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“With our surveillance down, you were forced to hack into the city’s security systems to track us, allowing Bianchi to know where I was during fittings and Miss Holland while shopping at the mall.”
“Yes.”
“During my suit fitting, I was approached by Bianchi after you informed him of my location. He revealed too much information on Holland’s planted fake medical info and knowledge of our fornication on the hiking trail along the Cache la Poudre River and the Rocky Mountains.
“Because you are a student of a CSU, you had access to all computer science areas, and Bianchi ordered you to take out Thomas Guthrie, who you claim was also recruited to spy on Holland. You waited for classes to begin before sneaking across the hall to the computer lab where Tom was taking a coding class. You waited for the opportune moment to put two rounds into the back of Guthrie, slipping out the back to escape detection, and tampering with the live feed cameras in the room.”
Gianna hangs her head. “Yes.”
“Do you have evidence to back up your claims?”
Gianna looks at me with fire in her eyes. “Yes. After our first encounter, I recorded all conversations with Bianchi on my phone. I hacked into Bianchi’s surveillance system and retrieved video footage to back up my timed and stamped dated audio recordings. I have backups hidden and have uploaded everything to the dark web to be sent directly to the FBI if anything was to happen to me.”
I look around at my men. “I think we’re done here.”
“But you haven’t asked me any of the right questions,” Gianna interjects.
“Exactly what am I leaving out, Miss Russo?”
She has the audacity to roll her eyes. “Typical male, always assumes he’s the smartest in the room. Do you not question why I was sitting in my parents’ rental, twiddling my thumbs while you took your sweet time busting in? Do you honestly believe I had no security measures put in place and didn’t know your SEAL team six was outside for over an hour before busting through my purposely unlocked doors?”
I balk, shocked this woman-child has the balls to call us dumb.
She leans across the table, pinning me with her dark eyes. “I’ve been leaving breadcrumbs for you guys for weeks. There was a direct trail from everything I hacked to where my location was. I wanted to be found.”
Chase snorts. “A direct trail? There was a trail, alright, but it was highly encrypted. For someone who says she wanted to be found, you made it damn near impossible.”
“Highly encrypted, are you stoned?” Gianna shakes her head in disbelief. “You werewayover-thinking it. The code was the simplest encryption, as easy as one, two, three, A, B, C.”
Chase, Ziggy, and Butch all stare at her, mouths gaping in incredulity.
Gianna sighs. “I’m young, but I’m not stupid. If I didn’t want to be found, you would have never found me. I would have used voice distortion when talking on the phone with your MC chick. I would have covered my cyber footprint where a data trail couldn’t be detected. I. Wanted. To. Be. Found.”
Gauge looks baffled. “Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to protect my family. I knew as soon as I started feeding Lorenzo intel, he would never let me go. I would belong to him forever, and my family and I would always be at his mercy. Unable to come to you directly, I did what I could for you to come to me. But I never suspected it would take you forever.
“I was well aware you were feeding the counselor fake medical information—she had no security setups on her phone. I was able to access the counselor’s cell during your woman’s sessions and listen in. I could have easily told Bianchi, but I wanted him to go down. I fed him the intel you wanted him to have. And still, you guys hadn’t tracked me down. I got sloppier and sloppier on purpose.”
Gianna shakes her head with annoyance. “I figured pissing off your woman with the dress fuckup would set a fire under your ass.”
I rub a hand over my face. “And what about Tom? Next, you’re going to tell me you did everything in your power to not kill him.”
Gianna flinches but recovers quickly. “That’s exactly right, Atlas. If I wanted Tom dead, he’d be dead. My family has been connected to the mob for generations—I’ve known how to use a gun since I was thirteen. Lorenzo knew this much about me. I couldn’t exactly shoot Tom in the shoulder and say I missed—Bianchi would have seen through me immediately. It needed to look convincing. I shot him in the back—on the right side, not the left or the center where I could have hit his heart and surely killed him. I knew aiming high enough would limit my chances of hitting vitals.”
“You’ve had anatomy and physiology because of your pre-med major. You knew where to do the least amount of damage, yet make it look serious enough,” I say. The girl is smarter than I gave her credit for.
She nods and looks at her clasped hands. “I feel bad I punctured his lung, but it may have been the thing which made my attempted murder plausible in Bianchi’s eyes. You need to believe me—I never wanted to harm Tom. He’s my friend.”
What a mess. This girl was put between a rock and a hard place. She did everything to bring us to her since the beginning, and we were the ones who failed her.
“Am…” Gianna clears her throat. “Am I in serious trouble? Do I need to get a lawyer? My parents may be tied to the mob by blood, but they’re simple law-abiding people with normal jobs. They don’t have money to help me out.”
Fuck.Yeah, she’s in a lot of trouble and could do serious time. The fact that she kept a record of everything Bianchi made her do, forcing her to partake in illegal activity by threatening her family, with direct ties to him, should help her case. But I don’t know if it’s enough to get her off the hook.
“We’re going to help—” I start, but I’m interrupted.
“The hell we are,” Josephine snaps sharply like the crack of a whip.
