chapter 7

Felix

She's walking away from me in that black leather skirt, and all I can do is yell out to her, and beg her to come back because I need to feel her flesh against mine.

She turns around at last, but her face is distorted...ugly.

I wake up in cold sweat. It's the same dream again that wakes me with a gasp.

The fear that had slowly built up inside me while I slept suddenly erupts, and I find myself shaking uncontrollably, my heart pounding faster than ever.

I try desperately to understand what happened and focus on the facts.

It wasn't Emily who tried to take something from me - it was someone else entirely. Someone wanted revenge on me for some unknown reason.

But it doesn't comfort me. Even the facts, at this point, could be conjecture.

My thoughts quickly return to her betrayal as I step out of bed and paces around like a caged animal.

I wish for the time to move faster so she thinks she's safe enough to return. So I can grab her and hold her hostage and finally ask the questions I so want to ask.

I won't kill her ... no. I will get answers, though.

But she's gone, and I'm left feeling emptiness.

I wonder what really happened to Emily. Who is she? Where did she come from and why did she try to spy on me?

My mind keeps returning to those few precious moments when we shared a passionate bed - when our lips, souls, and bodies all seemed connected.

That has never happened before ... at least, not with me.

Women were, to me, for the longest time - disposable?

But at last, I believed I had found my match, only to discover she was anything but.

After all, a Don cannot be involved with a woman who dares betray him? Our lives are precarious enough already.

But I need answers. I need to know what she was trying to do, and I wonder ... could she have left a trail when she hacked into my computer.

I pick up the phone and call my cousin, Enzo. The only hacker in our family.

"Enzo," I say. "I've been compromised. I need you at my house now."

When the Don calls, everyone comes running and Enzo is at my home within fifteen minutes.

"What happened?" he asks, as he rushes in with a large briefcase. I don't have to ask, I know what's in there - his equipment.

"Someone hacked my computer," I said.

He stands there, shocked. I know what he's thinking - how could someone possibly make it past all my security?

"How?" he asks.

"I don't know," I say.

Enzo looks at me skeptically, and I can tell he didn't believe me. "From within the house?" he asks.

I feel ashamed that a Don like myself could be so easily outdone by someone from within.

Then again, this world I come from is ever-changing, and perhaps it was foolish to think I was immune from its reach.

"Was it a woman?" Enzo asks. "Has to be a woman, doesn't it? How long did you know her?"

"I reported this to you because you're the best I know," I say. "Will you be able to find out what she saw?"

"This is why your father used to say, marry a girl, never love a girl. What were you thinking, Felix?"

"I’m thinking of putting a bullet through your head right now, Enzo. Get to work."

I see his face turn ashen white. I don't need to say anything more because Enzo is already running towards my study.

By the time I catch up with him, he has already begun unpacking his equipment and setting up a laptop to start his investigations.

Enzo looks at my screen and connects to WIFI with one of his smart devices.

"Damn, Felix," he says. "Your wireless is so compromised. Do you need me to even hack into anything?"

I can see the strain on Enzo's face. He is really bothered. Clearly, the situation is worse than I thought.

"Go ahead," I say.

"I examine the security logs and see someone logging on to the wireless, but they haven't been restricted.

They didn't leave any footprints behind, which is what I would expect to see if someone had accessed the network through a typical wireless router.

Whoever is doing this is a pro," says Enzo.

For some unknown, irrational, depraved reason, I feel mild pride. Damn, at least I know how to pick the good ones.

There was something special about Emily, and I had known it from the moment I saw her.

"This looks like someone is playing games with you," says Enzo.

"Very funny. Can you find out what she took?"

Enzo nodded and continued working. An hour went by, then two. As the third began, he jumped from his seat, a look of complete shock upon his face.

His hands reached for his cheeks as he jumped in the air, clutching his face in exaggerated emotion - "Everything," he says, at last. "She knows everything. Including your bank account passwords."

"What about the operations?" I ask, my heart dropping to my stomach.

"Everything, Felix."

We both sit there in silence, grappling with our thoughts. We are the Carlisi's. This sort of thing doesn't happen to us... ever.

"I'm telling you," says Enzo. "This woman you brought home is a goddamn genius. A level par any I've known."

I nod. "I checked her. I caught her, and I checked her. She didn't have anything on her. I took and smashed her phone too."

"Did you check inside her pussy?" asks Enzo.

For some reason, the question enrages me beyond words.

"How dare you?" I say, grabbing him by his collar and slamming him against the wall. Emily comes to mind, and my heart aches.

The image of her heart-shaped face and her smile pops into my mind. No matter what, hearing someone ... anyone talks about her in this humiliating manner is riling me up.

"I...I'm sorry," says Enzo, clearly petrified. I step back.

I breathe. I think.

Enzo is just doing his duty.

"No, I didn't," I finally concede. "I should have."

He shrugs. "I mean, there's so much information on here. To be honest, one would have to carry it out somehow.

There's no evidence of uploads on a cloud. Wait ... do you have a camera in here somewhere?"

Fuck. Why hadn't I thought of it? She had shut off all cameras, but my app can only host 16 for live view.

I remembered that the one in my office isn't part of that live view, so she couldn't have disabled it.

I've hit the jackpot. I exuberantly stare at Enzo and say, "Enzo, well done."

I lead him to the security room, and he begins scanning through the footage for that night.

As Enzo works, I think about Emily. How could I have been so foolish to allow her in my house?

She works at the most dangerous underground bar, where enemies surround each patron, and I had brought danger to my doorstep.

Enzo suddenly jumps up from his seat and points to the screen. "I found her," he exclaims. "Here, look!"

I lean in closer to the monitor, my heart racing. On the screen, there was the woman I had brought home that night, stealthily entering the room. She picks up her cell phone. She wasn't alone that night - she had help. But

from who?

We watch patiently, yet so impatiently.

At last, I find my blood boiling as I notice her inserting two drives into my computer. She waits patiently.

And then ... something changes.

She removes the drive and sits there, almost as though she's being haunted. Minutes pass by. Ten, fifteen, thirty.

"Why the hell isn't she leaving?" asks Enzo.

I shake my head. "If I had any answers, I wouldn't have called you Enzo."

And then she takes the drives and throws them in the paper bin near my desk.

"What the fuck?" asks Enzo as I stare in disbelief.

"Could you be wrong?" I ask Enzo. "About someone having access to all the information?

Maybe she failed to copy the data. Maybe she was sitting and thinking of what more she could do in this case, Enzo. Tell me, are you wrong?"

"I don't know," he says, standing from the chair. "The only way to know? We go check."

We rush to my study, and Enzo grabs the drives from the bin. We insert it into the computer, and Enzo's eyes widen with shock.

"She had all the data," he says. "Everything. It's on here." He inserts the other and runs the same scans. "The data is on both of these."

"Then why..." I ask, looking at Enzo, "Would she not take it and run? She had it all within grasp. She could have made a run for it and never been caught. She wasted time sitting there, thinking. Why didn't she take her chance?"

"And who?" added Enzo, "was she speaking with on the phone? Wouldn't she be accountable to them?"

"I don't know," I say, taking a seat and lighting up a cigar.

"Maybe she truly does like you," says Enzo. "Because she thought about the consequences. Maybe she changed her mind?"

"True," I whisper. "Enzo, can you zoom in on the phone call since she was on speaker and try to find a number for it? Could you, perhaps, get a software to read her lips for me?"

Enzo nods. I wait for a few hours, awake and restless, until he returns.

"Boss," he says, shaking his eyes in disbelief. "You ever heard of the group anonymous?"

I nod - "They are hackers," I say. "A network of people, together, working under one name, to take down the worst of the worst on the world and the web."

"She's one of them."

"What?" I screech in shock.

"Well, not anonymous, but some group similar to that. I couldn't find much, but it's a women's network, and I've only just heard rumors about a group called Illuminati.

Well, she mentioned the word when she spoke to them. The software scan clearly said that the woman spoke the following words – it's for my safety. I wouldn’t ask the Illuminati if I didn’t believe it to be life or death for myself

or someone else."

I shake my head, puzzled. Did she fear me? Did someone she knew believe I would harm them?

"Find out everything you can about this Illuminati," I tell Enzo. "And make sure no one within the clan knows what you're up to. Today didn't happen."