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“Is this because of what happened with Vitello?” Emma asked.
“Most likely. I heard his system was a complete mess; everything was on paper and either outdated or redacted.”
“Redacted? To avoid the feds?”
Ana nodded. “Anything that’s documented is liable to be found by the feds. And if they do, it’s all over for us. I don’t trust any of our politician buddies to save us.”
A flash of unease crossed Emma’s face, which made Ana regret her rant.
Unlike Ana and Antonio, Emma wasn’t from the Family. She was an outsider, who had gotten sucked in through the Daily Couture. The fashion line was fairly above-ground and safe. But Emma’s role had expanded to other areas over the years. With that, so had her risk.
Ana tried to give her an encouraging smile but worried her lip when Emma didn’t react. There were many times when she’d feared her friend would abandon ship. That the risk of being in the Family would become too much to bear. But Emma hadn’t resigned–yet.
Emma shrugged off the flash of fear, asking, “That’s why our online ordering system got shut down?”
“Yeah, it would’ve been traceable by the feds,” Ana said begrudgingly. “If Gio and Luke find a better system, maybe we can revisit that option and start hiring for a web developer.”
“I hope so.” Emma perked up. “I did see some good web staff on that Vitello payroll list. But, as you said, Vitello’s records are shit. He redacted everything except staff initials and numbers. I tried calling one employee, who had no idea what I was talking about. When I gave him the initials from the list, he got cagey and hung up.” Emma rolled her eyes.
“No one’s going to admit anything on the phone.” Ana sighed. It was too easy to record conversations these days.
“Why don’t you give it a try?” Emma tilted her head, tapping her fingers on the desk. “Most people in the Family don’t know me. They may trust the Boss’s wife more.”
Impressed, Ana agreed and jotted down a reminder for herself.
She noticed Tony was busy typing on his phone, totally checked out of their conversation. When the housekeeper appeared at their doorway, announcing Luke’s arrival exactly on the dot, he scrambled to his feet and helped them as they began organizing their laptops and files.
“Thank you for coming out here,” Ana said with a smile.
She gestured for Luke to be seated in the dining room at the Mancini house, which had been turned into a makeshift office for their meetings that morning.
They all settled around the gleaming mahogany dining table, with Luke sitting directly across from her. His looming figure set off a small set of tremors along her hands. Every inch of him was packed with muscle, honed over years as a soldier. But he was dressed in a more corporate manner today.
It was strange seeing the buff man squeezed into the stiff and regal suit. Like a wild animal in a costume.
What was most unusual, though, were his features. He was not remotely Italian, not with his dark coloring and wide-set face. But it was unclear where he came from. No one had ever heard of his origins.
Noticing her stare, Luke smiled–or rather, his best impression of a smile. The effect was positively scary. She curled her hands in her lap skittishly. Being around such an intimidating man, one who could easily annihilate everyone in the room within a blink of an eye, was nerve-wracking. No matter how polite Luke endeavored to be, all she could picture were his large hands wrapping around her throat.
“You have to share some tips, man.” Antonio gestured to his biceps admiringly.
Luke looked thrown. “Err…sure.” Clearly, without any intention of doing so. Then, as if remembering Antonio’s rank in their faction, Luke collected himself. Pasting on that same freaky smile.
Even Emma looked perturbed.
“Boss must’ve shared the reason for my visit.” He turned to Ana, who confirmed it. “I just wanna get a sense for what each business does now for keepin' records and anything we can do to improve. Not to interfere in your operations.”
A well-rehearsed script. Gio must have advised him not to alarm the business owners with talks of an overhaul. Though she suspected that was their end goal.
“Happy to help.” Ana smiled. “What do you need?”
As he rattled off a list of questions, she was able to answer most of them for the Daily Couture. Emma also chimed in every so often to provide the relevant details and turned around her laptop to share the various spreadsheets she was maintaining for the fashion line.
Both women answered a handful of the same questions for the gold business without stepping on Tony’s toes. Gio knew she was helping her cousin, but she wasn’t sure how much Luke or the other men knew. Hers and Emma’s involvement wasn’t something she wanted to broadcast. Thankfully, Tony held his own well enough.
Luke jotted down quick notes in a small pocketbook before stuffing it in his suit jacket.
“If we’re getting a new central system, it needs to have at least two-factor authentication,” Emma advised, sliding her glasses back on her nose. “Also, data encryption is key, especially for tax records and employee identifiers. I hope we’ll be getting a demo of whatever application you end up finalizing?”
