ZANE.
Los Angeles city sprawled below the glass walls as I stood by the bar, the whiskey in my tumbler sat untouched, while the ice melted into amber swirls. My phone buzzed on the glass counter. I snatched it up, my gut already tightening as Liam's name flashed across the screen.
"Zane," Liam's voice came through, sharp and urgent, no trace of his usual calm. "They are moving on Atlas Group's servers. Tonight. If they pull this off, we're done. Feds, press, the whole damn world will have us."
My fingers tightened around the phone. Atlas Group was the clean face of everything I had built, the shield that kept the feds off my back. If those servers went down, it would be open season on me, my brothers, everything we had fought for. "Go on" I said.
"Noah's been sniffing their comms since you hinted it," Liam said. "Intercepted a call."
I set the tumbler down, the clink loud in the quiet room. My eyes found Sienna across the living space, curled on the leather couch, her dark hair spilling over her shoulder like ink. She was hunched over her laptop, her brow furrowed, fingers tapping the keys with a focus that made my chest ache. Since Belinda woke up, she'd been relentless, digging into that flash drive like it held the key to our survival. Maybe it did.
"Get the team to the office," I told Liam. "Damian, Ethan, Noah. Now. We're not letting them take us down."
"Already moving," Liam said, and the line went dead.
I crossed the room walking silently on the plush rug, but Sienna sensed me coming. Her head snapped up, her eyes locking onto mine. "What's wrong?" she asked, closing the laptop with a soft click, she knew trouble when she saw it.
"They're targeting the servers," I said, "They want to gut Atlas Group. We're moving to stop him. Tonight."
Her face didn't flinch, instead, her jaw tightened. She stood, shrugging on one of my jackets that hung too big on her frame, the sleeves swallowing her hands. "I'm in," she said, not a request. A demand.
"You stay close," I said. "Remember no heroics."
Her lips curved, a grim, determined smile that sent a jolt through me. "I've got something better," she said, pulling the flash drive from her pocket, "This has their funds and other accounts. Everything. We can use it to lure scar-face in, set a trap."
"You're sure it's enough to draw him out?" I asked, my eyes searching hers for any hint of doubt.
"Dead sure," she said. "He'll come for it. I'll make him."
I nodded, the plan taking shape in my head. "We move now. Atlas Group headquarters. Let's go."
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Sienna and I walked into the elevator, riding to my wing in silence, the only sound around us were the hum of the engine working optimally. Sienna stood beside me, her shoulder brushing mine. Her soft vanilla scent cut through the sterile air. I didn't like her being in the line of fire with me, but she had made it clear she wasn't staying behind. Not this time anyway.
The door slides opened and we stepped inside my office, Liam sat at the head of the conference table eyes on his laptop and when we got closer, I saw maps and data streams flickering on the screen. Damian was leaning against the wall, flipping a ballpen between his fingers, a restless habit that matched the glint in his dark eyes. Ethan paced near the window, while Noah sat hunched over his own laptop, working.
Sienna stood at my side with confidence knowing she had earned her place here, and my brothers knew it too. I caught Damian's glance, a raised brow that said he was impressed, though he would never admit it out loud.
"Alright," Liam said, "We let them think they've breached the system, then we close the trap."
focusing on Liam I said, "We stage a breach. Make it look like the system's vulnerable. Let them walk right in."
Sienna stepped forward, her voice commanding the attention of everyone in the room. Holding up the flash, "For backups, I am to contact him and offer to trade it for a truce. He'll think I'm betraying you, that I'm desperate. He'll come himself to get it."
The room went still, every eye on her. Damian grinned approvingly. "Well, damn," he said, leaning forward. "You've got guts, princess. You sure you can play bait with a shark like him?"
Sienna's eyes flashed, meeting his challenge without blinking. "I've been dodging his kind for years," she said, "He's greedy, arrogant. He'll take the bait, and he'll regret it."
Noah looked up, his glasses reflecting the screen's light. "I can rig the servers to show a fake breach," he said. "Loop the security feeds, make it look like we're scrambling to fix it. They'll walk in blind."
"Into what?" Ethan asked, crossing his arms, "We can't just mow them down in the server room. It is too public."
"We don't," I said, "We lead them to the loading dock. That's empty and secure and has no cameras. Damian, you and Ethan take the ground floor, cut off their exit. Liam, you're with Noah on comms, have their signals jammed. I'll be with Sienna in the server room."
She nodded, tucking the flash drive into her pocket. "I'll need to move fast," she said. "Once he's in, he'll want to verify the data. I can stall him, but not for long."
"Stall him long enough for us to close the net," I said, "Damian, Ethan, you take the loading dock. Liam, Noah, you're our eyes and ears. We move as one."
Ethan nodded, "This is gonna be fun," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Been a while since we had a proper fight."
Sienna shot him a look, her lips twitching. "Try not to enjoy it too much," she said, "We're here to end this, not start a brawl."
Damian laughed, leaning back. "You're growing on me, princess. Keep that up, and I might let you borrow my knife."
"Enough," I said, cutting through their banter. "We move in one hour. Get your gear, check your comms. No mistakes."
Sienna's jaw tightened, but she nodded, her fingers curling around the flash drive. "I'll need a comms unit," she said. "And a gun."
Damian laughed, "You're full of surprises, princess," he said, tossing her a small earpiece from the table. "Gun's on you, though. Zane's call."
I hesitated, my instinct to protect her warring with the reality of what we faced. She had no doubt proven herself, but handing her a weapon meant she was in the fight, no turning back. "You know how to use it?" I asked.
Her gave me a smirk in her defiance. "Point and shoot, right? I've had practice. Rolled with bikers back in the day."
I didn't ask where or when. The confidence in her eyes told me enough. I pulled a Glock from the lockbox on the table, checked the clip, and handed it to her. Her fingers brushed mine as she took it. "Don't make me regret this," I said, holding her gaze.
"You won't," she said, tucking the gun into her waistband. "Let's burn them down."
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An hour later, the server room was empty since my brothers had gotten busy with their tasks, but Sienna stayed, standing next to me, her eyes on the map. She had her fingers tracing the server room's outline. I watched her, the way her brow furrowed, with her lips pressed together in thought. She was in deep, deeper than I would ever want her to be, and yet I couldn't imagine doing this without her. Not anymore.
"You don't have to do this you know," I said,
She turned to me. "I'm not asking, Zane," she said. "This is my fight too. They took everything from me. I'm not sitting this out. My father wouldn't approve."
I stepped closer enough to see the pulse beating in her throat. "I know," I said. "But if anything happens to you..."
"It won't," she cut in, her hand brushing my arm, a fleeting touch that burned through me. "We do this together. We end it."
I nodded even though I wanted to say more, but the words were stuck in my throat. There would be time for that later. There had to be.
"Ready?" I asked as I stood by the main console, my eyes on the security feed Noah had looped to show a flickering, vulnerable system. Sienna was standing a few feet away, the Glock was tucked into her waistband.
She nodded, "Let's do this."
I tapped my comms. "Liam, status."
"Feed's live," Liam's voice crackled through. "They're moving in. Five minutes out."
"Damian, Ethan?" I asked.
"First floor's locked down," Damian said. "No one's getting out."
"Noah?"
"Signals jammed," Noah said. "They're blind."
I glanced at Sienna, her fingers tightening around the flash drive. The plan was set, and the pieces were in place. "Zane," she said, her voice soft, pulling me back. "We've got this."
I nodded. "Together," I said, and the word felt like a vow.
"I'm going to use the restroom. This anxiety is getting my bladder overworking," Sienna said, smothering her shirt with a palm. As she got up, I nodded at her before turning my eyes back to the screen before me.
"Be quick," I said, as she walked out of the office. I heard the door open and click shut, but I was too engrossed in what I was doing to pay attention to Sienna. I couldn't wait for the final battle to be over, and she would once again become the prioritized subject of my undivided attention. For now, I was all in to making sure that the rival cartel was wiped off the earth.... And perhaps that was a huge miscalculation on my part.
