Page 99 of Mafia Star

“Chelle said you’re an accountant, but you’re also a licensed trader. She mentioned you have a degree in computer science. When I asked if you use that to design accounting software, she clammed up. You’re a hacker.”

There isn’t remotely a question in his voice. No one responds.

“Get me securely into the O’Rourkes accounts. They’re clients. I have their information, but I need to access it without triggering any alerts. Those boys are going to wake up as broke as their family was when they got to America. Your family, on the other hand, is about to be thirty million richer.”

Beth steps away from me and stands in front of her brother.

“They’re clients?”

“Yeah. New ones. I didn’t know about Grandpa yet, but I knew our families had history. They approached me about a month ago. I agreed to take them on, knowing who they are. I have other clients who have invested in their public traded entities. Since becoming my clients, I’ve seen their entire portfolio. The entire portfolio. Granted Finn probably has cash in his attic and his basement. Doom’s Day prepper when it comes to money. He won’t let them keep all their money in one bank.”

We know. Oh, how we know. That fucker is an accountant with hacking skills too. He tried to fuck over the Kutsenkos by fucking Gabe and Carmine over first. He tried to pin the blame on them for the shit that ignited the feud with Simms.

“Steve, you could go to jail for this.”

He gazes down at his sister. While I don’t know exactly the words he’ll pick, I already know what he’ll say.

“Shane might claim there’s nothing they can do to stop the feds, but that’s bullshit. If they can get the feds to act on their command, then they can get them to stop on their command. They don’t want to. That’s why he warned me. The O’Rourkes aren’t new. They’ve watched every guy in the Mancinelli family get married except for Marco. And that’s like two days away from happening, anyway.”

Tomorrow morning if it were solely up to me.

“Liz, protecting our family might have been part of the agreement Liam O’Rourke made with Grandpa way back when, but they obviously meant they’d protect us from outsiders. Not from them. They know you’re with Marco. From what everyone’s been telling me while you’ve been in here, the moment Marco introduced you, it’s been inevitable that you’ll get married. The O’Rourkes know this. They know telling me to keep you away won’t do bupkis. They might protect me because I’ve already made them a shit ton of money in a few weeks, but they aren’t trying to protect you. What I gaveth them, I’ll taketh away.”

He's not exactly God, but he’s about to be the Devil.

“So you think the O’Rourkes are siccing the feds on the Mancinellis, and my life be damned.”

“Pretty much.”

Beth looks up at me. The rage inside of me is looking for an outlet, but I won’t let Beth see it. It’ll terrify her. But when our gazes lock, I know she can read me as well as anyone in my family. She knows what I’m feeling, even if I’m doing my best to hide it. She looks back at her brother.

“If Enzo can get you in, can you do more than wire the money out of their accounts?”

“Yes. I can make sure the stock value of every holding they have plummets. People will sell within an hour of the opening bell. But I’ll need some help to make that happen fast.”

He looks over at Uncle Salvatore and Papa.

“It’s already morning in Asia. Do you have any connections to journalists in Tokyo or Beijing?”

Papa nods.

“Yes, but not directly.”

“However you can do it, we need a headline in the financial papers to run about how their biotech company falsified approval from the FDA on the drug that’s supposed to come out in six weeks. In Ireland, we need a headline that reads they’re pulling their whiskey production from there and bringing it to the U.S. And in the rest of Europe, you need to run an exposé on how their agricultural imports have all been tested and found to have been grown with GMOs. If you can time the European ones for when their markets open, it’ll drive the Asian ones to catch up. Once the Europeans see the Asians dropping the bio stock, they’ll do the same. The Irish will go scorched earth on them over the whiskey alone. They talk a big game over there about how they’re as Irish as they’ve ever been, they just happen to live in America.”

Matteo’s watching me instead of Steve, deciding on how he’ll react based on how I do. He’ll support me one way or another, as long as what I say doesn’t fuck shit up for everyone. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have questions.

“So when they get up and discover their cash is gone, and their companies are worthless, they have enough intelligence to scrape together to figure out it was you. Then what? They’ll put a hit on you.”

“I know. I hope they do. They’ve been involved in risking both my sisters’ lives. Dillan and I can have a little chat one to one. If neither of us walks away, then at least neither of us walks away.”

“Stevie, no!”

Beth lurches forward and grabs her brother’s shirt. I recognize it as one of Luca’s.

“Lizzie, our family has more secrets than the Vatican. There’s shit I haven’t told you about me that needs to come out. I’d rather tell you and Chelle in private then tell Mom and Dad, but I don’t think that’s going to work.”

He looks over at Papa and Uncle Salvatore.

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