Page 51

51

LEONA

A fter a lovely little nap and a shower to wash everything from my body, I asked the guys to meet me in the kitchen. The VCI board meeting was less than a week away, and we needed a plan for how I was going to show up, get a spot on the board, and get out without getting killed.

On top of that, we still had tons of loose ends we needed to get a handle on.

When I walked into the kitchen, Obi was dishing out a spicy meat stew that had been cooking on the stove all day. My mouth watered at the smell. The rest of the guys were waiting in line to get their portions, but Obi handed me the first bowl with a wink.

“Oh, come on,” Ryuji whined. “I’m starving.”

I stuck out my tongue as I took the first bite and then moaned. “Obi. This is so good.”

Cas raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you can handle the spice?”

I blinked, offended he’d even ask such a thing. “I can handle anything , Caspian Di Salvo.”

Ciel and Ryuji snorted while Wynn sat next to me at the table. “Here,” he said as he placed a giant serving bowl of fried plantains in the middle. “The plantains are a good pairing.”

The rest of the guys got their bowls and sat down. My eyes widened at how quickly the enormous amount of food began to disappear. Once we were fully into the meal, I cleared my throat.

“So, the board meeting,” I started. “We need to talk about what we’re going to do to prepare.”

“It’s at Trattoria Luminosa,” Obi said with a hmm . “Should we lay a trap?”

“Sort of,” I said as I set my spoon in the bowl. “I want to go. By myself.”

“Nope,” Ryuji said, shaking his head. “Definitely not.”

“We agree on that,” Cas added. “You’re not going alone. That’s ridiculous.”

The two of them nodded to one another and I narrowed my eyes at their united front. “You know, I’m not really sure getting you two on the same side was a good idea.”

They both grinned.

“That sounds like a you problem, princess,” Cas said, earning a snicker from Ryuji.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t mean alone -alone. I just mean, I need to go in there by myself or else Max will end the meeting. If one of you were with me, he’d never let me speak to the board. If he feels threatened in any way, he’ll torch it.”

Max was dangerous the same way a cornered, injured animal was dangerous. We already knew the gun trade loss was hurting him, and he was furious at Giulio’s meeting. He’d probably been fuming ever since the loss of those men—not a huge dent, to be sure, but a dent nonetheless. This meeting was about me getting a place in my father’s company, not about him, so we couldn’t let him get in the way of that.

They all chewed, considering.

“Tell us what you mean, then,” Ciel said. He had more dark circles under his eyes, like he’d been up late again. We also needed to circle back around to the information Fallon had given him about Max’s hacker.

“I want to go in there and convince the board to give me a spot,” I explained. “And I want all of you surrounding the building. But I have to be inside by myself. For this to work, it has to be fully above board. Fully legitimate. If he tries to do anything to me, you’ll be right there.”

“Maybe not fast enough,” Wynn said. “I don’t like it.”

“You are more than capable of defending yourself,” Obi said, leaning over his forearms on the table. “However, we know from experience that Volpe is unpredictable. This is not a lack of belief in you. This is risk management.”

“Okay, then,” I said with an exhale. It did mean something to know they still thought I could handle it. Maybe they were right. “What if one of you comes inside with me? We want to throw Max off his game, but not make him run.”

“I should,” Cas said after a pause. “Especially if you’re wearing the ring.”

I glanced down at my hand. Max’s reaction to the engagement news earlier had been scathing, at best. But there had been another emotion that passed over his face. I’d barely had time to process it with everything else going on. Had it been confusion? Anger? Regret?

“It will probably piss him off,” Ryuji said. “If I were him, I’d be a jealous fucker.”

“You are a jealous fucker,” Cas snorted, and Ryuji shoved him, but it lacked force or aggression. Again, I found myself raising an eyebrow at their antics. They were definitely changing.

“ Anyway ,” Ryuji continued. “It’ll throw him off, and it won’t make him think we’re about to kill him.”

I shook my head. “And we can’t kill him, Ryu. Not yet.”

His eyes glinted. “I can set up my .50 caliber and blow his chest apart. Easy.”

I leveled a look. “I know Max well enough to know he’ll have some sort of plan in place in case he dies. Killing him will only create more problems right now, especially if he dies in front of the board. That’ll be a giant mess without the reward we probably expect.”

“Leona is right,” Obi agreed. “The criminal underworld operates one way, but if we want to take full control over the Vero business empire, we have to operate within the rules of that sphere. Fight corporate fire with fire.” He paused, clearing his throat. “I have something to share about one of the other board members.”

“Yeah?” I raised an eyebrow, trying to contain the small smile on my lips. Obi? Talking ? Heaven above, the world was about to end.

“I did a job for him a few years ago to solve one of his personal problems, and I knew having him as a contact would be beneficial one day,” he said. “We can use some evidence to blackmail him into supporting you.”

I chewed another bit. “But wouldn’t that make you look bad? Blackmail and all?”

“We must use whatever tools are at our disposal,” he replied with a shrug. “I formed the Shadows for this reason, to eventually use the work we did in way that would benefit me. As far as I’m concerned, this was exactly the plan from the beginning.”

Wynn tilted his head to the side. “I’ve always wondered how you decide what contracts to take and what to decline.”

Obi pursed his lips, glancing at me. I leaned back in my chair. “The facade has always been the highest bidder wins the contract. But that is not actually the case. I selected our clients based on what strategic benefit they could provide me in the future. If a bidding war increased the price of our services, there was no downside.”

Ciel crossed his arms over his chest. “Benefit for you? Not for us?”

He exhaled. “For me, in the past. For us, now.”

“But this board member?” Cas said. “You’re confident what you have on him can influence him to support Leona over Max?”

“Yes, if what he did were to go public, he’d lose everything.” Obi waved a hand. “He is a weak man. He will bend to our will. Though he does carry a lot of weight on the board. Once he outwardly supports Leona, others will follow.”

“Ciel, can you get information on the other board members?” I asked. We needed to know exactly what made them tick, especially if Max had any leverage against them already. I wouldn’t walk in there unprepared.

“I’ve already started,” he replied. “I’ll have a full report later today.”

I smiled, reaching across the table to grab his hand. “Thank you for working so hard.”

His blush went all the way to his ears, but he just nodded.

“We need to review the floor plans of the restaurant and make sure we can have all the exits covered in case anything goes wrong,” Wynn said.

“Yes, now that I have ready,” Ciel said. “Let’s make sure we all understand the complete layout and are ready to run if needed. We’ll play it on the safe side.”

“Cas and I have been there before,” I said. “We can walk you through it on top of the plans.”

Obi reached across the table to refill all our waters with a pitcher. “When we are finished eating, we will review them.”

“Okay, so Cas and I will go inside and talk to the board,” I confirmed. “I’ll get them to vote on giving me my father’s old seat. Once I have a seat on the board, I can start making moves to take control of the pieces of the business we can use—specifically, the construction jobs and transport routes we use for our gun trade.”

The rest of the guys nodded their agreement.

“Chip away at Max’s empire piece by piece,” Wynn said. “Once we take everything away, he’ll crumble.”

I grinned.

“Speaking of that, I think it is time we start approaching the other Families,” Obi said. “From the account numbers, we have the evidence that your father was paying Tommaso for his help in bringing the Albanians to the city. We can take that to them and show that by allying with the Tommaso Family, Volpe is just perpetuating the same issues. He is directly contributing to human trafficking.”

I rubbed my eyes with a sigh. “The account numbers give us leverage, for sure. But I swear, I have this gut feeling that Max is up to something.”

“The Albanians have been quiet here in New York,” Wynn said. “Do you think that’s related?”

“Maybe. He picked Tommaso for his alliance for a reason. Coincidentally, the Albanians have gone quiet? And have started infiltrating Philadelphia?” I shook my head. “Something feels off.”

“Do you think Max has made an alliance with the Albanians?” Ciel asked.

I bit my lip. “I don’t know. But if he did, that would fucking suck.”

Cas crossed his arms over his chest. “Max has surprised us before with his depravity. The version of him we knew? He would never. But the version he’s hid from us all these years? I have no idea what he’s capable of.”

“All the more reason why we need the other Families on our side,” Obi replied. “Do we know who is the most likely to hear us out? And who would be the most strategic to ally with?”

We already had the Russians on our side, which helped immensely with getting the Alacrán Cartel out of the city. But Obi was right. We needed the Italians on our side to take full control and push Max out.

Don Lucchese. Don Sandrini. Don Rossi.

I knew them as friends of my father, men who would appear at events before disappearing into meetings. Meetings my father barred me from attending. I didn’t know them as people. At most, we’d exchanged pleasantries. I only knew Don Tommaso better because Chiara was my best friend, and because I’d spent so much time at her house.

“I know Rossi pretty well,” Cas said.

“You know Don Rossi?” I asked, eyebrows raised. The way Cas spoke was like they were friends.

Cas shrugged. “More than Lucchese or Sandrini. Rossi is just a few years older than us. The youngest of all the Heads—well, besides Max, I guess. When he was coming up, after the Rossi Family blew apart, I ran into him a few times. Helped him get out of a bind or two.”

I blinked. “I never had any idea what you did when you weren’t with me. How the hell do you know so many people? The Irish, the Rossis, Giulio…I don’t get it.”

“When I was living on the streets, before you met me, I survived by making friends. Fallon, Colin, all of us shared food and helped each other survive.” He took a drink of his water, then stretched his neck from side to side as he continued. “After your dad took me in, that instinct didn’t go away. Yeah, I met people from different organizations that I might eventually have to kill, but I guess I thought if I could make friends, it might eventually pay off.”

Obi gave an approving nod. “That’s smart, Caspian.”

“Plus, it’s not like I fit in with your family when it wasn’t work-related.”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess I just felt more at home on the streets, my ear to the ground, making connections. Especially in the early years. I never felt like I belonged in your circle. That I was worthy of you. Fuck, your dad didn’t even let me eat at your table until I was thirteen.”

I blinked. “What? I didn’t know that. I thought you just lived with Alessio. I thought he took care of you.”

“He did. Alessio did his best. But I was still a street rat, and I snuck out most nights.” Cas rubbed his chin. “I didn’t blame your father, princess. I knew who I was. Once I earned his trust, he promoted me, and he brought me into the inner circle. The best thing he ever did was make me your bodyguard.” His smile was lopsided, half happy and half sad. “But that’s why I always questioned whether what I did was enough.”

“I’m sorry, amore ,” I whispered. So much about his insecurities suddenly made sense. He never thought I’d choose to be with him because he’d always been told he would never be good enough. “I didn’t know.”

He brushed a thumb across my cheek. “It’s okay. It brought us here. But that’s how I know so many people.” He released my cheek and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know Rossi. He’s got the smallest territory out of all the rest of the Five Families, but he’s a good man. I’m certain he’d take issue with the proof that Tommaso was taking money to let Albanians into the city. We can use that to move him to our side and go after Max together.”

“Great, more underdogs teaming up with underdogs,” Ryuji said with a teasing smile. “I like it.”

Obi looked at me. “Do you agree?”

“I don’t know Rossi, but we need to use whatever we can to grow our army,” I said, glancing at the ring on my finger. “Even if the Rossi Family might be smaller than the others, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s weaker. He might surprise us all.”

“Cas, I’ll help you get a message out,” Ciel said. “We can set up an introduction after the board meeting.”

“Sounds good.” Cas titled his head to the side, but he glanced at Obi. “I know we’ve all moved past this but, Obi, I have to ask you a question.”

Obi inclined his head.

“Rossi is unmarried.”

Obi stiffened. “I believe he is.”

“Did you want to marry Leona to him? Is that what you meant when you mentioned someone else ? ”

My eyes went wide. “Don Rossi?”

“I had considered it.” Obi’s words were careful.

“I changed my mind,” Ryuji grumbled. “I hate that guy now.”

Ciel rolled his eyes while Wynn crossed his arms over his chest. My chest went tight, but this was something Cas needed to get out into the air. We had to make sure things were clear between all of us.

Obi raised a hand. “He was the only other Don who did not clearly accept money or give money to your father. It was an option—another powerful man we might have been able to use. A thought, yet nothing more.”

I twisted the ring around on my finger and took a deep breath. Rossi was a wildcard. Before the six of us agreed to this, I could see why Obi would consider it—even if I did hate that he was trying to marry me off. “If I’m being objective, it was not a terrible idea.”

Obi leaned over the table. “The path we’ve chosen is far better.”

The corner of my mouth pulled up into a smile. Cas grabbed my hand. “So much better.”

Ciel stood and grabbed his empty plate, along with Wynn’s. “Glad we’re done with all that.”

“Me too,” Cas replied.

“Don Rossi can still be a powerful ally,” Obi said. “But not at the expense of our team.”

I nodded and stood to help Ciel with the rest of the dishes. “What else is on the agenda? Ciel? Any news on the info Fallon gave you?”

“I think I’ve finally been able to latch onto Max’s hacker,” Ciel announced, placing the dishes in the sink. He pulled his phone from his pocket and began tapping.

Ryuji whistled. “About time. That dude’s been fucking with us for far too long.”

“I think it’s a woman, actually,” he said as pulled up a picture of a woman with tanned skin and curly brown hair. The image was grainy, but she was walking across the street, arms tucked in her light jacket. “Lucia. Ever heard of her?”

Cas and I shared a glance before we both shook our heads. I didn’t recognize her, nor did I recognize the street she walked across. “Is this from a security camera? Where?”

Ciel nodded. “Naples, Italy. From a week ago.”

“Naples?” Wynn asked.

“Using the IP addresses Fallon and Finn gave me, I was able to trace a location back to an apartment building in Naples. It pinged all over the world before I got something useful. The owner of the apartment was this woman, but under a different name—probably a fake name. I got a picture of her passport and travel documents. This was the last image I could capture of her before she disappeared, but I traced the fake name she used and there was one passenger with that name on a transatlantic flight to New York a few days ago. I think she’s in the City now.”

The five of us stared at him with surprise.

“What?” he asked.

Ryuji cleared his throat. “Impressive, little brother.”

“Fuck off.” Ciel rolled his eyes before he turned to me. “Do you remember the night we first met?”

“When you were trapped in the burning building?” I said, looking at Wynn. He’d taken me with him to answer Ciel’s call for help, but we’d also left Cas behind. It was the same night Max had captured him.

Ciel nodded. “When I saw Max that night, he’d spoken to a person on the phone and asked them to find you. ‘Lucia’ he’d called them after they told him that you were with the Irish. It only all clicked together once I got Fallon’s leads.”

“Lucia,” I murmured. A hacker from Naples. He must have met her there on one of his many trips. “He’s been working with her for a while, then.”

“I’ve never heard of her, though.” Ciel sighed, staring at her picture. “It’s not like I know every hacker in the world, but I’d be familiar with her name.”

“Max never mentioned her either,” Cas added.

Obi considered for a moment before saying, “I know who she is.”

“You do?” Ciel asked as he straightened. “Who?”

“Lucia Greco. She is the Camorra’s top cyber security specialist,” he said. “She handles all their internal security.”

“Fuck,” Cas groaned.

The Camorra. The big dogs in Italy.

We knew Max had ties to them when we’d reached out to them for information earlier, but didn’t this confirm they were directly aiding him?

We could not make enemies of the Camorra, at least not yet. I knew now that was Obi’s final goal, and I was still chewing on how that could ever be possible. With our status right now, they’d wipe the floor with us. Max and I were just flies compared to them.

But still, something nagged at me. The Camorra were so old school. Hearing that this woman ran their entire security was a major surprise.

“I didn’t think the Camorra would promote a woman so high?” I asked.

Obi ran a thumb over his lip. “They would for her. She’s good. And she has personal connections to Camorra leadership.”

“You know her?”

He nodded. “We’ve crossed paths, but we weren’t friends. Even though she handles top-level information, she was also kept apart from the main forces. She’s the granddaughter of the Head. A brilliant woman, but also greatly protected.”

“Damn.” The word gusted from my lips. “So she’s helping Max. An ally? On loan? What do we think?”

Obi’s eyebrows pinched together. “I think we need to handle her very carefully. We cannot kill her, but we cannot let her continue to aid him. She’s in New York, Ciel? To the best of your knowledge?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I’m trying to track her down now, but she’s clearly an expert. She’s wiped all traces of her trail. I’m just waiting for her to slip up.”

The gears in my brain turned.

Lucia had been a huge asset to Max. If we could cut her off from helping him, that would deal him a major blow. He’d lose a huge advantage over us, and maybe then Ciel would finally be able to get inside his systems. We could get the upper hand.

Obi was right. We couldn’t kill her. We couldn’t make enemies of the Camorra yet. We needed them as allies until we could turn against them. So how were we supposed to stop her?

But just like Ciel, she was a master. With the tools at her disposal, was she unstoppable? Was there any way for us to catch up with her?

“Short of blowing the internet to the entire city, how can we stop her from helping Max?”

Ciel’s eyes went glassy for a moment, then went wide. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

“What?”

He pulled his phone from his pocket and started pacing around the kitchen, mumbling to himself. “No, that would never work. Would it? I could pull it off. But the consequences…maybe. Thirty seconds? Would that work? Maybe in phases…”

“Ciel?” I asked, trying to get his attention, but he was clearly following a train of thought down a rabbit hole. “What are you thinking?”

“That gave me an amazing idea,” he said as he pulled me in for a quick kiss. “You are brilliant. I need to work. I’ll come find you if I think we can pull this off.”

Before any of us could respond, he rushed out of the kitchen and back to his room.

“Uh…” I stared at Obi, whose eyes crinkled.

“He’ll figure out a way to separate Lucia and Max,” he replied. He put an arm around my shoulder, pulled me close to his chest, and kissed my hair before stepping away. Ryuji smirked and I met his smile with one of my own. “Let us prepare for the board meeting so he can work. We need to discuss how you will play the table to earn your seat.”

“Sounds good.”

Ryuji and Wynn finished washing up the dishes while Obi, Cas, and I began discussing the power play that would inevitably take shape when I walked into that restaurant.

We had made so much progress. But there was a lot left to go before Max was begging for his life at my feet.

We were finally coming together as a team. No secrets, no hidden agendas.

Even if we made mistakes, we would have each other’s backs until the end.