Page 29 of Escape You

“It’s better if they think your second is on board.”

“Right. May I go greet him?” I said sweetly. I didn’t want to give him an excuse to keep me away from Vic.

He nodded, releasing the hold he had on my upper arm. I gripped the skirt of my dress and picked my way through the throng to get to Vic, who stood near the door. The creases across his forehead showed how much he didn’t want to be here. Why had he agreed to come?

“You clean up nicely,” I said as a way of greeting.

“You too.” His gaze fell on my face for a second before he switched his attention to someone behind me. I slanted a glance over my shoulder to find Chase staring at us as if he knew we were up to something.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s always in a pissy mood.”

“Did something happen?”

“No.” I wiped the back of my neck where I could still feel Chase’s lips on me.

Vic rubbed the creases on his forehead. “Don’t let this baby thing mess with your head, Mia. This Chase is no longer just a one-night stand. His family is dangerous. And you know that. We both have heard the stories.”

“Yeah, I know. We don’t want them in Jersey. There’s nothing going with us.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Not after the kiss. But Vic was right. Chase’s family was dangerous. I was surprised my crew didn’t hate me for bringing Rossi to our doorstep. The only reason he’d come after us was because my status as boss left us vulnerable. I was the opportunity he’d been waiting for to swoop in and start poaching crews.

He’d done it before. As the stories go, he’d gained the Big 5’s favor by cleaning house in New York. The factions were on the brink of war when Rossi came in and pretty much eliminated half of the gangs, using unnecessary brutality. Even for my world’s standards, he’d gone too far with his ruthlessness. He became the big boss of the New York faction overnight.

Our situation in Jersey wasn’t that much different. I knew if I didn’t run a tight ship, the other crews would eventually move in. The possibility of a war was real. Once again, Rossi had come in to save the day, which begged the question. How much did Rossi have to do with my crew’s and the council’s lack of confidence in my leadership.

Vic squinted at me. I hated that he could see how Chase affected me. My feelings didn’t matter. “Why are you here?”

“I got an invitation.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you making an appearance seals the deal for Rossi.”

“I recognize some family members. The Big 5 showed up.” His gaze turned dark as he scanned the room.

“Let’s stay focused. If we play our cards right, Rossi’s plan will die before it starts. First things first, how’s our delivery?”

“We got paid.” Vic grinned at me. His smiles were less and less uncommon. I was doing something right. “The crew’s happy. The council’s happy.”

“Just have one more hurdle.” I glared at Rossi standing by the bar as if he owned the world.

“Yes, which reminds me. I have a delivery for you. I figured today would be a good opportunity to do the thing we talked about.” His tone of voice was so low I was sure I missed a few words in there.

He gripped my hand behind the fold of my dress and handed me a mobile. “The brothers were able to code the app you asked for. It’s all in there along with instructions.”

I turned my back to the crowd and tapped on the screen. The guys had included instructions on how to hack a computer, for both a Mac or PC. I could kiss them right now. “I’m going in. Rossi is extremely happy with my performance tonight. He’ll let me be for a few minutes.”

“Where is it?”

“One of the bodyguards dropped off his laptop in his study.” I pointed my chin toward the double doors on the opposite end of the great room. “Here, let me introduce you to some friends.”

“I miss Dom. He never made me go to any goddamn party.” Vic shook his head but followed my lead as I introduced him to some of the people Rossi had me meet before. Both Rossi and Chase kept their focus on us as we mingled with the guests, making our way toward the library.

After a while, Rossi decided to let me be and walked out onto the terrace with the Big 5 guy from before. Chase turned his back to us and ordered another drink. It was now or never. Vic nodded and headed toward the wide-open french doors, to keep an eye on Rossi. I leaned my back on the metal knob, turned it, and snuck into the study.

Rossi’s laptop sat on the desk with the screen saver on. Great, Mac it is. I glanced at the instructions on the phone Vic gave me. I power cycled the computer. When the Apple logo appeared, I entered the command combination in my notes. When the next screen appeared, I typed in the few lines of code exactly as the brother’s had instructed. The laptop turned off on its own, then came back up. That was it. I was in. I created a new profile, per the instructions. I had full access to Rossi’s drive.

The app the brothers had hacked together for me allowed me to replicate Rossi’s computer. Anything and everything he did on his laptop showed up on the app. All the folders and files. Man, those guys were good. I wrote down the MAC address and IP. The brothers needed that information to take over Rossi’s camera as well. This was perfect.

I kept reading the instructions on the phone. Right. The last thing was to delete the admin account I had created in case Rossi’s security guys were any good and decided to check the laptop for intruders. When I opened the admin panel, a second account had been created similar to mine. Was I not the only one snooping on Rossi? That would make sense given all the enemies he had, though who, besides me, would be stupid enough to try something.

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