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All apart from Tizio, who I seem preternaturally aware of. He’s watching me with something like pride on his face.
He’s not mine.
I make myself stop that line of thought.
Instead, I shift my thoughts to the group, and I’m aware this is an actual family, not just a crime syndicate like what this O’Grady runs, but a family. Both blood and found.
I try another angle and drift because sometimes it’s that slight drift where muscle memory and subconscious work magic.
So, a family. Like me and Fallon. We’re blood, and he found me too. Except now he’s in prison, and I have to, once this is sorted, go see him, maybe yell, try and find out what’s going on and?—
My fingers stop.
An unpleasant thought, like unwanted knowledge, creeps over me and consumes me.
I don’t just want Tizio.
I don’t just crush hard on him.
I’ve done something worse, something awful.
I’ve fallen in love with the big, overbearing, annoying man. Flashing lights and neon love.
How the hell can I concentrate on this now. How?
“You know,” I say, as a way to get my brain back to the sweet spot as I switch screens and easily enter into some files that Leo has on his computer near me. I don’t open the files. I don’t have an actual death wish, and I close it down and switch the screens back. I feel a little calmer, a little more removed from the realization I just had. “You need better security.”
“Karlee.”
Tizio’s voice holds warning, and I ignore it, switching angles again.
“I easily got into your computer. And your history, well, I didn’t look at that, Mr. Leo . . . ah, De Luca. Mr. Deluca. But I could have because you don’t have the greatest security. Don’t worry, most people won’t be able to get in, but you need to think about the one percent, and other things like bookkeeping and the like. I’m doing a cyber security course. Honors, actually. Andit’s one of the areas I like. I can build you something, for your phones, too, and?—”
I stop as two things happen. An older man who’s got to be Leo’s father comes in with his wife, I assume that’s who he’s with. It’s like a dynasty in here, with Scarlett and Leo as the king and queen and everyone else their court.
Nicolo and Avah, Diego and Nadia, the narc and a teenager who look at Diego with adoration. Christian and Mia, who wears a scar with pride on her face, and I need that story. Then a little boy comes in with a pretty woman who’s got to be this Snowflake the baby daddy was on about because his face goes from cold to hot in about a second.
Of course, there’s O’Grady and this Wilder who looks extremely dangerous, and Tizio. Because I can’t let myself look at Tizio, I go back to O’Grady and Wilder.
O’Grady might run a crime syndicate, but he does something else too. Whatever Wilder does, or similar.
Or maybe I’m letting my imagination run wild.
The other thing that happens is the files bloom into actual information. That’s why I’m breathing and taking everyone in before I look at them. I skim each one.
I forget how to breathe for a moment.
It’s paydirt.
I hit paydirt.
“Um, everyone?” Quiet hits the room. I shift on the seat and clear my throat. “I think . . . I mean, I cracked it, everything is here, but the important thing is this one.” I pull it up. “It’s a network.”
Tizio comes over, looks at the screen, and he brushes my nape with his fingers, resting them a moment on the top of my upper back. It sends a thrill screaming through me. “Karlee, you are fucking amazing,” he murmurs.
Then he leans over me and opens another one. “Holy fuck. There are lists, names, numbers, jobs.Allthe players and it shows they’re spreading across, eating up small groups and gangs for power. The Smith Group is prominent.”
He frowns.
