Chapter 356: Unless The Covenant Is Helping Him

He called Marco as he was heading to the elevator.

"I need the car ready," Dimitri said. "And I need you to pull together everything you can find about Dante Romano’s current status. Medical records, movement logs, everything. I need to know if he’s mobile again."

"Yes, boss," Marco said, understanding without needing explanation that something had happened.

By the time Dimitri reached the garage, the car was ready. By the time he was pulling out into the early morning traffic, his mind had already moved through the first dozen responses he could make to this attack.

He could hit Dante’s operations in Rome. Could move money to retaliate. Could escalate the violence immediately and force a direct confrontation.

But that’s what whoever was behind this would expect. That’s what they were counting on, that he’d react emotionally instead of strategically.

Instead, Dimitri decided to do something different.

He decided to find out exactly who he was dealing with before he made his move.

The offices at Sinners were already buzzing with activity when Dimitri arrived.

Mike was in the conference room with Marco, two security specialists, and the logistics coordinator. Maps of the port were spread across the table. Financial records were being reviewed. Phone records were being analyzed.

"Report," Dimitri said, settling into the chair at the head of the table.

Mike stood and walked him through everything they’d discovered in the past hour. The port manager’s debts paid off by wire transfer through three different shell companies. Security footage showing a gap of approximately forty minutes where the container could have been moved. No cameras in the specific blind spot, which suggested someone with inside knowledge of the port’s security layout.

"It’s professional," Marco said, his expression grim. "Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. Knew the port layout, knew the security schedule, knew our procedures. This wasn’t random."

"Dante," Dimitri said flatly.

"Unlikely," Marco replied. "Based on the intel we have, he shouldn’t be mobile yet. His recovery timeline suggests another two weeks minimum before he’d be capable of coordinating something this complex."

"Unless The Covenant is helping him," Dimitri said. "Unless they gave him the resources and intelligence to make this happen."

The room went quiet.

"That would explain the sophistication," Mike said carefully. "The Covenant has resources we can’t even imagine. If they want Dante to succeed..."

"Then we have a much bigger problem than just Dante," Dimitri finished. "And we need to assume that this is just the first move. Which means we need to be prepared for the next one."

He stood and walked to the map of the port, studying it carefully.

"Find out everything about everyone who was at that port yesterday," Dimitri commanded. "Security, customs officials, dock workers, everyone. Someone moved that container. Someone helped. I want to know who they are and what they wanted in exchange."

"Already working on it, boss," one of the security specialists said.

"Second," Dimitri continued, "I want all our other shipments rerouted. Change the timing. Change the routes. Change the ports if necessary. I don’t care about the logistics complications. I want nothing predictable about our supply chain for the next month. Make it impossible to target us the same way twice."

"That’s going to cost us," Mike said.

"Not as much as losing another three million shipments will cost us," Dimitri replied coldly. "Do it."

"Done," Mike confirmed.

"Third," Dimitri said, turning to face the table, "I want to know what Dante’s next move is going to be. Because he took one shipment as a statement. But that’s not the endgame. That’s the opening move. Someone with his resources and The Covenant’s backing doesn’t stop at one successful interception. He’s going to escalate. He’s going to hit us from multiple angles. And I need to understand what those angles are."

"How do we find out?" Marco asked.

"We look at our vulnerabilities," Dimitri said. "We identify everything that Dante could target and we harden it. And we do it before he makes his next move."

He thought about what The Covenant would prioritize. What Dante would prioritize. What would cause the most damage with the least direct violence.

Business deals. Territory. Supply chains. Personnel.

"Gather intelligence on all of our active business negotiations," Dimitri commanded. "Every legitimate deal we have in motion. I want to know which ones could be sabotaged. Which partners could be turned. Which agreements are vulnerable. Assume Dante and The Covenant are going to try to steal everything they can."

"That’s going to take time," Mike said.

"We don’t have time," Dimitri replied. "We have maybe days before the next move comes. So work through the night if you have to. Find the vulnerabilities. Patch them. Move fast."

By the time Dimitri left Sinners three hours later, he’d put into motion a comprehensive response strategy. Not reactive, but proactive. He was going to make it impossible for Dante to hit him twice in the same way.

But he also understood, as he drove back toward the penthouse, that this was just the beginning.

Dante was operational again. The Covenant was backing him. And they’d coordinated their first move perfectly.

Which meant the real war was about to begin.

***

Eve was waiting for him when he got home.

She was sitting on the couch in the living room, still in her sleep clothes, a cup of coffee that had probably gone cold hours ago sitting beside her.

"Tell me," she said simply.

Dimitri settled beside her and pulled her close, and he told her everything. Not to frighten her, but because she deserved to know what was coming. Because she was part of his world now, and hiding threats wasn’t protecting her, it was just delaying the inevitable moment when she’d have to face them.

"Is it going to get worse?" Eve asked when he finished.

"Yes," Dimitri said honestly. "It’s going to get much worse before it gets better."

Eve leaned her head against his shoulder, and they sat in silence, both understanding that the fragile peace they’d been building was about to be tested in ways neither of them could fully anticipate.