Page 6 of Taming Nikki

“Since when do dons share their business with women?”

He shrugged. “You asked.”

He looked too damn casual for a Made Man and it put me on edge. Very rarely had I met someone with that kind of confidence that they didn’t feel the need to posture and prove their superiority.

One of my cousins appeared behind me and whispered in my ear.

“We’ve got a problem.”

I sighed and glanced at my sisters. Their mother and Frankie’s watched over them, which gave me leave to deal with my idiot cousins. They only ever approached me about one thing.

“Well, it’s been nice meeting you, Frankie’s cousin. I am needed elsewhere.” I gave him a two-finger salute and dragged myself out of my seat to follow my cousin.

“I’ll see you again soon.”

Seriously, that kind of confidence was a little bit of a turn on. Who says shit like that?

* * *

“Alright, how’d you fuck it up this time?”

Piero scowled at me. “Fuck off, Nikki. I didn’t do anything. It just stopped working.”

I rolled my eyes and shooed him out of the chair. Piero was pretty smart in school, but apparently illiterate on the computer. I left him to watch over the program while I went to the stupid party. It wasn’t that hard of a job.

“You’re lying. If you were watching it like I told you to, nothing would’ve gone wrong. So try again. What were you doing that fucked it up?”

Marco leaned against the door, his arms crossed as he regarded Piero. “You were watching porn again, weren’t you?”

I scrunched my nose. “Ugh. Boys are gross. I’m going to need sanitizer after this.”

“You both fucking suck. Can you just fix it, please?”

“Of course I can fix it. It’s my program, you idiot. Seriously, you’ve got an iPad and a smartphone. You had to use the computer running the program to look up porn?”

The issue wasn’t with the program. It was a virus thanks to my stupid cousin’s porn addiction. I dealt with it and checked on the program. The virus didn’t get anywhere near it, so kudos to me for writing the security.

“Fixed. Now seriously, don’t fucking touch it. I need that information for Haggerty by Wednesday, and I’m not interested in losing my perfect record because my shithead cousin can’t keep his hands out of his pants.”

Marco laughed at him, but Piero glowered at me. I wouldn’t normally run the program on his computer, but cousin Tony ended up being picked up by the cops last night for a public disturbance and hadn’t been released yet. He was trying to win back his ex by blasting music and shouting at her window. Idiot. His computer was the best, though, at least until I got mine back. Papa took it when I told him to fuck off a few weeks ago. I was putting a damn tracker on it once I got it back. I was too old for him to be taking my shit.

When I realized I had no interest in playing pawn in my papa’s power plays, I knew I’d need a trade to fall back on. I originally got into coding because it was interesting. Never figured I’d immediately throw myself into the more… shady parts of the business.

It started in high school. People wanted information about classmates, I could get that information faster than anyone else. It was just kid stuff at that point and legal for the most part. Addresses, frequent hang outs, recent hook ups. It wasn’t until I got more comfortable with it that I realized I could get information that people didn’t want me to know. Bank statements, medical information, social security numbers, even text messages and call logs weren’t too hard to find. Not only could I get that information, I could do it without being caught, and that made me valuable, even within the Cosa Nostra.

I may not be a powerful don, but I was quickly becoming the go-to person for getting information. I liked to play in the gray areas, staying neutral. I wasn’t stupid enough to give information away freely, I did research on everyone who came asking first, but I rarely cared where you came from unless it directly put me or my family in danger.

“Do we have any deliveries tonight?”

I nodded. “A few. Luckily, two are at the party. I’ll deal with the rest once this stupid thing is done.”

“Yeah, unless you can piss off your papa enough for him to make you leave again,” Marco chuckled.

I grinned. I did really enjoy doing that. The few times my papa could blackmail me into attending events, I usually left early because I was not the little princess he hoped I would be. I was crass, loud, and unapologetic. He usually only lasted an hour before he made excuses for me and shoved me out the front door.

“I’m working on it.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Surprised the knife didn’t do the trick.”

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