedding for good this time and cut ties with the Irish? Will he want them all crucified?
What about Cara?
Dante straightens up from the crate he is inspecting and steadies himself by adjusting his jacket with both hands.
“Thank you, both of you, for bringing this to me,” Dante glances between both Cain and Declan, “I appreciate your diligence in this matter.”