“Take the envelope. Install the software, send it to your clients tonight as an update. It will work. It’s already disguised as a patch.”
Prescott slouched back in his chair, his fingers steepled over his mouth.
“I trust you can handle this?”
Prescott nodded absentmindedly.
“Good. My guys will be ready to download the data. Don’t fuck this up. If you do, I trust you know how I’ll be forced to respond.” Moretti pushed to his feet. I glanced toward Prescott, who remained seated in a daze, before I did the same.
I followed Moretti to the room where I’d last seen Tommy lying on the floor, near death. When the door opened, he was still in the same half-alive state.
“Fucking disgusting,” Moretti snarled as he looked over him. “Clean this mess up.”
“Boss?”
Moretti’s eyes lifted to mine, a warning in them. “Don’t disappoint me now, Leoni. You know better than anyone we don’t leave loose ends. Take care of him,” he commanded, leaving me alone with Tommy.
I pressed on the brake, slowing the car as I turned off the highway and down an unmarked gravel road between two towns outside the city. Driving deeper into the woods, away from the road, I stopped the car, shifting it into park.
I grabbed my water bottle from the cup holder and exited the car, punching the button on the key fob to pop the trunk. I rounded the back end of the car as the lid lifted. Twisting off the cap, I scanned my surroundings, then stared down at an unconscious Tommy. I tilted the bottle over his head, emptying half the container until he sputtered awake.
I set the water on the bumper and took out my knife. He began to scream through the gag in his mouth as I moved toward his head, his whole body twisting and jerking to get away.
I shook my head. I almost felt sorry for the fucker.
“Unless you want me to accidentally slit your throat, I suggest you sit still.”
It took a minute for my words to register in his terrified state, but he finally calmed down. With the knife still in my right hand, I reached for him again, and he flinched, but didn’t squirm frantically like before. I pushed the gag from his mouth.
“Please, man. Please. Don’t kill me. I promise I won’t say a word. I won’t talk.”
I took a few steps back; the fucker reeked. I glanced at the wet spot on his pants, wondering when the hell he’d pissed himself. “That’s a shame. Because if you want to live, you’re going to tell me exactly what the hell you did for Moretti.”
“What are you talking about?” He frantically glanced around, from his low vantage point. “Is this a test? Are you trying to see if I’ll talk, just so you can kill me?”
I rubbed at my temple with my free hand. This idiot was wasting valuable time. “Start talking, Tommy. You’ve got thirty seconds to start telling me everything.”
His eyes flashed around the surrounding woods once again as he tried to lift to his elbows, his hands still secured behind his back. “I—”
“Twenty.” I raised the knife into his view, running the pad of my thumb along the edge of it. “Ten.”
“Okay! Okay! Fuck! What do you want to know?”
“What were you hiding in the floorboard of your apartment?”
“A thumb drive.”
“What was on it?”
“Shouldn’t you know this already?”
Darting out my left hand, I gripped his throat, squeezing.
“I’m sorry,” he said, through strangled breaths. He gasped as I released him. “It’s a software program I created. Spyware.”
“He wants to use it to hack data from someone’s computers.”
“Not just someone, millions. Wealthy fuckers, too.”
“Prescott’s clients.” I took a seat on the bumper, running a hand through my hair.
“Yeah. It’s brilliant, really.” The piece of shit sounded proud of what he had done. “Get a cyber security company in your back pocket and have them send out the spyware to their clients in an email concealed as a standard patch update. They’ll be able to download the information they need—millions of socials, and the data on all of Prescott’s clients’ customers—before it’s ever detected. It’s like a modern-day bank heist, without stepping foot in a bank.”
“Shit.” I stood back up, checking the time on my watch. I tucked the knife in my back pocket. “Why were you hiding it from him?”
“I had some other interested buyers. I was weighing my options.”
The fucking moron. Manny was right. He was stupid for a smart guy.
“Are you letting me go now?” he asked hopefully.
“No.” I reached for the gag hanging at Tommy’s neck.
“Hey, man”—he popped up—“we had a deal.”
“Shut up,” I commanded as he continued to mumble and yell through the dirty cloth, shoving him back down on his back and closing the trunk lid.
I climbed back in the car and picked up my phone, cursing the fucking cell company for the lousy signal. Throwing the car in reverse, I backed up, the tires spinning on the loose gravel as I punched on the gas, speeding back toward the city.
When the service bars populated on my cell, I quickly dialed, tapping my thumb on the steering as I waited impatiently for her to pick up the phone.
“Rhodes,” she finally answered.
“How quick can you get a warrant?”
“With probable cause, three hours.”
“Get one started for Alex Prescott.”
“For what exactly?”
“You want evidence connecting him to Moretti? He has it on him. A thumb drive.”
“What’s on the thumb drive?”
My phone beeped with an incoming call. I glanced at the caller ID. Fuck.
“I gotta go. Just get it done.”
“Wait. Leoni—”
I ended the call before she could say more and answered the incoming one from my uncle. “Yeah?”
“Boss wants to see you ASAP.”
“I’m still working on the last fucking job he gave me.”
“What’s taking so long? You don’t gotta wine and dine the little shit before you fuck him over. Get it done and get back here.”
“Got it.”
The line went dead. Running all the scenarios through my head, I took a deep breath and dialed once again.
Calling Lena was fucking risky, but I didn’t have any other choice. She needed to get out of that house. If the family had guys on the inside, it wouldn’t take them long to be notified and put two and two together. She answered after three rings.
“Hey,” she said in a hushed voice. I heard a door click closed in the background.
“Where are you?” I asked, passing a few slow-moving cars as I accelerated well over the speed limit.
“My room. Why? What’s going on?”
“Do you remember everything I told you at the cabin?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Go to plan B.”
“Mario—” Her voice cracked.
“Lena. I need you to do this for me, okay?”
I could hear her muffled cries through the phone. The sounds caused a stabbing pain in my chest. “Okay,” she finally said. “You and me.”
“You and me,” I repeated. “Pinky promise.”
She snorted a small laugh through her tears. “I love you, Mario Leoni. Make sure you come back to me.”
“Always. Love you too, bella.”
I hung up the phone before I fucking lost it. I knew she was strong enough to see it through. I just prayed it went smoothly.
17
Lena
I sank onto the edge of my bed, clutching my phone to my chest as I tried to pull myself together. Every worst-case scenario ran through my head. Every one ended with Mario dead.
If he’d decided on this plan, time was of the essence, leaving me no time to worry about what might happen. I stood and walked to my closet. Lifting to my toes, I tugged at the strap of the overnight bag I’d used
for our weekend away, pulling it from the top shelf. It tumbled over the edge and I caught it.
I dug inside, pulling out the gun Gia had given me. I checked that it was loaded and then walked over to my purse, slipping it inside before returning to the bag and stuffing it full of clothes and a photo of my mother and me. I dropped the bag on my bed and zipped it closed.
“Where are you going?”
I jumped at the sound of my father’s voice coming from a few feet behind me.
“Papa, you scared me,” I said lightly, hoping he didn’t hear the slight unease in my voice. I glanced at him as I walked the few steps to my purse, picked it up, and draped it over my shoulder. “I was just headed out to do some wedding dress shopping.”
“Do you take me for an idiot, mi cara?”
My pulse quickened at his question, stilling my movements. “No.”
“Then why are you lying to me?” He moved a few steps in my direction.
I stiffened my spine, holding my purse closer to my side, my hand resting on the opening. Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I mentally reminded myself to turn the safety off the gun before pulling the trigger. If he charged me, I had no idea if I’d be able to get it out and all done in time. No idea if I could go through with shooting him if needed. “I didn’t want to ruin the surprise,” I said, trying to come up with a new lie.
“The surprise that you were leaving?” His eyes went to the bag on my bed. He stepped up to it and unzipped it. With his back to me, I used the opportunity to position myself between him and the door. I continued to inch closer, keeping my eyes on him as he started to pull the items out of the bag. My leg muscles tightened, ready to dart as he reached the bottom of the bag, lifting the framed photo in his hands.
He studied it a moment, stroking his fingers over the image. “You’re exactly like her,” he said with a quiet grit in his voice, his back still to me as he stared at the picture. “Beautiful and infuriating.”
I didn’t dare speak. My only focus was getting out of there before he did something to me.
He spun to look at me, the frame still in his hand. I froze, my body rooted in place, mere feet away from my escape. His eyes narrowed as he took me in. “You think you can run from me, the same way she did.”
“You’ve left me little choice,” I confessed. Lying wasn’t going to help me at this point.
“And where would you run to, Lena? You have nobody.”
I glared at him, my body shaking with anger as I clenched my fist.
He waited for my answer, his posture further hardening with rage every moment I stayed quiet. “You want to go”—he waved a hand toward the door—“then, go.”
I glanced at my only escape from the room, wondering if he had someone waiting for me on the other side of it.
“Go on,” he encouraged. “But as soon as you leave this house, just know you are no longer under my protection.”
“Why?” I asked, forming my eyes into slits. “Why are you letting me go?”
“Simple. I’m tired of trying to make you understand. And because I’ve decided you are no longer my problem. You are Lorenzo’s. If he wants to find you, he will. And if he wants to punish you for your obstinacy, I will not protect you from him.” He smiled like the devil he was, and I continued to wonder if this was all a trick.
I slowly backed out of the room, keeping my eyes on him and my hand on my purse, in case he decided to shoot me once my back was turned. When I cleared the opening, I gave him a parting look, then with hurried footsteps, walked away.
My pulse was still racing, my body still struggling to breath, when I heard Lorenzo’s voice coming down the hall. He had his phone to his ear as he spoke. I slipped into a guest bedroom, out of his view.
I waited a few minutes behind the closed door after his footsteps faded. I cracked open the door and peeked out for any more of my father’s men. I heard Lorenzo’s voice, along with my father’s, in my bedroom, and part of me wanted to hear what my father would say to him, how he’d explain my departure. For once, I ignored my curiosity and snuck out of the room.
My heart beat in my chest, pounding, banging, fighting its way out as I hurried toward the elevator that led to the garage. A single gunshot rang out behind me, causing me to stumble.
I spun toward the sound, stilling with fear as I registered which room it had come from. The sound of more footsteps running through the house sent my instincts into overdrive. I sprinted for the private stairs to the garage, flinging the door open and running for my life.
18
Lorenzo
With my gun still in hand, I knelt in front of Moretti’s bleeding body on the floor of Lena’s bedroom.
“Why,” he snarled, clutching a hand to the bullet wound in his chest as he struggled to hang on in the last seconds of his life. The blood seeped into his white shirt and onto his hand. I’d hit him with one lethal shot to his heart.
“You got soft,” I said simply. He’d let Lena go without recourse. He’d let his emotional attachment to the Leoni family blind him to Mario’s betrayal for months now. Not to mention, I was tired of taking fucking orders from him.
Hearing the rushing footsteps against the tile floor, coming toward me, I quickly put my gun away then lifted him in my arms. His eyes rolled back in his head and within seconds, he was gone.
“What happened?” Ricky asked, nearly out of breath. Luca and Leo barreled to a stop behind him.
“Lena... She shot him.”
“Where is she?” Luca asked, looking around the room for her.
He wouldn’t find her. I knew she’d already be running for her life. She wasn’t a fool. Even if she had her father’s blessing, she knew she wouldn’t live at the end of this. I’d known for weeks now that she’d been an unfaithful whore, opening her legs for Leoni. I’d planned to confront her on our wedding night, tie up her fucking boyfriend after beating the shit out of him, making him watch me fuck her before putting a bullet in them both. But plans changed, thanks to Moretti’s incompetence.
He was weak when it came to women and children. He hadn’t been able to pull the trigger on his wife either, leaving my father to handle things. At thirteen years old, it was one of the first jobs my old man had taken me on, teaching me the finesse of how to make a murder look like a misfortunate accident. Between a punctured brake line and a leaking fuel tank, we sent her to her death, making it look like nothing more than a devastating car accident that ended in an explosive fire.
We would’ve taken out her son at the same time, had it not been for Moretti’s stance on not harming children. If it weren’t for his lack of backbone, we wouldn’t be having to the deal with the piece of shit now. Boys become men with vendettas. He should’ve seen Declan coming years ago.
I lowered Moretti’s limp body back to the floor. “Running. But she won’t get far,” I answered Luca. Brushing my hand over Moretti’s eyes, I closed his lids then bent over and whispered in his ear, “See you in hell, boss.”
I raised to my feet and turned to face my men. It would become official soon enough, with Moretti out of the picture. I wiped the blood from my hands, then pulled out my cell phone, opening the tracking app. I knew every move she made, and that she was already headed for Brooklyn, no doubt hoping Leoni would save her. I smiled to myself. She would save me the trouble of having to hunt them both down.
“Find Leoni.”
“Which one?”
“All of them,” I clarified, tucking my phone back in my pocket.
They exchanged a few pointed looks before looking back at me.
“Now!” I roared.
They filed out one by one, not hesitating this time.
Sitting at Moretti’s desk, I watched the dot on my phone move closer and closer to Brooklyn. I sent Luca updates as he drove, until the dot moved onto a street I recognized. I knew exactly where she was going. It wasn’t where I expected, but it would work in my favor all the same.
My phone rang. I answered it, placing i
t on speaker phone.
“We got a problem. Our inside guy just called. Says there’s a warrant being processed for Prescott’s arrest,” Leo spoke, ruining my single moment of joy.
“Does he have the program?”
“Yes. The boss gave it to him earlier today.”
Fuck! I slammed my fist against the desk, desperately wanting to shoot someone else.
“Get to him before the feds do. And make sure you get that goddamn program back.”
I pressed end, immediately dialing. I waited for Luca to answer.
“Yeah, boss?”
Despite being pissed, a grin played on my lips, liking the sound of that. “She’s headed to Leoni’s restaurant.”
“Got it. We’re a couple blocks out. What do you want us to do when we get there?”
“Make sure she’s inside. Then burn it down. Nobody gets out alive.”
“Sir?” Luca sounded confused. And just when I’d started to think he’d make a good underboss…
“The Leonis are no longer under our protection. They’re rats and it’s time they pay for their betrayal.”
There was silence on the other end.
My knuckles whitened as my fingers dug into the arms of the chair. My men or not, I’d kill every fucking one of them if they questioned me again. “Do you have a problem with that, Luca?”
“No, sir… Consider it done.”
I ended the call and stood. Rolling down my sleeves, I refastened the buttons at my wrists. Lifting my coat from the back of my chair, I strolled from the office and out the front door. It seemed there were some matters I was going to have to take into my own hands, starting with Manny Leoni.
19
Lena
I had no time to feel anything. Not the soreness of my muscles as I ran five blocks, the ache in my chest, the dread in my stomach, nor the guilt about those who might be killed because of me.
I kept my head down, my hands on the gun inside my purse like it was my lifeline as I traveled to Brooklyn in a taxi. When the car stopped at my destination, I pulled out a wad of cash and passed it to the driver before stumbling out of the car and looking up at the building casting a shadow on me in the setting sun.
Honor (Made Book 1) Page 16
