Page 189 of Only Fools Rush

“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 alliesuntil 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.