Page 188 of Fall Before Her Throne

This was why I needed power. This was why I had to take Greco’s place once we eventually crippled the Camorra and eliminated his leadership. The power he had was the only way we could survive, the only way I could believe that my family was finally safe. I needed to be at the pinnacle, where no one could touch us. We could become the ones laying traps instead of willingly walking into them.

“We’re good,” Caspian said. He pressed a kiss to Leona’s forehead. “Everything is going to be fine.”

Ciel typed away on his phone. “The mayor is still in a meeting. There’s no sign of alarm or indication that something is going wrong.”

I gripped the steering wheel harder. I’d done all that I could do. I’d sent out my messages. I’d called in my favors. Now was the time to see how the game resolved. Would my strategy be enough? Would my contacts come through for me?

Leona’s life depended on it.

There was no street parking, so I drove us to the lot beneath the building. Ciel hacked the cameras and ticketing software so we could enter without paying or being seen. We took everything from the car, knowing that we likely wouldn’t be coming back.

“Any movement, Ciel?” I asked as we made our way to the elevators.

Ciel flipped through the different camera feeds. “There’s no one in the elevator from what I can see. The Mayor is on the third floor. We’ll be better equipped to intercept her if we take the stairs, though. Her security is standing outside the room where she’s meeting, but still no alarms or concern.”

“Is it possible that Greco won’t follow through with his attack?” Several of Ryu’s knives glinted from the exposed placements of his sheaths.

“It’s possible,” I said carefully. “We might have misjudged him.”

“I don’t think so,” Max said. “You know him well enough. You’ve spent years studying him. What’s your gut say?”

I looked down the barrel of my gun, inspecting the scope alignment. “My gut says he’ll follow through.”

Greco intended to trap us in a lose-lose, but the question was how. We’d have to thread this needle carefully. Keep the mayor alive. Fall into the trap. But get Leona out of it.

“Okay, then,” Leona said, nodding. “Let’s go up to her floor. We’ll protect her from whatever is coming.”

“What if she refuses our protection?” Wynn said. “What if she doesn’t believe us?”

Leona bit her lip. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to play it by ear.”

As a unit, we made it to the stairwell. We were climbing to the main level when Ciel put a hand out. We paused.

“Wait,” he said, eyes locked on his screen. “Her security is whispering something in her ear.”

Her head whipped up, alarm on her face. She pushed from the conference table while a group of three men in suits formed a triangle around her. They escorted her from the room. Ciel flipped the feed to a camera in the hallway. They rushed toward the stairs.

“Looks like she’s aware there’s a threat now,” Ryuji said.

Ciel flipped through more feeds. His lips thinned into a grim line. “Speak of the fucking devil.”

A group of seven mercenaries, dressed in head-to-toe combat gear, was infiltrating the other side of the building.

“Is it just me, or do those look exactly like the fucking mercs who attacked the penthouse?” Caspian asked.

They did. Highly trained. Easily called upon. Effective. They also had no direct ties to the mafia. If the mercenaries were successful, it would look like a hit, but it would be difficult to trace.

“Same agency,” I replied quickly. “Let’s move. We have to intercept them. Ciel, are there any PA or announcement features in the building?”

He typed and hissed in frustration. “Fucking phone. I need my fucking computer for this...” he muttered. While he typed, we reached the ground floor. It kicked us out into a long hallway that stretched to both sides. “I don’t see one.”

Leona glanced around the hall. “How about this? Worked the first time.”

She didn’t wait for a response before she pulled a fire alarm. Instantly, sirens blared through the building. Flashing lights directed us toward the exits at both ends of the long hallway.

Ciel watched the feeds. “The mayor is headed toward us, away from the mercs. We can intercept in the main stairwell bisecting the building.”

“Let’s go,” I ordered.