Chapter 357: Enzo Called Dimitri

POV: DIMITRI

Dimitri was back at the penthouse, standing under a scalding shower, letting the heat wash away the stress of the morning when his phone rang.

He knew the ringtone immediately. Enzo.

Dimitri stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, and answered without saying anything.

"I heard about the shipment," Enzo’s voice came through, calm and clinical. "What happened?"

Dimitri moved through the penthouse toward the bedroom, already understanding that this wasn’t a casual call. News travels fast through the underworld. If Enzo had heard about the shipment interception in Rome, that meant the information was already spreading, which meant the damage was already done in terms of reputation and perception.

"Colombian shipment at the New Jersey port," Dimitri said, his voice steady and cold. "Intercepted before it cleared customs. The port manager was turned. Three million in product gone."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. The kind of pause that came when someone was processing implications.

"Dante," Enzo said. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact, a conclusion he’d already drawn.

"That fucking bastard," Dimitri confirmed, anger flickering through his voice before he controlled it again. "He’s supposed to be crippled. He’s supposed to be months away from being mobile. He’s supposed to be broken and running and scared. But apparently, he just pulled off a coordinated operation that took serious planning and resources."

Dimitri entered the bedroom, where Eve was sitting on the edge of the bed, pretending to read but clearly waiting for news, for explanations, for something that would make sense of the morning’s chaos. Their eyes met. She saw the tension in his body.

"What are you going to do about it?" Enzo asked, his voice suggesting he already knew the answer but needed to hear it anyway.

"I’ll take care of it," Dimitri said flatly. "He’s in my territory. He’s making moves that affect my operations. He’s taking my fucking money. This is going to be handled."

"Is there a way I can help?" Enzo asked. "I’m in Rome. Dante’s in Rome. Whatever he’s planning, whatever he’s doing, I can get closer to it than you can from New York. I can move around his operations without raising flags. I have contacts here that go deeper than just the traditional families."

Dimitri considered this. His half-brother was right. Enzo had spent months in Rome building alliances, cultivating relationships with the secondary families, understanding the political landscape. He had eyes and ears that Dimitri didn’t have access to from Manhattan.

"Yes," Dimitri said. "I need intelligence. Current intelligence on Dante. What he’s doing. Who he’s moving with. What his actual operational status is. I need to know if he’s fully mobile, if he’s building an army around him, if he’s planning something bigger than just hitting my shipments."

"I can do that," Enzo said, and Dimitri could hear the shift in his brother’s voice, the shift that came when he moved into operational mode. "It’ll take time, but I have contacts. I can find out what he’s been doing since he got back to Rome. I can track his movements, his meetings, his financial transactions."

"There’s something else," Dimitri said, "Find out if he’s had contact with anyone who doesn’t belong to the underworld. Someone external. Someone from outside our world."

There was a longer pause on the line.

"You think he has backing," Enzo said quietly.

"I think someone gave him the resources to coordinate this," Dimitri confirmed. "Someone with money and intelligence and reach. Someone who can turn port managers and plan operations that cleanly. Someone who can turn a supposedly crippled man into an operational threat within weeks of his escape."

Dimitri moved to the window, looking out at Manhattan spread below him like a kingdom he needed to protect and maintain.

"Dante’s smart," Dimitri continued. "He’s tactical. He’s resourceful. But he’s not THIS smart. Not without help. Not without serious backing. A man who can barely walk doesn’t execute a coordinated port interception on his own. He doesn’t have the reach. He doesn’t have the resources. He doesn’t have the infrastructure."

"The Covenant," Enzo said quietly. It wasn’t a question. It was the logical conclusion.

"Maybe," Dimitri said. "Or someone else. That’s why I need you to look. I need to know if Dante’s met with anyone unusual. Anyone new in his circle. Anyone who doesn’t fit the pattern of his normal operations. I need to know if he’s suddenly developed connections outside the traditional underworld."

Eve moved close to him, and he felt her presence beside him, grounding him in the present even as his mind raced through the implications of what he was saying.

"What kind of people are we talking about?" Enzo asked. "What specifically should I be looking for? How do I identify someone who doesn’t belong?"

Dimitri considered this carefully. If The Covenant was involved, if the organization that had built illegal bioweapons facilities and conducted experiments that pushed the boundaries of what was possible was now targeting him, then he needed to understand their approach. The Covenant would send professionals. People trained in deception and infiltration. Not obviously criminals. Not obviously connected to the underworld.

"Scientists," Dimitri finally said. "Medical professionals. Military contractors. Private security specialists. People who operate outside the traditional underworld but have serious resources and expertise. People who could blend into Rome’s legitimate business scene but have connections to something bigger."

Dimitri paused, his mind working through the implications.

"Look for meetings Dante’s had with people who don’t fit his normal network," Dimitri continued. "Look for payments going to consultants or specialists that don’t make sense for a regional crime family. Look for anything that suggests he’s being backed by an organization with real infrastructure. Real resources. Real reach."

"That’s specific," Enzo said, and there was something in his voice now, a recognition of the seriousness of what he was being asked to investigate.

"I need it to be," Dimitri replied. "Because if The Covenant is backing Dante, if they’ve decided to weaponize him against me, then this isn’t just personal anymore. This isn’t just about a shipment or an operation or even revenge for his brother. This is war. This is corporate warfare. This is an organization with resources that rival entire nations deciding to take down a mafia don."