"What about the New York Famiglia? You make a deal with them to give you all the information they had on the Bratva in exchange for the shipments. Haven’t they delivered yet?"
"Besides telling us about the Russians’ business in New York, there was nothing useful."
Isaac frowned. "And what precisely is that?"
"They are involved in human trafficking and even proposed a common business venture to Bazzoli. He didn’t agree, so from then onwards, they have been trying to bring him down any chance they have," the Capo murmured, annoyed with the mere concept of such business.
For the first time, he was on the same page as one of the bosses in theNew York Famiglia. None of them was to get into human trafficking no matter what. It might be very profitable, but also against all the rules Noah had set for himself and his people. Innocent lives mattered to him.
"That might be something we could use," said Isaac. "Can you get me any information from New York on how they do it and the places they use? Anything you can find out. If they are actually holding Lynette, maybe she was taken back to the States through one of the routes they use to transport the other women. And I cannot believe that the Russians don’t keep any documents, or at least some messages that could incriminate them, and help us find Lynette."
That wasn’t a bad assumption. Having Isaac among his Made Men was starting to pay off. Of course, it would have been much easier if the man had actually been able to spot someone driving away from the building before they had disappeared. But he was making up for it with ideas on how to find Lynette. That was what counted right now.
§ § §
Inéz didn’t move an inch when she heard the door being unlocked and pushed open. Noah had already warned her through a text message that he would be coming over in a few minutes. It was only six in the morning so she could only imagine that he hadn’t slept most of the night, too busy taking care of the business. She had heard from Drew all about the Bratva invasion, and could only imagine how frustrated and angry Noah must be. That was why she decided to be considerate and make coffee. Somehow, she didn’t believe that the man would allow himself to sleep anytime soon.
Noah entered the studio apartment, immediately finding the brunette in the kitchen. He looked furious, however his features softened as soon as his eyes rested on her figure. She was wearing an oversized shirt, standing barefoot on the wooden floor. With a low grunt, he moved towards the kitchen island, resting on one of the seats. The holster had been moved aside.
Without asking, she placed a mug brimming with strong black coffee in front of him. He raised his eyebrow at the gesture as if it was unusual of her to be nice. Which couldn’t be further from the truth.
"Unless you’re going to sleep. In that case, I don’t recommend drinking this," she said quickly.
The Caposhook his head and took a sip.
"When do you have training with Nicodemo?" he asked, peering up at the girl who was focused on mixing the pancake batter.
"He can’t make it today. Something to do with his family or something," Inéz answered, shrugging. As she poured a little bit of concoction in the pan, she turned. "Tell me something about his family. I feel like I’ve been working out with Nicodemo for so long and I barely know anything about him."
"There’s not much to tell. Besides, Nico is a really private man and doesn’t like anyone getting too interested in his life," Noah commented. It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about his Enforcer.
Flavio’s words flashed in her mind.
It’s beginning to look like a toxic relationship, Inéz
Was it? She felt like it could be a possibility, since she offered everything the man in front of her needed, yet got nothing in return. Not even the most basic of information.
She was sitting in the car with Flavio for over an hour already without talking and was starting to get extremely bored. For the longest of time, she’d considered the job of mafioso as a very eventful one, with countless dangerous actions and not a dull moment in it. However, it turned out that there were also times of doing almost nothing. At least to her, it looked like it. Flavio most likely had other reasons for just staying inside and observing.
Inéz turned her head to the left, watching the man instead. His expression was stone cold, focused on the rooftop of the generating station that was quite far from them. He had his hands lightly pressed to the steering wheel, tapping some kind of quiet tune with fingertips.
At first glance, it didn’t seem so surprising that he was Noah’s brother. With his slightly darker blond hair that seemed to be always left just the way he’d woken up. Not caring about looks anywhere near as much as his Capo. But there was some kind of attractiveness to realizing that Flavio’s behavior always suggested that he cared about nothing and no-one. However, Noah had said it more than once that it was certainly not the case. That Flavio was way too compassionate even if he didn’t show it, and the only exception of this rule was Lynette whom he couldn’t care less about. His dark blue eyes were however totally unlike his brother’s. Noah's remind her of ashes and smoke blowing in the wind that had brought back
