Page 23 of Mob Princess

“Hang on a sec, Lina. It’s my brother.” I hit the mute button. “In the living room.”

“Hey, do you have the contracts for the new construction? Shane said he left them here last night by accident.”

“Yeah. I figured either you or he would be over. Here.” I hand a stack of papers to my brother.

“You on a call?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll let you finish. This is all I needed. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

I watch Finn walk to the front door, when I’m certain he’s gone, I unmute the call.

“Sorry about that.”

My brother was here for like three minutes, and I’m annoyed. It’s not his fault. Mob stuff will always come first. But I want to finish making plans with Lina. I’m practically giddy!

“It’s all right. I have to go. I gotta get some stuff done before I leave in the morning. I’ll text you the address once I find it in my emails.”

“Sounds good.”

There’s another pause. Should I say more? Is it her turn to talk? I’ve doubted myself more on this call than I have since I went on my first mission. I was terrified I’d fuck up and not only get myself killed, but my brothers and dad.

“I’m looking forward to it, Sean.”

“So am I. I’m glad you texted me.”

“Me too. Bye.”

“Bye, cailín.”

We both linger before we hang up. I wake my computer screen. I need to figure out what the fuck is going on with the O’Malleys. I look at my phone. There aren’t too many people with the skills to do what this invisible person did. Lina is one of them, and so are our fellow classmates.

I work on the encryption some more for two hours, creating and running a program to undo whatever this mystery person did. Then I pull up the alumni portal and type in Nicolina.

We’ve been chatting for nearly a month, and neither of us has shared our last name. I’m not in a hurry to give mine because I’ve gotten to know someone new without my mob affiliation hanging over my head. I haven’t asked her since she’s a single woman who hasn’t volunteered it. I don’t want to scare her.

She pops up immediately. Not surprising since I doubt there’s another Nicolina who went through our major.

Nicolina Tremblay.

No. No. NO!

Son of a bitch.

Chapter Four

Lina

Should I be this nervous? I sent Sean the skyscraper’s address where I’m stuck in an interminable—or is it infernal—meeting. We’ve been going around and around for an hour and a quarter. I thought we’d finish in forty-five minutes. An hour tops. If I don’t wrap this up, I’m going to be late to meet Sean. His response to my text with the address and saying I was looking forward to seeing him was less than effusive. I didn’t want to read into it, but it didn’t feel as warm as our conversation had a few hours earlier.

“Mr. Nishida, I understand you have other things to consider before you agree to invest in our pharmaceutical company, but we’re breaking ground in three months.” Shit or get off the pot. “We have other potential investors, but you’ve been partners with my family for many years. We wanted to give you first right of refusal.”

I’m certain he’s playing my family. I’m certain he has something going on with another syndicate. I just don’t know who. I know he’s invested in Mancinelli casinos in the past. Perhaps it’s them. I dug yesterday, but I found nothing conclusive. If he’s negotiated anything or said anything, it wasn’t recorded digitally.

“You’re far from home, Ms. Tremblay.”

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