The Italian's Final Redemption - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,9

should I? I can take your laptop and turn it over to my forensic specialists right now. They can crack any encryption within—’

‘No, they can’t,’ she interrupted flatly. ‘Not the encryption I put on the information on the laptop. No one can crack it except me.’

An unaccustomed irritation rippled through him. Being interrupted was not what he was used to and especially not being interrupted by people he was going to turn in.

Most especially when those people were small women who were afraid of him and yet couldn’t quite stop themselves from challenging him.

It...intrigued him that she couldn’t and spoke of a certain courage. Unless she was stupider than he’d initially suspected. But no, he didn’t think she was stupid. A woman who’d escaped a violent crime lord like Michael Armstrong would never be stupid.

‘Then you won’t mind handing it over and letting my specialists take a look,’ he said mildly, deciding to let the interruption go.

‘Any attempts to access the data without the passwords will result in all the data being deleted automatically.’ She glared owlishly at him from behind her glasses. ‘So I guess if you want to risk losing it all, then that’s up to you.’

No, definitely not stupid at all.

Vincenzo’s irritation deepened, along with the curiosity he’d been trying not to pay any attention to. It stretched out inside him, lazy and subtle, making him think of questions. Such as, how had she managed to escape her father? And why had she come to him now? What made her think he would protect her? If she’d done her research, she must have known he’d simply hand her over to the authorities, surely?

You could give her a week. What would it matter in the long run? You’ll turn her in eventually. And in the meantime you can get everything you need to know from her about Armstrong.

It was true, he could. And there were other things he could get from her too. If she was indeed the reason Armstrong had evaded all his traps, perhaps he could use her to entrap others. Because, after all, he had a long list. And hadn’t he made the decision to employ hackers in his IT section to make sure their own online security was watertight? Use a criminal to hunt down other criminals... Why not?

He was a patient man. A week was nothing.

Vincenzo studied her carefully, taking his time. He kept his finger tapping on the arm of his chair and saw her attention zero in on it. A useful distraction technique.

She was still hunched in her chair, narrow shoulders collapsing in on themselves like the wings of a bird trying to hide itself beneath its own feathers.

It didn’t surprise him. Armstrong was a man much given to casual cruelty and there had been many rumours about his first wife and her death years ago. Rumours that only made Vincenzo even more determined to bring the man down.

He didn’t have any particular sentimentality towards women—he knew that they could be just as ruthless and cruel as men, and he’d had personal experience of this—but he despised physical cruelty. It was the weapon of the weak, in his opinion, and he had no doubt that Michael Armstrong was one of those weak men who needed to use it in order to enforce his power over people.

Had Armstrong used it on his daughter? Was that why she was hunched in her chair trying to make herself small? Was that why she was so afraid of himself?

Why are you thinking about her like this? She’s his daughter and a criminal, and now she is a tool you can use.

All very good points.

He moved, sliding his ankle off his knee and leaning forward, elbows on the desk. He watched her reaction as he did so, observing how her eyes went wide and how she held herself very still in her chair, her knuckles whitening even further on her handbag.

Yes, this little brown bird was very afraid. And of him.

Yet, for all that, she watched him very intently, as if he was a large cat stalking her. And, yes, there was fear, but it was clear to him that she also had a stubborn, determined spirit that wouldn’t let her give in. An interesting combination.

Why? Since when are you intrigued by the people you bring to justice?

Vincenzo ignored that thought, since he didn’t have an answer to it. Instead, he held her fixed hazel gaze with his and said, ‘You are enterprising, Miss Armstrong. I’m