Page 10 of Trapping His Assassin

“I believe I could change the infrastructure, and bring in profit for everyone.” I held my breath. This was a huge risk. He probably believed that I was going to sex-traffic the girls. I wasn’t.

But I had to hide my true intentions.

“Hmmm. I cannot give you a yes right now. I will need to speak to some advisors, but when this is over, I will allow you to sit behind me during a meeting with all the heads of the organization. It only happens once a year. There, you can pitch to them.”

That was the most level-headed response I’d ever hoped to receive, but I wasn’t out of the woods yet. The man next to the Don, his second, whispered something in his ear.

My uncle frowned. “Mateo is right.”

I didn’t respond, since I wasn’t sure what Mateo said. The Don went back on talking.

“We should hear it in its rough phases right now, since we are family, no?” His face brooked no argument.

“Yes, Don Ricci.” I thought fast on my feet. Not literally. But I had to. “The Academy,” I blurted.

My uncle leaned forward with a frown. “What about it?”

“While it’s a great idea, we are sitting on a gold mine.” I gulped, trying to slow down my thoughts, as I regurgitated a loose plan to save my students.

“Go on.” The Don waved his hand.

“We can use the girls as a new spy network. Think about it; information is power, and anyone who has their hands on a network that strong could rule the world.”

How had no one thought of this before? Men; the lot of them, could be narrow minded idiots, for sure. I saw the moment he calculated how much money he could gain, by holding information close to his vest, but Mateo stepped forward again and whispered in the Don’s ears.

I was getting sick of his right-hand man getting in my way.

“Mateo makes a good point. What can the girls do that my spies cannot?” His brow raised in a challenge.

I leaned back in my chair with a smirk. “Not only would no one suspect them as spies, because women are undervalued and underrated in this life…” The men scoffed and laughed. “But you could place them anywhere without raising suspicions.”

There was silence in the room as Mateo and my uncle went back and forth between each other. I took small deep breaths, looking around to make sure no one was watching me too closely.

Don’t show these men any weaknesses. My dark thoughts tried to catch up with me. I curbed the need to cross my arms in front of myself for comfort, as my heart raced and my palms sweated.

Don’t have a panic attack. Not here. Not now.

It wasn’t a no.

A full smile burst across his face, and he coughed up a weak laugh. “You wouldn’t be my blood, if you didn’t try to negotiate your terms.”

My mind relaxed as I saw the expression on his face, and my shoulders slumped in relief. At least he wasn’t hitting me or, even worse, trying to force himself on me, like some of the other men in this line of work.

I donned my ‘Femme Fatale’ mask and smiled softly. I bowed my head. The picture of a submissive, demure woman. Like I’d been trained.

“Thank you, Don Ricci.”

CHAPTER THREE

Roman

Tuscany, Italy

“I’ve landed.”I texted Viktor and Alexie the same thing.

Viktor sent me a thumbs-up, while Alexie dragged me into conversation with him.

Alexie: Good, a driver will be picking you up and taking you to your hotel. The meeting is set for tomorrow night.

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