Ticket to Verona

twenty one

"Ria! I haven't seen you for ages!" Bria squealed, gently giving Aria a hug.

"Gio's watching Nikolai." Astrid whispered to me. I nodded, turning back to look at my love.

"I missed you, Bria." she smiled.

"amore?" I interrupted their catch up. I needed to go and meet with the others to sort out what we were going to do about the Russians.

She looked towards me, flashing me a gorgeous smile.

God, I missed her.

"I need to go and meet the others for a few hours. Bria and Astrid will stay here though, to keep you company."

"okay." she smiled. "you are coming back tonight though right? I don't really want to be alone." she whispered the last bit whilst playing with her fingers.

As if I'm ever spending another night without her.

"Of course, amore mio. I'll be here around 6:30." I said, kissing her forehead.

"okay, I'll see you soon." She kissed my cheek.

I smiled and left the room. The urge to go back and hold her forever was so strong but I knew that I needed to sort out the fucking Russians.

I nodded at the 4 guards stationed outside Aria's door as I left and headed towards the warehouse.

~~~

"Right. Let's get this sorted within 2 hours because I will lose my mind if it takes any longer." I said as I entered the meeting room in the warehouse.

Gio, Theo, Enzo, Killian and the caporegimes were waiting for me.

Oh, and Nikolai.

I walked to my seat and sat down and everyone followed. Enzo was to my right and Theo was to my left.

"How's Ria doing?" Enzo whispered to me.

"fucking stubborn as always. She's broken her ankle and her ribs. The doctors have decided to keep her in tonight just to make sure there's no more issues. The doctor did say that all of her cuts and other injuries are healing well."

"Shit, still, it's amazing that she can come home tomorrow." He smiled in response.

I nodded in return and turned to Niko who was sat between Theo and Gio. "The doctor also told me that if her other injuries weren't treated then she could have gotten some  dangerous infections, so for that Nikolai, I thank you. I'm starting to think that you aren't that bad."

At that, a wide grin grew on his face and he smiled, bowing his head.

"Now! What is the fucking plan?"

Giovanni cleared his throat. "Well, Niko and I have been going through some shit and with his help I have managed to get a detailed idea of the Russian base and knowledge of where certain rooms are." He stated, passing me a roll of blue paper with a floor plan on it.

"this is my father's office. there are usually 4 guards stationed outside." Nikolai started, pointing to a room on the 1st floor. I nodded at him to continue.

"Guards change over every 75 minutes, the first change every day is at 8am so that should give us a good idea of timings. His office is fingerprint access, but luckily my fingerprint is on the database so you should have no trouble getting in, if you allow me to come with you."

"Our idea is that we strike tomorrow, we are pretty sure that Dmitri already knows Aria's gone, Nikolai too. He'll soon catch on and either attack us or move. Attacking tomorrow is the only way we can eliminate this threat for sure." Giovanni cut in.