Mercenary's War-Chapter 2154 - 2131: The Army at the Gates

Mario was anxious and restless. He glanced at his watch and said urgently, "It’s been over three hours. Is there still no result?"

Cesare whispered, "Fatino said it would take about six hours. There’s no way to make it faster, sir. We’ve just received news that I think you need to see."

Mario irritably waved his hand and said, "If it’s nothing important, don’t show it to me."

Cesare whispered, "You’d better take a look. Dino is dead."

Mario suddenly looked at Cesare and shouted, "What? What did you say? Didn’t I say for everyone to be on high alert? I said everyone should strengthen security!"

Cesare whispered, "Dino had more than twenty bodyguards, but some people killed all his bodyguards and forcibly broke into his home to shoot Dino, along with... all of Dino’s family."

Mario was shocked and moved, "All of his family?"

"Yes, twelve family members in total, none spared."

Mario collapsed into the chair and asked with difficulty, "Including his youngest daughter?"

"Unfortunately, yes, his six-month-old daughter is also dead. I’m very sorry, sir."

Mario trembled, "So ruthless."

Cesare gently placed a photo in front of Mario and whispered, "Although it might make you uncomfortable, please take a look at this. It’s very important."

The photo contained just one sentence, printed in bold font on white paper.

Mario, this is the first one, release them.

Mario exhaled and said, "Why is this the first one?"

"First a warning, then the first, and the second."

Mario pushed the photo aside and whispered, "How many people has Grand Ivan brought? We should have intelligence. I’m the king of intelligence! We should know exactly how many people Grand Ivan has brought and maintain a firm grip on their whereabouts, then send more people to take them down!"

Mario shouted out a long sentence in one breath, and after shouting, he started panting. Cesare took a folder from the briefcase and whispered, "Indeed, we have a lot of information on enemy movements. For instance, just today, three hours ago, a charter flight landed at Rome airport with nine people disembarking. Yesterday noon, a charter flight landed in Milan, and forty-two people were seen at your Milan fashion company headquarters, then disappeared. Your home has already been monitored by someone. In Florence, some unidentified people appeared near your brother’s home, and there was a brief skirmish, but they left immediately without further conflict."

Mario waved his hand and said, "People from Grand Ivan appeared near my brother’s house too? Retaliate! Retaliate!"

Cesare pursed his lips and whispered, "Our forces are somewhat insufficient. For now, we can only try to defend ourselves as much as possible."

Mario impatiently said, "Summarize it."

Cesare whispered, "Currently, suspected personnel from Grand Ivan have appeared in seven places: Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples, Palermo. Rome has at most three locations. This is what has been discovered. I estimate Grand Ivan has people targeting all our public businesses, and there may be more that have not been discovered."

The army was pressing on them; this truly looked like an army pressing down on them. The only word Mario could think of was this.

Mario remained silent, then whispered, "How many security forces do we have around us?"

"Currently, there are eighty-six people, sir."

Mario waved his hand and said, "Deploy more people, send my family to a safe place, and assign more bodyguards to protect me."

Cesare whispered, "Already deploying them, but they need to come secretly to avoid alerting Grand Ivan."

Mario remained silent, then muffled and said, "This is in Italy!"

Cesare wished to speak in accordance with Mario’s intent, but as a competent advisor and an outstanding strategist, he had to point out the facts at this crucial moment.

"This is Italy, but our strength has never been in directly confronting others, sir. Our approach is to provoke one side to attack the other. However, Grand Ivan’s size lacks substantial adversaries, so we have to face Grand Ivan’s retaliation ourselves. Even if we can get the Americans to take action against Grand Ivan, it requires time, and we currently lack time. Our advantage is being able to most accurately monitor Grand Ivan’s forces, but if confronted in a real face-to-face battle, we lack many things: manpower, experience, especially the courage to fight to the death."

Just then, one of Mario’s phones rang. He glanced at the number, connected the call, and said spiritedly, "Stefano, what’s going on?"

"Brother! My house was shot at!"

Mario rubbed his forehead, but still said calmly, "My brother, is everyone at home alright?"

"No problem, because the shooting was just a warning. Someone left a note saying if you don’t release someone, then I’m the next target to be killed. My brother, I want to know why we are at war with Grand Ivan!"

Mario was silent for a moment and said, "Don’t worry, it’s just a misunderstanding. Grand Ivan knows the consequences of going to war with us. He won’t really target you. It’s just a warning, and it’s ultimately nothing more than a warning."

Mario’s brother raised his voice in dissatisfaction, "It’s not just a warning! Everyone knows Grand Ivan is a madman! He does what he says, he will fight the Cicero Family until the last drop of blood flows. Brother! Cease war with Grand Ivan immediately! You must cease war with him immediately!"

Mario frowned and said gravely, "I know what to do."

"No! You don’t know. You have lost your mind in your quest to find Justin! Our father gathered us together to explain clearly that we are a family, but we were all born with silver spoons in our mouths. You are the one who should inherit the patriarchal position, but as the eldest son of the Cicero Family, you are too proud. You haven’t been through any real trials. You’re arrogant and stubborn, and you don’t know what the real underworld is like because your identity keeps you from encountering danger! For the family’s sake, father handed the position to Justin because he’s an illegitimate child. He has to fight for himself to get everything we were born with, and he did it very well, so father handed the position to him instead of you!"

Mario shouted angrily, "Enough!"

"No! Listen, my brother, you wanted to seize the position of patriarch. I can help you; I violated my promise to father to support you in taking down Justin, that illegitimate child, instead of stopping you, but we were both wrong. Father is wise; you as patriarch would only lead the Cicero Family to destruction. You’ve already obtained the patriarch position, but you still refuse to let go of Justin. It’s because of what you did that put us all in danger. Grand Ivan is a madman! You’re arrogant and ignorant, you..."

Mario abruptly hung up the phone. He didn’t want to listen to his brother’s nonsense anymore. After panting heavily for a while, Mario, with a gloomy face, whispered, "Cesare, contact the official government. Pay whatever price we can afford. No, I’ll do it myself."