Wolf Connection (3)
Before confirming what Lumini’s complaints were that Carso had mentioned, we changed locations.
Ding-dong—!
The moment we reached the top floor, Felicia appeared.
“Felicia, I need to talk with Elena for a bit.”
“…I figured you would.”
Felicia said that, then immediately clung to my arm and linked it with hers. She followed me straight into the penthouse suite that Elena and I shared.
“Luke, you’re here?”
Elena reacted the instant the door opened. From the sound of it in the distance, she had been in the middle of working out.
“Miss, I have brought the Underboss.”
“Why did that thing come along too?”
“Elena, don’t forget. Today is the day I get to be with Luke.”
“…That has nothing to do with right now.”
“Carso, go ahead and start.”
Before Elena and Felicia could exchange any more words, I asked Carso to explain.
“Yes. First, the suppression of North Woodlawn has been completed. Lumini only cleaned up the area around the duplicate district, while Sarina swiftly handled the rest of the sectors.”
“So Lumini didn’t do much.”
“Correct. As you instructed last time, we informed Lumini’s side of their new territory.”
“And how did he react?”
Elena asked.
“It seems he has quite a few complaints. Still, he did give several reasons.”
Carso organized the reasons Lumini had given and explained them one by one.
The first was that the newly assigned territory was too small for his men and lacked profitability.
The second was that since his contribution to the takeover of North Woodlawn had been minimal, the allocation was unfair.
Finally, the third was that he lacked the strength to properly guard an important corridor leading north.
“….”
After Carso finished speaking, the three of us remained silent for a while.
Among the reasons Lumini had listed, some were reasonable, but others made me wonder what the hell he was thinking.
Of course, Felicia admitted she didn’t know the details well enough to comment and kept quiet.
“I wasn’t planning to listen to your opinion anyway.”
“Elena, with that kind of attitude, you’ll never make a good boss.”
“….”
“Carso, what do you think?”
“The first issue could be resolved simply by giving Lumini a larger new territory.”
The problem was that doing so would inevitably shrink Sarina’s share of North Woodlawn, which was currently divided between them.
“Would Sarina just sit still for that?”
“Elena, Sarina will be fine.”
I knew well that she didn’t care about the size of her territory.
“Of course, it wouldn’t look good if only Sarina’s area got smaller. I’ll just give up a portion of my own territory.”
We would reduce Sarina’s territory for Lumini’s sake, then compensate by reducing the Underboss’s—my own—territory. That should settle the first issue.
“…Are you really okay with that?”
“I have to show at least this much sincerity to shut that guy’s mouth.”
The second issue could be settled simply by stating it was a decision made by Elena and me.
Giving up part of my territory would clearly satisfy Sarina as well. More precisely, it would bring her territory closer to the Academy where I was based.
“Underboss, then the third issue…”
“I don’t think we need to worry about that one.”
“Exactly. Even Carini, who’s west of Lumini, received a sector that connects to both the city center and the north, yet he hasn’t complained.”
“Carso, relay our decision clearly. And tell him this as well.”
“Yes.”
*
That same day, Carso went to visit Lumini.
At Lumini’s new residence—relocated from the city center near the Chamber of Commerce to the northern port district—an unfamiliar guest arrived.
“…Carso.”
“Mr. Lumini, may I have a moment of your time?”
“Yes, please come inside.”
Lumini carefully led him to the living room so as not to wake his wife and children.
As expected, Carso stated he would only deliver the message and then leave.
“The Miss and the Underboss instructed me to convey the following.”
Carso slowly yet thoroughly relayed every decision that had been made on the top floor of the hotel.
Lumini’s assigned sector in North Woodlawn has been significantly expanded compared to the previous proposal.
The Boss and Underboss place tremendous expectations upon you.
Not only had Lumini’s territory in North Woodlawn grown considerably larger than before, but they also conveyed that the Boss and Underboss of the family held very high expectations for him.
“….”
“If the two of them say this is still not enough, they instructed me to tell you this as well.”
They would increase the volume of drugs imported from Tirenia to Hevilly.
Half of the drugs Kazin brought would go to the four families excluding the Carmen Family. The other half would belong to the Fellini Family.
Elena and I did not monopolize all of it. In return for the Caporegimes’ loyalty and cooperation, we supplied them with enough drugs to earn substantial profits.
What was offered to Lumini was the promise of a larger share of those drugs than the other Caporegimes… in other words, priority in drug distribution.
“No, that’s quite all right. The reason I said it was insufficient was for the sake of the men under me. I had no intention of being greedy beyond that.”
Lumini flatly refused the priority drug supply that Carso had conveyed.
Accepting priority would allow him to handle more money in the short term, but it could also become a source of conflict.
“Could you please convey my response back to the Miss and Mr. Luke?”
Lumini wisely rejected the proposal that could sow the seeds of discord and asked Carso to reconsider.
It was the same argument he had made before.
He claimed that his contribution to the suppression of North Woodlawn had been small, and that he lacked the strength to guard a major strategic point leading to the northern part of the city.
“The two of them do not see it that way.”
Carso then pointed out that the Underboss had gone so far as to personally reduce his own territory for Lumini’s benefit.
“There is someone who has been assigned an even more important strategic point than yours. He does not have as many subordinates as you, nor does he possess an intact organization, yet he has said nothing.”
“….”
“The Boss and Underboss want the strongest Caporegime among us—you—to protect North Woodlawn.”
The gatekeeper of the north. Lumini was undoubtedly the one with the most suitable forces to fulfill that role.
Armo was responsible for guarding the Boss, and the Wolves were closer to being the family’s weapons than managers of territory. There was no need to even mention the other Caporegimes or the newly joined Golems.
“…Understood.”
Once he received a satisfactory answer, Carso finally stood up with a wide smile.
Lumini found the Golem’s smile difficult to interpret, and that thought was clearly written on his face.
Regardless, Carso reported back to the Boss and Underboss that Lumini had accepted their proposal.
However, this time Sarina became the problem.
While I was enjoying the night sea view with Felicia in her suite, the noisy ring of the telephone ruined the rare moment of romance.
“Hello?”
“Luke, it’s me!”
“Sarina, what’s going on?”
I feigned ignorance and asked if something had happened at the Academy.
“Don’t play dumb! Why did you give Lumini even more of my territory?!”
“It looks like we squeezed him too hard. Anyway, the problem’s been resolved. He accepted our proposal.”
“….”
Sarina began listing everything she and her subordinates had done to prevent Lumini’s territory from expanding and increasing his influence.
“Sarina, first let me say thank you.”
“Yes.”
Although her voice over the receiver sounded extremely angry, she still accepted my gratitude.
“And it’s not like only your and your men’s territory got smaller, so don’t worry.”
“I heard. You’re giving him part of your Academy territory.”
“That’s right. This way, you’ll be able to reach the Academy a little faster than before.”
“….”
I knew how much she cherished me. With things settled this way, her access to the Academy would improve, allowing her to see me more often and more easily.
“Also, you can rest for a while.”
It was clear that Sarina and her subordinates had overexerted themselves while suppressing River West and North Woodlawn.
They needed some time to recover.
“Understood.”
Sarina no longer voiced any complaints to me, who had acknowledged her and her men’s hard work.
Thanks to her efforts, Lumini was able to receive land he hadn’t even personally conquered, which gave us some justification.
With that, the short call ended.
“….”
I stood alone in front of the phone for a moment, lost in thought.
We were planning to begin our advance into the city center soon. Unfortunately, it seemed best to use the Wolves under Carso and Giovanni.
Compared to Sarina, the two of them and their Wolves had been relatively in the rear and hadn’t been overworked recently.
“Luke, is the call over?”
“Yeah.”
“Dealing with people is tough, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah. Father always found it difficult too, so it can’t be helped.”
“If it ever becomes too much to handle, how about taking care of them?”
“…Even so, that guy followed my orders and helped Elena during that whole mess.”
“He probably thought it would benefit him. You know those kinds of people are the most dangerous.”
I had to agree with Felicia’s words.
But after hearing from Carso that Lumini had refused the priority drug supply I had offered, I got a certain feeling.
He must have predicted what would happen if he accepted it. As expected, he wasn’t a fool. It also meant he wasn’t stupid enough to betray us now that our family was beginning to rise again.
Although our family had fallen, the other four families had declined just as much compared to the past.
On top of that, we still held tight control over the drug distribution network from Tirenia.
“Not yet. Unless we have proper justification.”
“…Really?”
“Felicia, just in case—I’m saying this as a warning—don’t do anything strange.”
It was always a little scary when she reacted like that. If Felicia had been born just a little earlier, she might have easily built a reputation as vicious as Rita Carmen.
“Fine. If you don’t want it, I won’t do it.”
“Now that’s something to be thankful for.”
Of course, it was a relief that she was my wife.
Meanwhile, Felicia began touching my body first, and I naturally responded to her gestures.
The kind of marital intimacy that would be unimaginable on the days I spent with Elena.
Felicia started it all so naturally.