Kidnapped By The Italian Mafia

"Wait, he had you electrocuted?" Moira stared at me with her eyebrows raised. "The nerve!"

"I told you, he's a sadist," I placed a peach wedge in my mouth and chewed it thoroughly. "But it worked out in my favour."

"What, did it give you big muscles?" Connor rolled his eyes at me. "I canna see how it would be in yer favor."

"I discovered I like pain," the two of them blinked at me before looking at each other. "The thought was flitting around in my head for a whole but it's definite now."

"You owe me a twenty," Moira held out a hand while Connor grumbled silently to himself. "I knew you were a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t."

"I'm not a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t!" The indignation in my c.h.e.s.t swelled up at the suggestion. I wasn't a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t, I just liked it rough.

"Ye might hav'ta marry 'im, then," Connor grinned at Moira. "They might be a force ta be reckoned with. a regular power couple."

"That's the worst thing to ever come out of your mouth, Connor Jamison McBride," I smacked him across the back of the head, causing him to glare at me childishly. "I have so many plans and no idea how to execute them."

"Well let us help you," Moira sat upright as she always did whenever she was interested in something. "You practically own all of an entire continent already."

"By heritage, not by my own hard work. I can never seem to actually accomplish something impressive on my own," it s.u.c.k.e.d to always have things handed to me. I mean, yes, at first it was great but then it got super old because there was no personal development on my part.

"Well it's not like that can be helped. You're Katarina Montenegro, even if you wanted to take Europe as yours, you wouldn't have to work for it very hard. Salvador's reputation precedes him, and The Spanish Princess is part of that reputation. Everyone knows that you're set to inherit all his posts when he retires so people will literally line up to work with you."

Moira was right, it couldn't be helped.

"Also, yer in hidin'. If th' Italians catch ye sneffen' round their parts with intent o' formin' a coup, is over for ye," Connor was right as well. I had to be stealthy and precise, but it wasn't very much possible to do that when I had an entirely new face. Like this, I had to start from scratch, and even though it would be difficult, it wasn't impossible. This was what I wanted, wasn't it? A challenge. A battle of the wits. I wanted it to be difficult so that I could prove my worth as more than 'that mafia boss's daughter.' I would wear the title of the spanish princess and I would do it with pride because I did it for myself. Still, something was suspicious about this offer of help.

"You just want to move into the chateau, don't you?" Moira nodded her head vigorously while placing fruit in her mouth. Living with my friends would be an experience I was sure to remember for the rest of my life, but was this really what I wanted my plan to be? Sure, having the support would be a great help, but this wasn't something I could do with them, was it?

I had already placed myself in the line of danger, and to say that my life was at stake in the immediate moment wasn't even a slight exaggeration. Marco had an enormous ego, and one of his enemies giving him the slip because of his own stupidity would not go unpunished. He could be dumber than a sack of rocks sometimes.

"So what's yer plan?" Connor wished to know.

"I don't have one yet, but I'm making it up as I go along. My time here was more of a break than anything, but now break time is over and I have to gather manpower."

"We have manpower," Moira and Connor exchanged looks. I loved their willingness to help, but if I did accept their backup, it would have to be minimal. I didn't want to get them involved too much because my father would catch wind of it and start poking around, and even though he didn't know who Isabella VanBurren was, he would either find out very quickly, or kill me accidentally.

"Gathering resources to host a takeover in complete disguise isn't going to be easy. I know where everything is and how to get it but the Reapers aren't going to just let me waltz into the black market without knowing who I am," Isabella VanBurren had an entirely fabricated backstory, even down to the birth certificate. I had gone to painstaking lengths to tie any and all loose ends, including ones I had made myself. Isabella VanBurren had a place, date and time of birth, forged death certificates for her parents, forged orphanage records, forged adoption records, forged school records, graduation records, diplomas, even purchase records, receipts and bank records. It paid off to have friends in high places.

"Oh, right. Those Reaoers are really something," Moira clicked her tongue. The Reapers, as everyone called them, were basically gatekeepers for the black market and everything that had to do with the underworld. They would let people into the under worldly life, but they wouldn't let them back out. Much like the actual Grim reaper, the Reapers would find someone with eligible characteristics and lead them to the dark life. They knew everyone and everything.

Most importantly, they knew Katarina Montenegro. They did not know Isabella VanBurren, and someone they didn't know couldn't just show up unannounced and uninvited. They had to show up on the arm of someone the Reapers knew and trusted.

The thing was, Isabella VanBurren had nothing to do with Katarina Montenegro whatsoever, so I couldn't just say that they were friends if I showed up. No, the only way for me to get anywhere was to act through the shadows, but how the f.u.c.k was I meant to do that if the Reapers WERE the shadows?

"I think I'm going to start by sniffing out the groundwork in Paris. You just came from there, right? What do you think of it?" My gaze shifted between Connor's and Moira's. I had never actually been to Paris, even though France had seen my face a number of times before this. My preference had always been and would always be Monaco and Montpellier. Seafront cities with ample entertainment were my go-to choices, they always had been.

"There's definitely a lot of action there, wouldn't you say, Con?" Connor nodded in response. "Paris is like a hotspot for professional thieves and hackers. If you want something, you will find it there, certainly."

"Aye, but be careful ye don't get a scammer. There's a particular abundance o' those."

I had heard things about the city of lights from people who weren't tourists. Oftentimes the internet or other advertis.e.m.e.nts would pander to the tourism demographic, of which I was not one. The reviews I heard were from actual people who actually lived there or at least knew the depths of what took place other than visits to the Eiffel Tower or shopping for high fashion.

Even though my father didn't involve himself with trafficking, my uncle did, and from what I had managed to eavesdrop in the DiRusso house, Marco's family definitely did. I had no interest in mixing myself with the traffickers, mostly because I didn't want to be trafficked. Disguised as Isabella VanBurren, anything could happen to me because these weren't prosthetics, it was my new face.

"You'll need us to go with you," I shifted my eyes to look at Moira and saw her watching me with concern. "I know you're thinking of how to do it by yourself. No need, we'll go with you."

"But the Reapers know you. They know you work under Salvador, and they will report what they have seen. I can't have that," my father was still sniffing me out like a bloodhound. I loved my father, but he had a habit of inhibiting any progress I ever made on my very own. Even if I was the heiress to his fortune, it was I either worked with him, or not at all.

"I ken people in Paris," Connor bit into a slice of cantaloupe after he said it. "Out of Salvador's radar. They can help ye."

"Who are they?" Connor knew a lot of people, and it wasn't that I didn't trust him, but I didn't trust whoever he knew. "Can I present myself as Isabella?" My friends hadn't blinked twice when they saw me with a brand new face because this was the sort of thing I would do. It wasn't shocking, but it was unexpected enough that no a.d.u.l.t in their right mind would think to spot out.

"Yes, no worries abou' tha'. Just don't mention tha' you live out in th' country and ye will be fine."

"That's another thing—" Moira shifted to look at me head on. "Why did you move out to the country? You have more opportunity in the city."

"The country is more peaceful for me. Not as many prying eyes and I can do as I wish in peace."

Before completing the purchase of this estate, I reviewed all of my options thoroughly. On one hand, living in Saint-Étienne would be convenient because I would be in the heart of all the resources, but on the other hand it heightened my chances of being found by anyone looking for me, so it would have to be the estate.

"I guess that's true. If things go south you can cover things up more in the country."

"Right. Now, I have a question. When are you two going back to Scotland?" Maybe I would take them up on the offer to go to Paris, but I would need them to come with me at least for the first day.

"We planned on returning next week, but we're in no rush to get back," Connor let me know, much to my relief. That gave me enough time to come up with a plan. "Why?"

"I'm going to take up your offer for connections in Paris," but I would need some help. "I will bring some of my staff with me."

"Do you already know what you're looking for?" Moira, as always, was asking the important questions. I didn't really know what I was looking for yet, but I was sure that I would know in time.

"Yes," I lied through my teeth. "Now we just need to get there."

"When are you thinking?"

"Well," I turned to Connor. "Sometime early next week. But I need you guys to leave from Paris when you go. If you leave from Saint-Étienne, it will leave a trail of breadcrumbs and trouble. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they both said at the same time. Good. Now all I needed was strategy to avoid the Reapers.