Page 5 of Taking Over the Dark

And then there’s Noah. Don’t let his name and his position as the hacker fool you into thinking he’s some frail boy.

No, he’s aman.

A big, fucking bulky, man.

He’s a good six-three normally, but with his signature platform Docs on, I have to look up slightly when talking to him. He’s covered in tattoos and has piercing after piercing covering his face. Let’s just say he doesn’t fit the typical hacker stereotype, and he doesn’t back down to Marcello in the slightest. That’s the wildest shit to watch.

“Boss Daddy. Here’s your update,” Noah says while handing over a manila folder to Marcello. The snort that escapes me has me immediately looking down at my feet. Once I’m not on the shit list of Barone, that’s what I’ll be calling him.

Boss Daddy has a nice ring to it.

Cello lets out a low grumble but doesn’t say anything else and heads over to the oversized office chair to sort through whatever Noah has found.

Then it hits me.

I was going through my texts with Alex right before he sent the footage, and I remember seeing something about our dads in there…

“Vin, will you reach into my pocket and get my phone out?” He looks at me like I’m dumb for a second but then does what I need him too without a word.

“Why’s the football mafia man still tied up?” Noah questions, and both of them ignore him. “Boss. Did you get the same email I got?”

“Yes, Noah,” Cello drones. “If you must know, Zamir here couldn’t keep his eyes to himself when I rolled my sleeves up and groaned like an animal. When anything along the lines of sexualacts should’ve been a distant thought.” Noah is just staring at him with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“Respectfully, Boss. I don’t know a single soul that wouldn’t have reacted like that. And I’m sure he’s worried about them too…” I don’t know what I did to get on Noah’s good side, but I could kiss the man right now for standing up for me.

“Zero, six, one, one,” I whisper the passcode to Vin and hope to fuck he doesn’t know what that is.

“Zamir… you know what, never mind. I’m not getting into the middle of this shit.” Vin knows damn well that it’s Ellie’s birth date that just unlocked my phone.

“Pull up the text thread from Alex,” I instruct him.

“Cello, can I please untie him? I can only take orders from one dickhead without wanting to spill blood.”

* Meet you at the Graveyard - Cleffy

* Motionless - Colorblind

SIX

MARCELLO

“If I let you go and you try some stupid shit, I will tranq your ass.” I watch as the confusion and disbelief crosses Zamir’s face, but he nods in agreement. Vin sadistically chuckles, knowing I’ve been waiting to use my tranq gun—and I’m sure he wants to watch me use it just as bad. He unties him, and Zamir grabs his phone and starts scrolling like his life depends on it.

I mean… it just might.

?*Once he finds what he’s looking for, he starts to walk toward me. After watching the footage from the stadium, I know it wasn’t him, but it still doesn’t give me the answers I need for the text messages Noah found sent to Nash’s phone. He got access to Nash and Ellie’s phones to see if there was anything on there that could tell us where they were, but the only thing he found was the text thread with Zamir on Nash’s. He had texted Nash, saying he was at home grabbing something and on his way back at the exact time the two men were snappin’ necks.

Zamir flips his phone around, handing it to me. I read the message on the screen from his cousin and see that it was sent when Z and Nash were playing.

Alex

Arben just located our dad’s in Vegas. I can’t hold them back anymore. I think they’re looking for their missing shipment.

“Where is Alex right now?” I ask immediately.

“Still back in Chicago, I believe.”

“Yeah, he is. I have a tracker on him and his little boy-toy hacker.” Noah wears a sly smile as he types away, acting like he didn’t say some wild shit that would normally be expected out of my mouth. It explains why he didn’t blink an eye when I told him about my obsession with Ellie and his willingness to help. He’s a nosey little bastard, too, and clearly has no boundaries either. I knew I liked him.