Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
“No.” I press the button for the elevator, and when the doors open, I place my hand on the one to keep it from closing. “Find a teacher who can give Simi English lessons. She needs to learn the language.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
I shake my head as I step into the elevator. “Just give Nina another week before you start building a relationship with her. Take it slow.”
Raya nods. “Be safe out there.”
I let the doors shut and press the button for the parking level.
Chapter 24
Georgi
I haven’t visited Rosie at her fortress, as she likes to fondly call it, since she upgraded the place.
The place used to be an office space. We all gave Rosie millions after she presented her plans, and she converted each floor to her liking.
The first floor is empty, high-tech cameras scanning every inch of it twenty-four seven. It’s also rigged with explosives. One press of a button and the entire eight-story building will fall in on itself, burying whoever’s inside.
We never enter that way.
As I walk through the empty underground parking area, dust tickles my nose. The guards stay outside because Rosie is fucking anal about who gets to enter her sacred space.
“Hi,” her voice comes over a speaker, echoing all around me. “This is a surprise. How do you feel?”
“I’m fine. Why haven’t you found Boris and Anton?”
She lets out a grumbling sound, then something crunches loudly, and I listen to her eating carrots. Or rocks.
It sounds like fucking rocks.
When I reach the wall where the entryway is hidden, I glare up at the camera. “Open.”
“Nope. You look pissed off, and I didn’t have dealing with a pissed off Georgi on my schedule for today.”
“Rosie!”
“Yyyeeessss?” Her chuckle fills the space. “Come on. You know what the password is.”
I force a smile on my face and blow her a kiss.
“Atta boy. Now that wasn’t so hard.” The wall shifts, and with a loud rumbling, it moves to reveal a hallway that’s filled with a blue light.
I stalk down it until I reach the elevator, and the doors open automatically. After I enter, beams scan over me while I’m taken to the fifth floor.
The only three people who have codes to enter are her father, Uncle Dario, our capo dei capi, Christiano, and Enzo.
Uncle Dario usually comes to help her when she has a huge job that needs two heads, and Christiano…well, him being our boss speaks for itself. Enzo is the one who controls the finances and how much Rosie gets to spend, but I know she gave him a code because she loves him.
We all keep our mouths shut when it comes to Rosie and Enzo, and none of us knows what the hell is going on between the two.
Once I reach the fifth floor, I walk through empty office space until I come to another hidden wall. It shifts, and I step into the final elevator, which takes me up to the top floor.
When the doors open, I’m met with a cold blast of air. The temperature is kept near freezing to prevent the servers and mainframes from overheating.
I glance over rows of black server racks, rising like towering steel columns, lights pulsing as information is processed.
Floor-to-ceiling monitors cover one wall, cycling through surveillance feeds, encrypted transactions and messages.
Massive curved screens are on at different workstations, some tracking cyber intrusions while others run facial recognition scans, countless faces flashing across the screens.
My eyes lock on the photos of Boris and Anton, who are in a grid with many other men and women, being tracked in real time.
I step onto raised flooring, which hides fiber optic cable lines, and walk to the center where Rosie’s command station is situated. She’s surrounded by screens, custom hardware, and enough processing power to cripple governments.
Honestly, this is our war room, built to keep the Cosa Nostra always three steps ahead.
“Give me a second,” Rosie mumbles, deep in thought while typing something on one of her many keyboards. Her black hair is piled on top of her head, a pencil somehow keeping the rat’s nest together, and she’s wearing baggy pants and an oversized sweater. There are snacks and cold drinks scattered everywhere, and I pick up a brown banana, throwing it in an overflowing trash can.
“Christ.” I wipe my hand off on my shirt, then glance over all the feeds showing every capo’s house and various businesses.
I see Christiano walking through a warehouse where crates of weapons I supplied to him are being readied to be shipped.
Augusto and his younger brother, Riccardo, are having a conversation in Augusto’s backyard. His wife, Yuki, is feeding koi. It actually looks peaceful, and I stare for a moment longer before I search for my building. It only shows the elevator, parking, and surrounding areas.
I refused to let Rosie put cameras in the apartments. She wasn’t happy but just had to deal.