CHAPTER TWO
ROME
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I stood from my desk, wincing as I walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the water. Lifting my arms over my head, I stretched, leaning to the left, working out the kinks in my muscles. Though the wound on my side had healed, it was still sore.
Getting stabbed would do that to you. The wound would’ve been deeper if Terzo DeLuca hadn’t shoved me out of the way. My mind drifted back to that day in Tower D when the Irish mafia had come for Stefano and Enzo DeLuca’s girlfriends.
The DeLucas had hired me to find out when and where the Irish mafia would attack. Just as the intel came in and I went to provide it to Sienna and Eve, the attack happened. Someone in the DeLuca family had betrayed the ladies.
The betrayer and his people hired employees at Tower D to capture the women, promising them a share of the bounty. As Sienna and Eve fled the scene with their guard, Terzo and I stayed behind to keep the bounty seekers from going after them.
And it was a lot of them motherfuckers. Everything that happened during that time was pretty much a blur to me. It had happened so fast. All I knew was that I had to kill everyone who tried to get past Terzo and me.
And at least twenty or more tried. We fought until we could barely stand. Mere moments before we both would’ve dropped from blood loss, the cavalry arrived. Bodies were strewn everywhere.
The offices had been destroyed. I’d awoken in the hospital with Don DeLuca standing over me, thanking me for saving his fiancée and his sister-in-law. He’d asked me what I wanted as payment.
I declined the offer. I hadn’t done it to receive an award or even an acknowledgment. I’d done it because the DeLucas were our allies. When our allies went to war, we went to war. When our allies were in trouble, we showed up.
Loyalty and trust were important to me. Plus, had I not helped, Terzo’s crazy ass would’ve gone up against all those men alone. He wouldn’t have backed down. He wouldn’t have run.
I considered Terzo a friend. I would always have his back. But fuck, my side was still recovering. So was my left leg from having a large bookshelf fall onto it. I don’t even know how I’d gotten it off so quickly. Adrenaline, maybe.
But because of it, I had a slight limp that was slowly getting better. When I tried to, I could walk regularly. It ached a bit when I put my full weight onto it. However, if I had to do it all again, I would.
And I knew if the roles were reversed, the DeLucas would do the same for me. Hell, even Sienna and Eve would show up if needed. They were just as ruthless as the men they loved.
Even my brothers’ fiancées were savage. I chuckled as I remembered the plot Monique Rose and her friends had concocted to take down Orazio. They’d actually planned on kidnapping the don of the Cattaneo family.
For some reason, all the men I knew ended up with women who were bat shit crazy. Was I destined for the same fate? My mind strayed to Juliet. I shut that thought down quickly as I stared out the window, focusing on the scenery before me.
Sunlight danced across the waves in the distance while expensive yachts drifted through the clear blue water below. The view should’ve been relaxing. Peaceful. Instead, my thoughts were chaotic, still straying to her.
JulietWithCurves wasn’t the first hacker to try breaking into my systems. People had been trying to steal data from me for years. Rivals. Competitors. Enemies. Ambitious hacker wannabes hoping to prove they were the best.
But Juliet had been different from the start. She was the only one who’d left a calling card, wanting me to know she was there. That was what threw me off and piqued my curiosity. She’d announced her presence instead of secretly hacking me.
Most people hid in the shadows while trying to steal from me. Juliet had practically introduced herself with a smile. The first message had appeared out of nowhere, buried in an encrypted file, asking me how I took my coffee.
The message had surprised me. It had seemed so ridiculous that it actually made me chuckle. So, while trying to trace her location, I’d replied to her message, letting her know I liked my coffee black, no sugar or cream.
And she’d replied quickly, saying, “Oooh, do you like your women the same? Because if you do, we can be friends.” I hadn’t expected that. But I won’t lie, it made me smile. That single message had been enough to hook me.
Because suddenly, this wasn’t just another hacker trying to steal information from me. It was a woman bold enough to flirt while doing it. I’d been fascinated with her ever since. Even her username affected me more than it should’ve.
I knew it was a play on Romeo, the name she’d started calling me almost immediately after our conversations began, proof that she’d known who I was. The woman had somehow managed to turn attempted cybercrime into foreplay.
And the worst part?
I’d let her.
Over time, her messages shifted from innocent questions about coffee and breakfast to dirtier conversations. More personal ones. She stopped asking what I liked to eat in the mornings and started asking what I’d do if she snuck into my bedroom instead of my servers.
The answer had been easy. I’d fuck her until she begged for mercy. Then I’d fuck her again for good measure. The first time she video-chatted with me, she’d shocked the hell out of me. She’d been wearing a pink mask that completely covered her face.
And she’d had on these pink and white cat ears that had given her this gamer girl vibe. As for her outfit...
I swiped my hand over my face.
Her outfit had been a white t-shirt that was sheer, so sheer I could see her nipples. One of which was pierced. And she’d had on tiny pink shorts that looked more like panties. The writing on her shirt read: Nerdy & Curvy.
That perfectly described my Juliet. Seeing her like that confirmed something I’d already known... that I needed to meet this woman. And that had begun my obsession with the hacker who called herself JulietWithCurves.
Most people in my line of work were predictable and fit into three categories: those who wanted money, those who wanted power, and those who were cruel for no reason. The latter category was the truly evil bastards.
But JulietWithCurves, she was an anomaly.
If she’d wanted to wreck my systems, she could’ve launched a real attack and been done with it. But she hadn’t. Instead, she left breadcrumbs, taunts, and games. It was almost as if she wanted me to see her, wanted me to chase her, as if the whole thing was foreplay.
Then again, that could’ve been wishful thinking on my part. She could be a genuine threat. I truly needed to take her actions more seriously, especially after today, after she hacked my cams.
Taking my glasses off, I rubbed my eyes as my office phone began ringing. I didn’t have time to stand around, thinking about my sexy cyber-criminal. I had work to do. Sliding my glasses back on, I returned to my desk and answered my phone on the third ring.
“Rome Cattaneo speaking.”
“Our meeting is in ten minutes,” Anthony informed me.
Fuck.
I glanced down at my watch. I’d almost forgotten about the meeting.
“Okay,” I told my cousin. “I’m heading to the conference room now. Does Julisa have the first quarter numbers ready?”
“She does,” Anthony replied. “She’s already in there, setting everything up.”
That was her secretary’s job. But Julisa was a bit of a control freak. I didn’t really know why we were even paying her secretary at this point.
“Heads up, she’s in a mood,” Anthony told me. “Oh, and she complained about you yesterday.”
I frowned. “Why is your wife complaining about me?” I asked, wondering what I’d done to piss Julisa off.
“Because you convinced us to leave our positions at the Louisiana branch and move to Italy to help run this place.”
“I thought she was okay with that.”
“She was,” Anthony stated. “She just didn’t realize how many people here would speak only Italian.”
“Well... we are in Italy,” I pointed out. “We have translators on hand.”
“Yeah,” Anthony sighed. “They have a hard time understanding her Hispanic accent.”
Damn.
“I thought she was working on learning Italian.”
“She is. She’s just frustrated because she’s having a hard time mastering it.
And she doesn’t want my help. She gets frustrated when I try to teach her Italian words.
Anyway, don’t be surprised if she gets irritated during the meeting and curses you out in English, Spanish, and Italian.
It shouldn’t amaze me that she’s somehow managed to learn enough Italian words to curse people out. ”
A laugh escaped me at that.
“If it makes her feel any better, she can curse me out in every language she knows. I’m just glad she agreed to come here and take charge of our financial department.”
And I meant that. Julisa was sharp as hell with numbers. She noticed problems before most people realized they existed. Half the reason the Louisiana branch ran as smoothly as it did was because Julisa caught financial issues before they became disasters.
“It’s only for five years, until she hires and trains a team to replace her,” I reminded Anthony. “Same for you. You’re only here until you hire and train someone to replace you. Until then, you and Julisa are the people I’m entrusting this branch to. Along with Davide DeLuca.”
Leaving the casino in Anthony’s hands as Operations Manager had been an easy decision. The man was organized, levelheaded, and loyal. Davide DeLuca would work beneath him as Assistant Operations Manager.
This casino was truly a blend of both the Cattaneo and DeLucas’ efforts. With Anthony and Davide managing this branch and Julisa overseeing the financial side, the casino would continue to thrive after I returned stateside.
At least, that was the plan if none of my shitty family members tried to tear it down and sabotage us again before then. I left my office a few minutes later and headed toward the conference room.