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“Nobody knows, not even Sophie or Cara.”
“And?”
She sighed. “I managed to keep it separate. Managed to keep pretending I was a good girl. Until…”
She petered off, and suddenly, it made sense. “Until the kidnapping,” I said.
She nodded.
Those days in captivity had changed our lives. Had changed us. Me—I went into hiding. Sophie—Sophie found Gabe. Cara—I didn’t know how Cara was coping. She’d been a shy bookworm to begin with. She turned inward even more. And Jemma? Apparently, Jemma dealt with the trauma by embracing her inner badass.
I smiled. “And Uncle Craig hasn’t noticed?”
She grinned. “He’s completely clueless, though I’m wearing beanies and caps a lot. The wedding was a bit tricky, but I managed to find a super cute headband. Also, everybody was so focused on Sophie, I could stay back and hide.”
I cocked my head. “And how does being an activist let you know about the Zotov brothers?”
She raised a brow. “You wouldn’t believe how bad those assholes are at internet security. Hacking their system was a piece of cake”
I shook my head. “Hacking their system? So you’re a hacker?”
She nodded.
I stared at her. Who was this girl, that I thought I knew. She’s always been good with computers, but hacking? Hacking was another thing entirely. A dangerous thing. “Any other criminal organizations you’re infiltrating at the moment?”
She shrugged. “I’m just keeping my eyes open and my finger on the pulse.”
I nodded. “Dangerously stupid.”
She shrugged and smirked.
I shook my head. “Any ideas how I can get out undetected?”
“Actually.” She turned back to her laptop and started typing. “I created a backdoor into the system when we were visiting in the summer. I downloaded the blueprint of the house but haven’t really dug into it since it wasn’t necessary back then.”
I nodded. Back then, when we could come and go and nobody cared. Back when all was still right in the world. Well, not right, exactly. But not this wrong, either.
“I have a gun,” I said.
Jemma turned back to me. “Do you know how to use it?”
I glared at her. I’d always envied my cousin’s self-defense training regime, which included gun-control training. I never got that. Stupidly never thought I would need it.
“No,” I said with a huff.
“Well, then. Hand it over, and let’s find a way out of here before your mother comes back.”
I sighed. Jemma was right. I probably would hurt myself or someone else accidentally using it. But I wouldn’t hand it over. It was my lifeline. My last resort.
“I need a new identity and funds.”
“Already ordered one for you. Also, how about an offshore bank account? I siphoned off some money from the Italians.”
“Italians?”
Jemma grinned. “Not from our in-laws.”
“Then who?”
