Page 35 of Hacker Betrayed

“Sorry, spaced out for a second.”

“I was saying the party your parents are having tomorrow will be the perfect opportunity to put our plan in motion. The number of people present will give you an alibi.” His plan to take down my enemy wasn’t perfect, but the party would be a perfect cover.

Jordan stood and fixed his suit. “I’ll put everything into motion. In case something goes wrong, nobody will link our plan back to you. You know I would go with you, but…”

His presence at my parents’ house would draw too many questions.

If our plan worked, I could walk away from my family and forge a new life.

CHAPTER12

Mia

Paxton smiled at me from across the backyard. We were at my parents’ house for a party. My boss wanted to come, but I refused because half the people here were on a most-wanted list. My parents had put out the story it was a party for a lost niece. When I was young, my mom's sister died. She never had kids or even a husband.

Mom said the family did an ancestor DNA search and found me as Mia. This was my welcome party with the family. One I didn’t want to be a part of.

After the wonderful night of sex, I woke up to a stream of texts from Lydia about how I had to come to the house for the event of the year. Lucas and I had talked every day and we had plans to bring him home at the end of the month. The school Zack put him in ended in a few weeks and I figured it would be easier than sending him to another one so close to the summer. It also gave me more time to make sure none of Donovan’s family would find out about him.

“I enjoy having you around,” Sebastian said as he handed me a glass of wine.

He’d contacted me the most, and when I wouldn’t answer, he showed up. Part of me still held anger against him for the years I spent under Cyrus's hand. I know in the end he helped save me, but it was after years of abuse.

Ashlyn stood in the shadows by herself. I hadn’t seen her speak to a single person.

“Thanks. This doesn’t mean I’m coming back for Sunday dinner and joining the family business. I work on the other side of the law.”

Sebastian nodded. “Over ninety-five percent of the family’s business is legitimate. A year ago, we sold off the laundromats.”

“But there’s still the five percent. Don’t you get sick of all this? Marco Rikki is on the FBI’s watch list. Rumor has it he keeps all his wives locked away. I guess he’s better than Cyrus for not killing them. An underground auction we broke up a few years back had his name on the guest list.” I waved my hand toward the other side of the yard. “Then you have Luca. Last I heard, he stole a hundred million dollars in military equipment. What I’m trying to say is how can you be above board, but everyone the family associates with makes their millions from trafficking, gunrunning, and extortion?”

“Your boss and teammates already confirmed who I work for.” Sebastian tipped his beer back and took a sigh.

Except I didn’t trust the CIA. My time with the government agency made me realize the government fed the evils of the world for its own end goal. I didn’t have a clearance high enough to know what.

“Working for them does not automatically clear you as a criminal.”

“You’re right. The family’s business won’t be clean until Dad retires and I take over.” Sebastian paused. “Isn’t that your friend, Kat, the one who’s scary as hell? Stories about her float around the CIA. I thought they were kidding. Except now I wonder if the stories were dumbed down a little.” Kat wore a pair of black slacks and a white button-down shirt. She had a pair of black designer heels on, and she’d twisted her long hair into a bun. Kat blended into the crowd, but the woman next to her, I hadn’t seen in a few years. At least she had on a wig and large sunglasses.

“People only discussed half of what Kat did in the world,” I answered.

The two women walked around the pool. Not a single person paid them any attention. A deadly assassin and the queen of Shialia.

When Patty was within arm’s length, I pulled her in for a hug. I missed her and Sam. The two had ended the corruption in Shialia. I pulled back. “I thought you weren’t coming to Florida and planned to go straight to Vegas. Rachelle decided she didn’t want to keep waiting to get married, so they threw out all the plans and booked a chapel in there.”

“Things are running smoothly back home. Sam and I want to spend a month in the States. My kids need to experience the United States,” Patty replied, grabbing a drink from a waiter as he passed by.

She smiled at my brother and held out her hand. “Patty Blackwood.”

My brother’s mouth dropped open. “As in the queen of Shialia?”

Patty rolled her eyes. “Yes, but for the next month, I’m a regular person on vacation. Hence why Kat and I came to join the party. This is my first mob gathering and I’m excited. Oh, if anyone asks, you didn’t see us here. We are having a spa day while the men take care of the kids.”

Trouble followed Kat, but Patty was no better. The two of them together could turn a picnic into a dangerous situation. “You think your husbands aren’t tracking your asses?” I damn well knew Antonio kept the app permanently open on his phone, making sure his wife hadn’t gotten into trouble.

“I made a couple programming changes to the app. Now I can change my location when needed. Don’t give me that look. I built a fail-safe that every third minute the app resets back to my location unless I reenter a long-ass code,” Patty said.

“Which is annoying,” Kat grumbled her lip curling into a grin. “But Patty promised to show me how to manipulate my location before she leaves.”

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