Page 118 of Where the Wicked Reign

Julian leaned over to peer at her screen. “Jesus Christ.”

Nico was there in the next moment, sitting down next to her, and seeing whatever was going on for himself. “You can’t do this.”

“I sure as fuck can,” she bit back. “I’m gonna hit the bastard where it hurts. Wipe out his account in one fucking shotandsend evidence to Santino of the fact that he’s been siphoning Leone Family funds in order to build such a significant nest egg. This will strike at what matters most to him—money and power.”

“You do this right now and he’ll know it’s you,” Nico warned.

“It won’t matter. He’ll be disgraced.”

“You’re ignoring the political ramifications. He has support from Leone soldiers and their other Capos. You’ll make yourself into their target.”

She scoffed. “You saw that contract. I’m already their target.”

“This is different. They’ll take your life.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” she muttered under her breath.

My gut twisted at her words. The utter pain in them, the defeat. This wasn’t the woman that we’d come to know.

“What?” Nico demanded, snatching the laptop from her and closing the lid. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“You know what’s in store for me. I experienced a preview of it tonight, first in the limo with Angelo and then in my father’s office. The freedom of death sounds a whole lot more appealing than being bound to this fucked-up fate.”

Nico shoved the laptop at me, giving me a signal to shut down what she’d already pulled up. Then he was right beside her grasping her jaw in a firm and uncompromising grip. “It won’t be freedom. It’ll be a fucking tragedy.”

As I got to work, she jerked from his grip, then shot to her feet and shoved him away. “It’s easy for you to say. You might be a pawn in this fucked-up game, but you still have power and you still have the inside track with all of it. You’re a dominating force in this sick game of theirs and I’m… not. They want me broken, they want to—”

“I know exactly what they want, but that doesn’t matter. They won’t fucking get it.”

She spun to face him. “Did you not read that stuff about our wedding night?”

“I did and we won’t be spending it at the Leone Estate, so you can relax where that’s concerned right now.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“Let’s just say that the Leone Estate won’t be safe that night.”

“I’m gonna need much more than that.”

I finished shutting down the invasive hack she’d already started, relief rolling through me that we’d stopped her just in time. Although, I could see up close now just how goddamn fast she was that she’d managed to get so far in such a short amount of time. She was a fucking hacker extraordinaire. Amazing.

“And you’ll get it. That’s why I arranged this gathering between the four of us tonight,” Nico assured her. He walked to her, closing the distance between them. “What they want and what will actually transpire are very different things. Tonight was just a lot and I can see how much it’s affected you and even undermined your confidence.” He took her hand. “Don’t allow them to get to you. Don’t let them make you forget just how much power you truly have. You’re an accomplished puppet master. You’ve been moves ahead many times in the past. Even over me, and that’s really saying something. Between your skills, what you’re capable of, and me and the boys, we have the means to bringthemto their fucking knees.” Conviction rolled through him and into the rest of us as he uttered vehemently, “They will all bow to us.”

She stared at him for several moments, taking everything in.

And then she stepped back and nodded. “Okay.”

“Yeah?”

A slight smile ghosted her lips. “Yeah. You’re right, this can be done.”

“You’re fucking right it can.”

He gestured at the engagement ring on her finger. “By the way, that unremarkable thing isn’t the real one. I had to move fast and grab whatever I could. The actual ring is forthcoming, one that’s much more your style.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Let me decide what I need to worry about.”

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