We didn’t get along at first, constantly fighting over turf and whatnot. But soon we learned how much we had in common — we were both young, alone and thieves in the night. We realized that we could steal twice as much loot in one night if we worked together instead of against each other, and we lived like kings on other people’s fortunes.
We made a pact at age twelve that we would always help each other no matter what life brought us.
While I was busy making a new life for myself under a new identity, Baz fled to the tunnels and created himself an underground empire. He has some of the best hackers in the world working for him here. He’s been able to manipulate the stock market, insurance claims, and transfer money to offshore accounts to make millions, if not billions, of dollars almost overnight.
Baz can do whatever he wants whenever he wants and get away with it. A little power can go to someone’s head. A lot of power, however? Well, let’s just say Baz throws the wordgodaround a lot when talking about himself.
Multiple desks, computers, monitors, servers and miles of thick cables line the walls of the cavernous room. There are several people milling about, all different ages and ethnicities, but they pay no mind to me.
Baz leads me over to a computer and sits down in front of the large monitor.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news about your mother, my friend,” Baz starts out, but I already know what he’s going to say.
“I know she’s dead. I’ve felt it in my gut for years.”
Baz nods in affirmation. “Yes, she has passed, unfortunately.” He makes a few clicks on the keyboard and brings up an obituary with a small, black and white photo of my mother in the corner. This is a new picture I haven’t seen before. The young, fresh face I remember has been replaced with an older, wrinkled version.
“And what happened of her life? Was she…did she…?” I can’t even force myself to ask the questions I already know the answers to. Giorgio Ciccone sold my mother and older sister into a sex trafficking ring after the fire that killed my father and almost took my life as well. I never saw or heard from them again, but I’ve been doing everything in my power to find them. Even if they’re both dead, I want to know.
“She didn’t die a slave. That much you can be assured of. She passed from cancer, and it seems she might even have been happy towards the end. The obituary is short with not many details, but someone cared enough to put it in the newspaper and to bury her properly.”
A stray tear cascades down my cheek, and I’m quick to wipe it away. Fuck, I haven’t cried since I was six years old, and I’m not about to start now. But to know that my mother didn’t die as a sex slave, that she might have had a better outcome in life is the best news I’ve heard thus far.
“And my sister?” I prompt.
“I’m still searching for her,” Baz tells me with a frown. “If we just had the name of the man she was originally sold to, I could track her whereabouts, maybe even find her if she’s still…” His voice trails off, but I know what he was going to say.
If she’s still alive.
My sister could have died years ago, and I would have never known. Part of me hopes she died shortly after being taken, so that she didn’t have to suffer long. A child sold into sex slavery turns my stomach to the point of pain.
Baz’s words come back to me. If he just had the name of the man she was sold to…
A name. All I need is aname.
And there’s only one man who can tell me that information. Giorgio Ciccone.
“I’ll get you the name,” I vow.
Baz’s dark brows rise to his hairline as he slowly stands and takes me in for a moment. “And just how do you plan on doing that, my friend? You know as well as I do that Ciccone is impossible to get close to.”
I give him a nod. He’s right about that. “I’m going to get to him through his daughter.”
“His daughter…” His voice trails off as he thinks about it for a moment. “You don’t mean Victoria Ciccone?” he blurts out in shock. “The girl you used to tell me aboutevery single daywhen we were kids? The girl you loved and vowed you wanted to marry someday?Thatgirl?”
“Yes,thatgirl,” I say with a frown. I don’t need a reminder of how infatuated with her I was back then. Even after the fire and the death and disappearance of my family, I still naively held onto the idea that one day Victoria and I would be together again. “I was young and stupid and thought I knew what love was, but I was wrong,” I spit out in a growl. “She’s just as spoiled and greedy as her father.”
Victoria was innocent back then, just like me. But even when she reached adulthood, she never searched for me or wondered about the truth. While I was starving to death on the streets, feeding off the garbage others threw away, the mafia princess was living a life of luxury with private schools and tutors.
And now she’s holed up in a posh apartment in downtown Manhattan without a care in the world. Hell, she doesn’t even have a job. But it’s not like she needs to worry about money, after all. She’ll survive just as well on her daddy’s blood money.
I’ve been stalking her online and watching her life unfold before my eyes. It’s nothing but fancy parties and the best of everything for the materialistic bitch. And I’ve allowed the bitterness and jealousy to creep into my bones and harden my dark heart.
Any affection I once felt towards her dissipated over the years and especially since she’s been back in New York. Now, I have no qualms in using Victoria to get to her father. In fact, she is the very key to my revenge; the only way in which I can get to the man who is thought by all to be invincible.
We’ll see how invincible he is when I shoot him dead and take my retribution.
“So, my friend, tell me about this plan of yours and how I can help,” Baz says with a malicious grin.
