Lawless: Mob Boss Book Three

by Michelle St. James

  “Reputed to be held?” Nico repeated.

  “Well, yes. You see, I don’t know exactly where it is.”

  “Then how are we supposed to get it?” Nico asked.

  “I can point you in the right direction, given our history. Give you a little head start, so to speak. It’s your problem beyond that.”

  Nico pulled the Tracphone away from his ear to look at the time; four-minutes, thirty-nine seconds. Way longer than their two minute limit. Angel saw his frustration in the clench of his jaw, the fire crackling in his eyes.

  “Tell me what you know,” he said into the phone.

  “The data is in the possession of Sean Murdock.”

  She met Nico’s gaze, saw her own confusion reflected there.

  “The software guy?” Nico said.

  “I’m afraid Mr. Murdock is quite a bit more than a ‘software guy’, Nico. But then, I imagine you’ll find that out once you get to work."

  “What am I looking for exactly?” Nico asked. “A guy like Murdock must have countless proprietary files.”

  “The file you’re looking for will be labeled Darknet.”

  “And that’s it?” Nico asked. “Bring you the file, and we get a free pass to walk away from the Syndicate?”

  “You have my word,” Raneiro said. “This opportunity does, however, have a time limit.”

  “What is it?”

  “Let’s call it a month,” Raneiro said.

  “I’ll call you to arrange the drop.”

  “Fine. And Nico?”

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t be late.”

  16

  “So Raneiro is getting into some new kind of black market business,” Angel said as she slipped on her jeans the next morning.

  Nico laced up his shoes. “It’s the only thing I can think of given the name of the file.”

  They’d gone straight from the phone call with Raneiro to a Best Buy where they’d purchased an iPad with cash. They spent the next two hours sitting on the bed in the motel room, searching the word “Darknet” and reading everything they could find on Sean Murdock. It hadn’t taken them long to find information about both, and Darknet quickly revealed itself as a series of online marketplaces used to buy and sell everything from drugs to the worst kind of porn, all of it transacted with Bitcoin for maximum anonymity.

  “I just don’t get why this is such a big deal to Raneiro,” she said. “It’s not like the Syndicate is new to the black market.”

  Nico stood. “I don’t know any more than you. It could be anything.”

  “You think there’s something on the file that he can sell?” Angel asked.

  “Or something he can use as leverage. You saw the data.”

  She thought about everything they’d read on Sean Murdock. Raneiro had been right; Murdock was more than just a software guy. It was true that he’d founded the richest software company in the world, one with reach into every country and every corporation in America. But he’d also started a multi-billion dollar philanthropic organization that donated hundreds of millions of dollars to causes ranging from clean water initiatives in third world countries to orphanages in Southeast Asia. The guy owned an airline and a record label, and was a partner in start up initiatives too numerous to count. He was young (thirty-six years old), single, and without any living family. And while they’d found hundreds of pictures with him at red carpet events draped with the Supermodel of the Hour, relatively little was known about his personal life.

  “It’s just a weird trade,” Angel said, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “What if we give him what he wants and he kills us anyway?” The question had been digging into her mind ever since last night’s phone call.

  “We’ll figure something out — some kind of guarantee,” Nico said. “Let’s just take it a step at a time for now.”

  “I’m still not sold on the idea of letting him off the hook,” she said.

  “We don’t have to decide anything now.” He holstered his gun to his body, then slipped on his jacket to hide the weapon. “Ready?”

  She nodded.

  They left the motel and headed for a questionable looking Chinese restaurant they’d spotted while walking the neighborhood. It was open at all hours of the day, the lights so dim Angel almost couldn’t see in through the windows. They found Luca in a booth at the back. She didn’t know what she expected; for Luca to be harried? To be scared? But he looked just the same, as calm and unreadable as ever.

  He and Nico embraced. Luca bent to kiss Angel’s cheek, and they all slid into the red pleather booth.

  “Thanks for coming,” Nico said.

  “No thanks necessary, boss.”

  Nico took a drink of the water glass on the table. “I don’t think I’m the boss anymore.”

  “New York will always belong to you as far as I’m concerned,” Luca said.

  Nico nodded. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” Luca said. “I was prepared for this eventuality, same as you.”

  Angel looked from Nico to Luca, wondering what he meant. “What eventuality are we talking about here?”

  Luca pushed a thick manila envelope across the table. “This one."

  Nico opened the envelope and withdrew a handful of documents. Angel watched as he flipped threw them — passports, driver’s licenses, social security cards, even a couple of credit cards and a thick stack of cash. Angel reached for the driver’s license with her picture.

  “Juliet Moore,” she murmured. She looked at Luca. “Where did you get these?”

  Luca cut his gaze to Nico.

  “He got them from a safe deposit box in Newburgh,” Nico said, “where I’ve been keeping them in case a situation like this should arise.”

  She dropped the license. “In case Raneiro took out a hit on me, you mean?”

  “Angel…”

  “Did you know this would happen if you disappeared?” she asked.

  “I couldn’t be sure,” he said. “I thought it might happen no matter what I did, so I decided to play it safe. There are new documents for David, too, if he needs them.”

  She didn’t know what to say. On the one hand, it was weird to think of Nico making all these arrangements while she worked in Boston the last few months, completely oblivious to the things that were already in motion. But while she’d been careful to stash cash offshore for her and David, she hadn’t thought about securing false documents, something they would need if they wanted to move freely.

  She looked at Nico. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He put everything back in the envelope, then looked at Luca. “What did you learn about Murdock?”

  “Same as you,” Luca said. “Billionaire playboy, no family, surface do-gooder….”

  Angel met his eyes. “Surface do-gooder?”

  Luca turned his water glass in his hand. “I did a little digging. There are rumors in certain circles.”

  “What kind of rumors?” Angel asked.

  “Rumors that Murdock might have… off the book interests.”

  “Like what?” Nico asked.

  “You name it,” Luca said. “Drugs, trafficking, illegal weapons… but it’s nothing substantial, nothing that can be proven, and a guy with Murdock’s wealth is a target for that kind of speculation, so I’d say take it with a grain of salt until we have evidence to the contrary.”

  Nico nodded.

  Luca hesitated. “There is one thing that might help.”

  “What is it?” Nico asked.

  “Murdock had a close friend, someone he’s known since they were kids together in Dublin. Guy’s name is Desmond McDermott, and he was Murdock’s right hand man until about a year ago when he disappeared from Murdock’s life.”

  “What do you mean ‘disappeared’?” Angel asked.

  Luca shrugged. “Stopped showing up with Murdock at events. Wasn’t seen with Murdock in public. To know what a big deal it is, you have to understand that they were virtually inseparable. Murdock
called McDermott his bodyguard, but everyone who knew them said they were like brothers.”

  “You think they had a falling out? That McDermott had him eliminated?”

  “The falling out? Maybe,” Luca said. “But McDermott is alive and well and living in Rome.”

  Angel sat up straighter. “Rome?” It’s where Raneiro Donati and the Syndicate were headquartered.

  Luca nodded.

  “That’s unfortunate,” Nico muttered.

  Luca laughed. “That’s one word for it.”

  “You think McDermott might talk to us?” Nico asked.

  “I don’t know,” Luca said. “But I’m not crazy about the idea of you and Angel in Rome right now.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Angel said. “But if McDermott is the only way to find out more about Murdock, and Murdock is the only way to call off Raneiro’s dogs…”

  Nico turned to her. “There’s probably no point asking this, but…”

  “No,” Angel said. “I’m not staying here while you go. We’re in this together, remember? Donati has a contract out on both of us, and on my brother, too. I’m not sitting here like some kind of princess while you do all the dirty work.”

  He sighed. “Do you have an address on McDermott?” he asked Luca.

  Luca waved at the envelope. “It’s all there, along with a list of his most frequented haunts.”

  “Great.,” Nico said. “Where are you going?”

  “Meeting up with Elia and Marco in Miami,” he said. “We’ll lay low there for awhile, stay on the ready in case you need us.”

  Nico nodded, then slid from the booth as Luca did the same. Nico clasped his back as they embraced.

  “I owe you.”

  “You don’t owe me a thing,” Luca said. “Call if you need us.”

  Angel gave him a hug. “Will you be okay?”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

  She looked up into his blue eyes. He’d become like a brother to her, and she felt a pang of fear at the thought of something happening to him. “Somebody has to do the worrying around here,” she said.

  He chuckled and kissed her cheek. Then he was gone.

  17

  Nico arranged a flat in Trastavere that night. It was easy to do online with one of the credit cards, and they found a flight out of Albany the next day. He disassembled and ditched his weapon in a dumpster and they left early the next morning. There were a few tense moments in Customs — it was obvious Angel was nervous about the fake documents — but then they were cleared and on their way to the gate.

  He and Angel sat at the edge of the crowd while they waited for the plane to board. The security checkpoint should have given him comfort. It wasn’t unheard of to smuggle a weapon into an airport with a few well placed bribes, but it was risky, and Nico didn’t think it was a risk Raneiro would take.

  Still, Nico knew better than anyone that a weapon wasn’t required if you wanted to kill a man. He could kill a man ten different ways with his bare hands, and he had no doubt Raneiro’s men were as effective. He sat next to Angel, maintaining an expression of boredom while scanning the crowd for anyone who might have been sent sent for them. He’d seemingly bought them some time with Raneiro, but Nico wasn’t fool enough to actually trust him, and he didn’t breath easy until they were on the plane, safely ensconced in first class. He wanted as few people as possible to remember them, and he still had plenty of money stashed in offshore accounts, a precaution passed along by his father. Their business was a dangerous one. It was impossible to know when politics or legalities might force one to flee.

  And it was always better to be safe than sorry.

  Once they were on the plane, he took advantage of the sparsely populated first class cabin to let down his guard. Rome would be risky. There was every possibility Raneiro had set him up, planted Desmond McDermott there to lure Nico to Raneiro’s home turf. But somehow Nico didn’t think so. The more he read about Murdock, the more it didn’t sit right. He thought about what Luca had said.

  Drugs, trafficking, illegal weapons…

  Maybe he was off base. Maybe Sean Murdock was nothing more than a businessman with enough proprietary software development to take over the world. Enough power to make him a target for someone like Raneiro Donati. But Nico sensed urgency behind Raneiro’s request, his forced apathy a careful disguise for raw anticipation.

  No, Raneiro wanted the Darknet file, and he wanted Nico to get it for him. Nico was almost sure of it. And while he wasn’t crazy about entering Reneiro’s home turf with Angel, they didn’t have a choice. The fastest way to Sean Murdock was through his childhood friend, Desmond McDermott.

  They reached cruising altitude, and Angel stretched out next to him. He caught a glimpse of creamy skin as her dress hiked up to her thigh. His cock responded like a good soldier, and he shifted in his seat, watched her lips close around the glass in her hand. She wasn’t trying to be sexy. She was just sitting there, hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, some of the pieces escaping around her face.

  But goddamn. He wanted her.

  It didn’t matter that her naked body had been under his only hours before. He would never have enough of her, and his eyes traveled from her full mouth to the hollow at the base of her throat, then continued to the suggestive swell of her breasts under the simple black dress.

  He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Fuck. It was going to be a long ten hours to their layover in London.

  His cock was still pulsing ten minutes later when she got up to go to the bathroom. He took a quick look down the aisle where the flight attendants were doing drink service and got up from his seat.

  18

  She was closing the bathroom door when she felt someone at her back. She turned to find Nico slipping in behind her.

  “Nico, what are you - ”

  He shut the door and locked it, then silenced her with his lips. She had no choice but to open her mouth. Her body had a mind of its own when it came to him, and she was barely aware they were still on the plane as he turned her body in the minuscule lavatory and lifted her onto the tiny counter next to the sink.

  Her arms snaked around his neck as he stroked her tongue with his. She opened her legs, her dress hiking up to her hips, and he moved in closer, the rigid length of his erection against her panties sending a rush of wetness to her core. He nibbled on her lower lip, then kissed his way to her ear, sank his teeth into her earlobe until she moaned, her head falling to the side. He responded by licking his way to her collarbone, using one hand to slip the dress off her shoulder until one side of her bra was visible.

  The plane jerked as they hit a patch of turbulence, and she clutched the edge of the counter as Nico put a strong arm around her hips.

  “I’ve got you,” her murmured, pulling the lacy fabric of her bra down to expose her breast.

  He cupped the mound of flesh in one hand and lowered his lips to the erect nipple. She gasped as the heat of his mouth closed around her cool skin. It was strangely erotic, the plane swaying around them as he tongued the little bud, the moisture between her legs soaking her underwear as his cock strained for her.

  She reached under his shirt, let her fingers travel the tight ripple of his abs on their way to his belt buckle. Her pussy was throbbing in anticipation, the desire to clench down on him while he invaded her almost overwhelming.

  He took her hand away from his belt buckle. “Not yet, baby.”

  “We have to hurry,” she gasped as he lowered his body, wedging himself between her legs, the broad expanse of his shoulders almost spanning the width of the room.

  “No, we don’t,” he said, pressing her legs open wider. “You’ll come when you’re ready to come. And when I’m ready for you to come.”

  A second later his mouth was on her, his tongue dragging through her slick folds while she arched her back, trying not to cry out from the ecstasy of it. He slid two fingers inside her while he latched onto her clit, moving in and
out of her while the plane vibrated under her ass, the hum of it working in concert with Nico’s movement to create a rhythm all its own. She looked down and felt more wetness pool between her legs at the sight of his dark head between there. She moved her hips against his mouth while she watched, the experience strangely erotic, voyeuristic, as if she were watching someone else while being pleasured at the same time.

  He took his mouth off her clit and replaced it with his thumb, making circles while he looked up at her, his eyes hooded with desire. “You taste so good, baby.”

  She leaned back as far as the little room would allow and rotated her hips on his fingers as he lowered his mouth back to her sex, flicking his tongue against the swollen seed of her clit, lapping at it like he couldn’t get enough while the orgasm built inside her. She caught a glimpse of them in the mirror; her spread legs, Nico’s head between them, her breast straining over the fabric of her bra.

  Everything else disappeared behind the hum of the plane and Nico’s hot mouth on her pussy. She was delirious with need, the orgasm closing in, blackening the edges of her vision as she tumbled toward oblivion. Then he hooked his fingers inside her, putting pressure on the secret spot that gave her the final push into paradise. She let go of everything, let herself fall into the light of release as she shuddered around his fingers, the two of them in a world all their own.

  She had her hands on his belt buckle the second he rose to his feet, her desire for him undimmed by the shattering orgasm he’d given her with his mouth. She wouldn’t be complete until he was inside her, taking her the way only he could. She freed his cock — thick, heavy, hard — and opened her legs wider for him while he pulled a condom from his wallet. She stroked him while he opened it, palming his length and reveling in the way he grew bigger, harder, with every stroke, his need for her obvious, irrefutable.

  He handed her the condom, and she rolled it onto his massive cock, then positioned the tip at her entrance. He dragged it through the wetness of her folds, slick with the juices from her orgasm, then over her clit.