Page 204 of Fall Before Her Throne

“What if they turn on us?” Fallon said. “What if they arrest some of our men?”

“Then you’ll need to suck it up and take the ride downtown. I’ll handle bailing them out, and the Shadows will cover all of your legal fees, but we have to come out of this looking as squeaky clean as possible.”

She and her men exchanged some hushed whispers, but they didn’t push back again.

“What if Greco’s men are prepared for a fight?” Felix asked.

“This is fucking war,” I said. “We didn’t bring this fight to our streets. Greco did. But we’re sure as fuck going to finish it.”

The entire room erupted into fuck yeah and hell yeah! We’d chosen some incredible allies. The Camorra wouldn’t know what hit them.

It took a moment or two for them to quiet down again, but once they did, Makarov cleared his throat. “What about the police commissioner? I heard he sided with Greco after everything went down at the fundraiser gala. This plan won’t work if he’s supposed to direct his department to play along with us.”

“Leave the commissioner and Greco to me,” I said. “You all handle the streets. I’ll handle the rest.”

66

CIEL

Thank fucking God I swiped a phone from a guard before we got tossed in here. Obi had arranged the contraband with his contacts before we landed in here, which was probably the only reason the guard had it on him, but without it, I’d be bored out of my fucking mind.

Solitary might be great for people like Max or Obi. Wynn was probably in a state of complete zen. But me? While I loved my quiet and alone time at home, this place was built to be my nemesis.

Completely devoid of external stimulation?

No fucking thank you. My brain was racing.

A pounding sound repeated in a beat on the wall across the tiny cell. Wynn was checking in from his cell on the other side. Fuck, I loved him. I got up and pounded a return beat, signaling that I was okay. We’d agreed to check in every hour.

I lay on the cot again, back against the wall, leg bouncing while I cracked the stolen phone and wiped it. Once it was secure enough for my use, I remotely logged into my computer setup back at home. I had to check in on Lucia.

The timing of the next twelve hours had to go perfectly. Otherwise, we’d spring our trap against Greco too early.

All of my systems were still in lockdown mode. Lucia’s computers were still within my complete control. Until I gave her the ransom password, she would never get access to her computers again.

But I needed to confirm that her side of our deal was proceeding. If not, it would fuck things up for Leona.

She answered on the second ring. “Pronto?”

“I need an update.”

“They’ll be dead by tonight,” she replied quickly. “I’ve gathered all of my grandfather’s heirs to our compound under the guise of sharing important news from my grandfather.”

“How will you do it?”

“I’ve put sleeping pills in all of their food. Once they’re asleep, I’ll flood the house with carbon monoxide. They’ll be dead by morning.”

I whistled. “That’s pretty dark of you.”

“Do you care how they die?” she asked, an attitude in her voice. “Would you prefer I strangle them all by hand, one by one?”

I didn’t mind a good strangling, but no. “We don’t care so long as you get it done.”

“I will,” she insisted. “I want that passcode waiting for me in eight hours.”

“I’ll give you the passcode when you give us proof that they’re dead.” I sat up on the bed and leaned my forearms on my knees. “And if we find out Greco has learned of this, I will destroy everything your fingers have ever touched. There won’t even be circuits left when I’m done with it.”

Despite her apparent indifference to her family, I still didn’t trust her. She’d been our adversary since she worked with Max. She’d been a thorn in my side for months. Could we believe she would kill all of her cousins just because I was holding her network hostage and would burn it all down if she didn’t do what I asked?