Young Queen

FORTY TWO

The next council meeting was the same night as the funeral. Fionn insisted that they begin planning some kind of retaliation against the Russians as soon as possible. Aria was exhausted and in a weird mood, but she still attended. The only downside was the fact that she wasn't able to change beforehand so she was still wearing the uncomfortable dress.

"Don Walsh, I would like to introduce you to Geronimo Boni, Nico Pirozzi, Alessandro Amato, and Carlo Fallaci. You of course already know Steven, Dominic, Damon, and Aria," Leo introduced everyone.

"Wasn't there one more person on this council before?" Fionn asked.

Leo became stiff remembering the member he murdered in that very room when he threatened to end Aria's life to stop the war. "We don't talk about that," Leo said quickly, looking over at Aria to make sure she didn't hear anything. She was texting away on her phone, completely unaware of what Leo was talking about.

Fionn smirked, "Oh I get it."

"Alright, let's get this meeting started," Leo said, causing everyone to stop their conversations and Aria to place her phone down.

"The Irish have decided to join our efforts in ending the Russians as a result of them murdering former Don Eamon Walsh. We have accepted them and from now on, Fionn will be joining us, along with his number two who was not able to join us tonight," Leo told the group.

"We have also uncovered the name of who we suspect to be the person after us and also leading the Russians. His name is Olezka," Aria said.

Fionn frowned, "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"It might've been someone that you encountered before and just didn't realize. From what we could tell, he was some sort of side piece to Dimitri - like a secret lover. We believe that he is gaining revenge on us over his lover's death," Leo told him.

"No, he was like a little bitch or something to Dimitri. He followed Dimitri around like a lost puppy, always tagging on. He was almost like an assistant or something," Fionn said. "I remember attending a meeting once with my father. Dimitri was there, and he snapped at a man holding drinks. I'm pretty sure that man was Olezka."

"Well do you know where he could be found?" Leo asked.

"Do you have a picture or something we could reference?" Aria asked.

"Hold on, I could get my top security guy to find a reference for me," Fionn said, pulling out his phone. "My father had records of every single person he ever met with, so he would have ways to target them if he needed to. He must've had some sort of feeling that Olezka was important to Dimitri."

"That's kind of a weird thing to just think. I mean who would consider a cocktail waitress important?" Aria asked.

"Unless it was a meeting of utmost importance and only important and valuable men were allowed to attend," Leo said, frowning. "That would explain how he's able to lead now. He has the background and knowledge of Dimitri's enemies and other leaders from joining meetings like that."

"If Olezka was treated so lowly, how was he able to rise to the top? Why wouldn't Dimitri's number two take over?" Steven asked, frowning.

"Unless Olezka killed him to gain power," Damon pointed out.

"What if Dimitri was grooming Olezka. Maybe Dimitri knew there was a chance that he wouldn't make it after the attack on my birthday, so he trusted Olezka to finish the job," Aria said.

Leo nodded, "Olezka would be the perfect person to trust with that then. From what we've considered this far, Olezka would be driven by love and loyalty to finish Dimitri's job."