Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(96)

“Are you okay?” Mia’s mother came around the chair and checked her for bruises.

“I’m good, Mama. I’m just so glad to see you. Nico’s in danger. Papà’s put a contract out on him, and they’re planning to whack him tonight. I need my phone. It’s in the bag on the floor.”

“Kat, you get the phone. I’ll find something to cut the ropes and open the handcuffs.” Mama raced out of the room, and Kat pulled out the phone.

“Call Nico.” Mia kicked her legs trying to loosen the ropes. “If you can’t get him, try Vito. His is the only other number I have at the casino.”

“No answer for Nico. I’ll send a text.” Kat quickly typed and then scrolled through Mia’s phone and pressed Vito’s number.

“Someone’s answering.” She held the phone up to Mia’s ear, and she breathed out a sigh of relief when Vito said hello.

“I need to speak to Nico. It’s urgent. I think someone is after him.” Mia tried to keep her legs still as Kat pulled at the ropes around her ankles.

“Mr. Toscani is in a meeting in his office with Frankie and Luca,” Vito assured her. “He gave strict instructions not to be disturbed. There are two guards outside his door and another two at the elevator.” He chuckled. “I’m sure you, more than anyone, know how secure the casino is, especially after you sent us the final test report. We implemented all your suggestions immediately. I assure you, Mr. Toscani is perfectly safe, but I will make sure all the security guards know to watch for suspicious activity.”

“Thanks, Vito.”

“Pleasure, Ms. Mia.”

Kat ended the call and cut through the ropes. “There you go.”

Mia wiggled her feet to increase her circulation. “How long do we have before the guard wakes up?”

“Mama gave him a lot of pills so quite a while, but I don’t think Papà was going out for long. He told Mama to keep the dinner warm.”

“Help me up and turn on Papà’s computer. I’ll show him just how powerful a woman can be.” She settled in her father’s seat with her hands still cuffed behind her back, and stared at the screen. “He didn’t log off. How convenient. That’s one less password I have to hack.”

“What are you going to do?” Kat asked

“Something I should have done a long time ago. Revenge and ruin all with the click of a button.” She directed Kat to turn on the remote desktop connection and had her call Jules on her phone.

“I need some help cracking a couple of passwords and hacking into my dad’s bank accounts. Are you up for a little black-hat fun? Just passwords. I don’t want you to touch anything in the systems. I don’t want you getting into trouble because of me.”

Jules laughed. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since the day you caught me having a little black-hat fun at the public library. And I spent years getting into trouble. This is nothing compared to what I used to get up to.” She tapped on her keyboard for a few minutes. “Okay I’m ready. Accept the connection, and we’re off to the races.”

“Jules is a password hacking pro,” Mia explained to her sister. “She’s written all sorts of code for uncovering hidden passwords. Plus, she’s just really good at guessing.”

“Hmmm.” Jules mused over the phone. “What words would your daddy dearest use for his passwords? I don’t think he’s the exclamation mark dollar sign hashtag type. How about abusivebastard798? No. Fucktard332? No. Ilovesicilianneckties4987? No. Where_are_my_cement_shoes? No.”

“Jules…”

“Shhh. I’m thinking. You do what you need to do. Leave me to it for a few minutes. I watched The Godfather last night so I have lots of ideas.”

Mia’s mother ran in and held up the key. “I was looking for something to pick the lock when I realized your father would have left the key with the guard. It took a while to fish it out of his pocket.” She knelt behind Mia’s chair and fiddled with the lock until the cuffs snapped free.

“I’m worried about Nico.” Mia rubbed her wrists. “His casino manager said he’s with his friends, but I still want to go to the casino to check things out. Papà’s not working alone on this one. He’s getting help from Nico’s cousin, and he seemed pretty confident about his plan.”

“Don’t go alone.” Her mother put out a warning hand. “Your father doesn’t do things by half measures. If he says he sent someone then he’ll have sent someone who is good at what he does.”

“Who can I call?” She twisted her lips to the side, considering. “I don’t have phone numbers for anyone on his crew.”

“I have Big Joe’s number.” Kat held up her phone. “Remember?”

Mia’s tension eased the tiniest bit. “Perfect. Call him and ask him to meet us there. Tell him Papà has put a contract out on Nico for tonight.”

*

Nico couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Everyone in the Vegas underworld knew he had put a contract out on Dante. If Dante was so addicted to gambling that he had to come out of hiding, there were dozens of casinos to choose from. His decision to come to the Casino Italia couldn’t have been by chance.