Chapter 218: Maybe we call it a night

Aria looks at Sienna, she knew she was too scared to even try because the truth might be scarier than being abandoned by her own family or the fact that her father and mother want her dead.

"Either way," Aria said, her voice steady, sure of itself in a way it had not been all night, "we would not know until we try, so get to work, you, my friend is the best hacker there is. There is no information you can’t find and certainly not one on your own mother."

Sienna let out a slow breath. "Aria, I’ve searched everywhere on the web, believe me." Aria hesitated for a second, then asked, "Even the Don’s computer or phone?"

Sienna’s eyes went wide. "What? That’s poking him directly."

"Great," Aria said after a moment, a small triumphant note creeping into her voice. "That means you haven’t gotten in yet."

"No," Sienna said. "That’s too risky. A man like him will know the second someone touches something that close to him. I managed to get into his systems, his networks, his money trail. But not that close. Not his personal computer."

Aria sat up straighter, already thinking, already moving three steps ahead the way she always did. "What do you need? A spam email? A link? Tell me and I’ll do it."

"Aria, no," Sienna said.

"What can he do?" Aria said, leaning in now, her eyes bright with the old fire Sienna had missed so much. "You know now. He won’t hurt you, you’re the fucking famus, Katalia Ivanov."

Sienna looked at her for a long moment. Then she sighed, and something in her shoulders gave way. "Fine," she said.

It didn’t take long after that Aria wrote out a message, something sharp and angry, the kind of thing that would make a proud man click without thinking, and sent it.

It had to feel real, and it did within minutes, the Don opened it. Sienna’s fingers moved fast across the keyboard, her eyes narrowed and focused, tracing the thin invisible thread the message had left behind, following it in through one door after another.

"I’m in," she said, and from there, the work began in earnest, the two of them leaning close to the screen, talking in short, low bursts, checking and rechecking. Neither one of them noticed the hours passing.

By the time either of them looked up, the morning light was already spilling gold through the tall windows, warm and bright, and Sienna looked like she had just woken up from a full night’s sleep instead of having none at all. There was color in her face, her eyes were wide and clear. She looked, for the first time in weeks, alive.

"Now we’ll know who he talks to," Sienna said, leaving a small, quiet bug tucked inside the Don’s phone, since they could not find anything useful on his phone, even his cloud was empty, so she left something that would sit there unseen and listen.

"Great," Aria said, a yawn caught her mid-word, and then another one caught Sienna too, the two of them laughing softly at how tired they suddenly felt now that the work was done. "Maybe we call it a night," Aria said.

Sienna laughed. "A night? Girl, it’s already eight in the morning."

"Well, come on then," Aria said, pushing herself up from the chair, stretching her arms above her head. "Let’s go get some sleep. Then I need to fix my hair and my nails." She looked down at herself, at the same soft pajamas she had been wearing for weeks now, and made a small face at them.

Sienna smiled at that, a real, warm smile, because it meant something, that small complaint about hair and nails. It meant a piece of the old Aria was climbing back up out of the dark.

They walked to the bedroom together, and without much more said between them, they fell onto the bed, side by side, and slept.

—

Back at the Kessler mansion, Viktor had not slept. It was quiet, but Viktor was still awake, sitting in his office with his phone in his hand, watching the small red dot on the screen.

Sienna, the dot had stopped moving hours ago, and he knew she was safe with Aria. At least, that was what he kept telling himself, but he still could not sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her face.

He saw the tears running down her cheeks. He heard her voice. Then came the words that hurt him the most. I trusted you. Viktor leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He rubbed his face, he was tired, and his eyes burned, but sleep would not come.

Marcus and Manuel were still awake too, Viktor had made sure none of them slept. The office door suddenly opened.

Manuel walked in. "Boss." Viktor opened his eyes. "What?"

"We found something." That got Viktor’s full attention, he sat up. "What did you find?" Manuel walked closer. "We picked up a signal." Viktor stood. "From Sienna?"

"No." Manuel shook his head. "It could be from the person we’ve been looking for." Viktor’s face changed. "The person watching her?"

"Yes." Manuel placed a small device on the desk. "We don’t have a clear location yet. The signal keeps jumping." Viktor looked at the screen. "Where?"

"It’s hard to tell." Manuel pointed at the map. "But I think the signal is in Philly."

"Here, this close to home?" "Yes, boss." Viktor stared at the screen. "How sure are you?"

"Not very, it’s weak. It keeps moving, or maybe it’s being hidden. But this is the first real sign we’ve had."

Viktor picked up his jacket.

"Then we’re going." Viktor looked toward Marcus.

"We’re going to the Cross mansion. If the shadow watching Sienna is this close to her, I cannot leave her alone there. She might be in danger."

"Yes, boss." He turned toward Manuel. "Keep working on the signal."

"Yes, boss." Marcus walked toward his room to get ready.