Page 17 of Hacker Unknown

“Nobody is as good as you, Paolo. The other families are encroaching on my territory.”

“Tell me who she is and how to find her. I’ll need two weeks to verify the information and if it is correct I will be on the first flight back to New York to assist the family. But once you have a hold of your territory again, I am gone.”

A smile spread across Vincenzo’s face.

I didn’t trust him, and suddenly the chatter in my ear exploded—mostly Kat screaming, “You will not fucking go back! I will kill every mafia man there is! You are not going back to that life!” I wasn’t sure how Paolo ignored the outbursts, but he didn’t reply as the team yelled at him, trying to dissuade him from agreeing to the bargain.

“Now tell me,” he demanded, “what intel do you have on how to find the girl?”

“A man named Benson claims to have known her and helped get her back into the States for the funeral. She’s staying at the Ross Enterprise Hotel. My men confirmed her presence at the hotel. Once you verify everything and come back to New York and complete your task I will hand over the passport we took from her hotel today.”

Paolo reached over and placed his hand on my leg. And the touch calmed me for a second. I wanted to demand my passport back, but knew it that would place me and Paolo in danger.

“Why don’t you show me the passport, so I know who I am looking for?”

“Fuck,” I heard over the comm in my ear. “You need to get out of there. They already know it’s her if they have her passport and photo.”

Vincenzo glanced at his gold watch. “I don’t have the passport. The team went to her room, grabbed it, and flew back to New York. I’d tell your team to hurry up and look for her, because I’m not the only that searched for her today. Benson thinks selling her location is his payday. The man is an idiot thinking anyone would pay him just for her location. Now I’ve given you the information you wanted. Two weeks—I expect you back in New York.”

“And what do I have to do when I get back?”

“What you always do—make them fear us again.”

Pablo suddenly started coughing. He grabbed a white napkin from the table, pressed it to his mouth, and coughed a few times.When he pulled it away, it was stained red—and I was positive that it wasn’t from the spaghetti, since I hadn’t seen him take a bite. He quickly folded the napkin and slipped it into his pocket instead of returning it to the table. Something was off about this mysterious man.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and glanced at the screen I had a new message in the, ‘Assassin Annihilation’ game.

“I’ll be in New York in two weeks. But if the information you gave me doesn’t pan out and she’s not there, and this Benson character you mentioned has no ties to her, then don’t expect me to return.”

The old man sat up straight, glaring. “You can’t talk to me that way. I am the head of the Russo family, and you will do as I say, or you will be eliminated.”

Paolo threw his head back and laughed. “I’m not scared of death. Send them, but make sure the men you send after me aren’t afraid of death—because they will be dead.”

Paolo stood. “Come on, Jezebel, let’s leave.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the exhaustion or something else, but the moment I stood, the room went sideways. Paolo swore under his breath, and then I was quickly lifted into the air. The last thing I remembered was my head resting against his hard chest.

Chapter 6

Paolo

Sonali went limp next to me as she stood. I pulled her into my arms before she fell to the ground. Using my free hand, I gripped the knife hidden beneath her dress—tucked between her legs. I turned to the man who’d once been like a father figure to me. If I hadn’t needed to get Sonali out of the restaurant, I would have plunged the knife right through his heart.

"Our deal is off," I snarled. "If anything happens to her, I’ll come for you and every single person in your family."

The old man merely rolled his eyes.

"It wasn’t meant to harm you or her. If you’d just eaten your food like she did, you would’ve woken up in New York. It was only a little sleep aid.”

Small relief washed over me that they didn’t know who Sonali was and this was all a ploy to get me back to New York. “I don’t give a fuck what it is. You broke the agreement."

Before he could reply, I strode across the room for the exit. Backup was on the way all I had to do was survive a few more minutes. Lance stood with his arms crossed blocking the door.

"You can’t take me on with her in your arms. Why don’t you just make this easy for all of us? There’s a cab out back—let’s all head to New York."

I spat back, "No wonder the family is losing ground having people like you around." Sonali was light in my arms. I shifted her to the side, steadying her with my one good arm—even though one of her legs dangled slightly. Seizing the moment, I stepped forward and drove the knife through Lance’s side. He screamed in pain and collapsed, which gave me the chance to drop the knife and swing open the door.

Vincenzo cursed behind me, shouting for me to stop and suggesting we could talk things out. Except there was nothing left to discuss. The moment he had laced our food to get what he wanted; the bastard had crossed a line I would never let him forget.

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