My hand hovers on my abdomen. The scar from the unlicensed surgery I had at fifteen is mostly gone. But the real scars were never visible.
I close my eyes and shake the memories that threaten to send me into a spiral. We have a plan. Troy will be gone next month. I’ll be able to move on. His other victims will be able to move on. I can keep my head on straight for another few weeks.
The phone at my desk rings—a staffer from another senator's office. I pick it up and put my mask back on. Pippa Saint James can push the past down, contain the signs of unraveling, and keep with the plan.
We’ve worked too hard to get here. I won’t mess this up.
Magnus Troy must pay for his crimes.
And since he’s evidently above the law, we will be the consequence he never saw coming.
FIVE
reveal
Enzo
Friday Evening, Day 2
The glow from six monitors paints the room in shades of electric blue as I enter Eva’s office. Hudson will arrive soon and we’re going to compare what he and Eva could find on Pippa Saint James—the redhead I’ve known for less than twenty-four hours but obsessed over for twenty-three of them.
Neither Eva nor I wanted to sleep in our parents’ room after they died, so we turned it into her hacker paradise. The high-end monitors and tech help her run our operation from the safety of our mansion. Keeping her safe is my top priority.
She’s locked in, zooming in on a grainy parking lot camera feed, flagging plates, tracking patterns. Right now, Eva is supporting an operation for our Virginia crew. She holds up a hand without looking in my direction. “I’m mid-op and two keystrokes away from making someone disappear. Don’t make it you.”
I chuckle but stay otherwise quiet. I’m a smart brother, I know when to let my sister work her magic.
Two minutes later, the deal on-screen wraps.
She swivels to face me. “You owe me a quiet entrance next time,” she says dryly. “Crew just landed facial recon on the target. They’ll finish it tonight.”
“Great work, thanks. Hudson should be here any minute.”
“Ah, time flies when you’re having fun, I guess.” She checks her watch and turns back to her desk. “I pulled what I could find on Pippa Saint James, which wasn’t much. Here, sending it to you both now. Hopefully Hudson found more.”
“He said he put Luna on it.” My sister's cheeks flush.
Hudson and I like to tease her about her not-so-secret-crush on Luna. She claims it’s a professional crush only, “hacker respecting hacker vibes,” but we like to tease that it’s more.
“Well, if anyone can get the real dirt on this woman, it’ll be her,” she replies wistfully.
“Mhm. Well, you’re as good of a hacker as she is, so…”
She scoffs. “You know that’s not remotely true but thank you for believing in me.”
“E, you’re single-handedly keeping the Luciano crewinbusiness andoutof trouble. The way technology has changed in recent years, I would never have been able to keep up.”
“Well that much is obvious.” She’s always been snarky and I love that about her. She stands and we head for the den.
Hudson always enters the property through our back entrance to remain undetected. Few know Hudson is part of the Luciano crime family. Besides Eva and me, only my head of security, Niko, my driver, Luca, and our family chef, Marco, know the truth. They are my most-trusted men. And they are trained to keep my family alive. Hudson is family.
As we settle into the large couch, the back door opens. Hudson strides in with a huge smile on his face.
“Wow, someone had a good day,” Eva teases.
“Shit, how did you two do it? How did you finally find the real name of my girl, Jane?”
Wait. What?
