Page 60 of Cardinal

"Cornelia Nguyen, but I go by Leah. I don't like to make myself known because of my practice and all. I also don't have a stationed place, so I bounce between New York and Florida, respectively." She replied with her usual warm and friendly smile.

Well, that was a little hard to imagine. Leah was one of the sweetest people I knew so far. So, seeing her as a hardened and feared mafia boss was a little difficult for me. However, maybe I shouldn't shove my foot into my mouth because even though she was an amazing doctor, I didn't know much about her life outside of her profession. We hung out, but she never really opened up much about her personal life.

Tossing the information into my endless file of Syndicate info, I centered my attention back on Luciano. "So, what's all going on?" I tried not to let my nervousness show through, but my words trembled on their own when they came out of my mouth.

Running a hand down his face, Luciano gave a stressed sigh before starting, "After you told me the name that day, I called an emergency meeting with everyone to reveal the fact to them. From that initial meeting, we decided that we have had enough with our hands-off approach with the city's people, particularly those of the old mafia who we overthrew."

"It has been an issue since we took over decades ago, but we have chosen not to actively do anything about it to keep things peaceful between us and the old mafia. It was also kind of a sign of respect." Aidan quickly picked up when Luciano paused, sighing a bit at the end as he rubbed the back of his head. "In hindsight, we were idiots to put too much faith in them and got too comfortable and sloppy."

"To be fair, they haven't done anything worth acting upon, just small jabs every now and then that would be stupid of us to retaliate against." Luciano sounded so exhausted and regretful of that decision now, though.

Luciano started up after a while, his eyes lingering on me as if I were his lifeline right now. "Either way, to make a long story short, when you told me the name, I realized how deeply involved he was with The Syndicate and everything. I called a meeting with everyone else to discuss all our partners and workers and basically everyone, especially those with the old mafia crew."

"So, the past week or so, we've all been working overtime with digging through everyone within our network and picking out the bad apples to dispose of." Sebastian spoke instead of Luciano this time. "We've come up with a pretty hefty list that will take us a very long while to get through because we have to figure out who to replace the rats once they are gone. If we went in now and went for the throat, we would be stabbing ourselves in the foot with the turmoil that would happen within our ranks about new leadership."

An ache gripped my hands as I rubbed them nearly raw with anxiety. "I… I didn't mean to create this much trouble…" I muttered under my breath, not liking that I was the first domino to fall and cause this chain reaction.

My hands were forced to come to a stop from Luciano's firm grip on them. "Amorina, no." Snaking a hand up my back and neck, he massaged my nape to calm me. "You didn't create anything for us. This has been an ongoing issue that all of us have ignored. If anything, you ripped the blindfold off of our eyes to the shit show we have let happen and grow."

"Luciano is right." Leah's calming voice rang through the air like a soothing bell. "We should be thanking you for kicking our asses into gear."

Forcing the lump in my throat down, I chewed at my bottom lip as I thought about my next decision. "I want to see the list." I had to force myself to remain stiff, so I wouldn't flinch at my own demanding voice.

"I'm not sure that would be wise, Juliet. It's very long and extensive." Aidan's voice wavered with his confused eyes. "Why do you want it?"

Steeling my nerves, I straightened myself in Luciano's arms and looked at everyone with as much confidence as I could manage. "I want to see how many 'good' people out there are terrors in disguise to make myself feel less guilty about ruining them for all they are worth."

Forcing myself to pause, I carefully sorted out my next train of words. "I know you all want to regain your footing in New York and in passing Florida once they catch wind of the carnage up north, but I don't want a quick death for the people on the list. I want to tear their lives apart, burn down the image they have worked so hard to build and maintain, make them be loathed by everyone who used to kiss their feet, make them more homeless than the transients on the streets, and only then do I want them dying a slow and painful death."

Wetting my lips, I breathed out and took in a shaky breath before continuing. "They have ruined too many lives to have the mercy of a quick death. Even if they are thrown in the ring with Luciano, that isn't enough suffering for what they have done."

I wanted blood and carnage but my way.

"I want that list. I am going to put their lives on blast on the whole internet and drain all their bank accounts. I want to put targets all over their bodies with flashing arrows pointing right at them." Well, maybe not all of them "I want to make the others squirm while they wait for their inevitable end. I just want the smaller fry to send a warning and message to the others." I had another idea in mind as well.

"You know how outrageous that sounds, Juliet? To hack people like them and do that kind of damage isn't exactly easy. There aren't many hackers within our ranks either who we can utilize for something like that at this time." Sebastian sounded wary and had a heavy gaze upon me. "That isn't something feasible."

"I said I am going to ruin them. Did I mention anyone else in that equation with me?" I almost regretted my bitchy sneer when everyone looked at me in surprise. Giving some attitude towards a mafia boss who wasn't my boyfriend was probably not the best idea.

At least Luciano found it funny with how he laughed softly and patted my thigh. "Give her the list and watch her work while we make and execute our plans fully," Luciano told the others with a wicked and confident smile. "She'll probably get through it all by the end of the month or sooner."

"Hacking them will be as easy as trigonometry." I boasted about myself with a brightening grin.

"Trig is not easy," Aidan remarked with a chuckle.

"It is for me… I mean, all math kind of is…" If I were with my group of friends or this wasn't such a serious situation, then I would be gutsy enough to make a somewhat stereotypical joke about Asians being good at math.

"So, you're going to single-handedly hack God knows how many highly guarded people, tear their lives apart on the web, and make them go broke by stealing from them after you hack their bank account? You do realize you're only 18, literally just graduated from high school today, and probably have half the skills our men do." Ares's mocking tone and dismissive look sparked a bad fuse within me.

Bubbling anger heated my body and drove me to get off Luciano's lap to trudge to my room.

If they all think they can underestimate and undermine me because I am young, then they have another thing coming to them.

I'll fucking show them.

Chapter 31

Luciano

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