Page 12 of Unbridled Fire
Chuckling, she nodded. “I’m definitely going to take you up on that.” Pulling the laptop closer, she pointed to the screen. “Okay, I’ve done some super-deep digging, and I think I’ve located the neighborhood the hacker lives in.”
“Whoa, that’s huge.” Leaning forward, I looked at the screen, which was dark with a lot of gibberish code I couldn’t read. “But I’m lost. What does it mean?”
“I’ve been tracking this asshole since I discovered he was surveilling us,” she said, leaning back as she explained. “I’m obsessed with finding him.”
I grinned, noticing her cheeks flush with excitement as she continued.
“Michael has me doing a lot of things, but I’ve been working in the background monitoring various Discord servers. Young menloveto hang out on Discord. I’ve been planting fake articles on several servers that young men would be interested in. You know, gaming servers, technology servers, etcetera.”
“This forty-year-old elder millennial is mostly with you so far,” I teased, pointing at my chest.
Laughing, she tapped her laptop. “I noticed a pattern where a handle on Discord was clicking various mafia articles, and sometimes he was sloppy and didn’t use a VPN or Tor, which would hide his IP address. I was able to trace the IP of that Discord handle to this neighborhood in Brighton Beach...”
She pulled up an open tab and tapped on the screen. “Right there. Someone who’s very interested in articles about mafia families lives there. I think our hacker lives on the corner of Brighton First Street and Neptune Ave.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I used to live near there, in Coney Island.”
“A lot of Russians and Eastern Europeans live there, so it makes sense our genius Russian hacker would too. I imagine a lot of bratva members live in Brighton Beach, and Michael has mentioned that Oskar Poska lives there.”
Tiny bumps rose on my skin at the mention of his name. I knew from the tragedy of Elena’s death that these were terrible men who thrived on eliminating anyone they considered enemies.
“Do you think we could turn the hacker?” I asked. “Maybe Michael could offer him some insane amount of money that he couldn’t refuse.”
“Anything’s possible, but we have to find him first.” Alexis pulled up her email. “I sent an encrypted email to Michael just before you got here with all the details. He’s going to assign Joaquin and Enzo to investigate and surveil the hacker’s neighborhood.”
I remained silent, the gears shifting in overtime in my brain. I knew Joaquin and Enzo would work quickly, but something deep within compelled me to investigate on my own. After all, these people were trying to put me in prison and turn me against Michael, and I wanted to see them with my own eyes. Maybe I could find a way to speak directly to this hacker and compel him to take a different path. I knew better than anyone that the bratva world was never safe.
“Oh, boy,” Alexis said, pursing her lips. “You want to track him down. Yikes. Michael won’t like that.”
I lifted my gaze to hers. “Says the woman who pulled a live bomb out from under a car.”
“Touché.” She patted my leg. “Hey, I won’t try and stop you, but I do want you to be safe. Nick can probably get you a gun if you want.”
“I’ve got pepper spray, a Swiss army knife and fifteen years of self-defense classes under my belt. I’m good.”
Alexis’s eyebrows lifted. “Badass. I’ll continue to gather all the intel I can, but I hope you’ll stay safe. I consider you a friend, which is rare for me, so I’d like you to stay alive.”
Breathing a laugh, I squeezed her wrist. “Same. You and your mom are awesome for accepting me. I’m looking forward to dinner on Friday.”
“You got her to make lasagna,” she said, her eyes widening with anticipation. “I can already taste it.”
“Can’t wait.” We rose and I drew her into a tight hug. “Thank you, Alexis. Please keep me updated.”
We said our goodbyes, and I headed to the foyer to call a rideshare. Burns, Michael’s house manager met me there, his eyes kind under his thick white hair. “We have an Uber waiting outside for you, ma’am.”
“Thanks, Burns. And maybe one day, you’ll call me Katia like I’ve asked you to.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, grinning as he gave a slow nod.
The ride home took about fifteen minutes, and my mind buzzed with the information I’d just digested.
Once home, I petted Sonya’s soft gray fur and changed into my yoga gear. I’d been doing hot yoga for years and absolutely loved it. It kept my body toned and cleared out the toxins.
Usually, I was able to let go during class, but today, I was distracted. After class was over, I walked home and showered, acknowledging the prick of uneasiness on my skin.
Sitting on my bed, I sighed. “You know you’re going to go investigate, so just do it, Katia. You’ll never sleep otherwise.”
Resigning myself to my fate, I dressed in comfortable, dark clothing and headed to Brighton Beach to try and get a glimpse of the hacker who was unleashing hell on my life.
