My head spun lightly as I ran my finger across the necklace’s large diamond pendant. It was one of the most extraordinary pieces I’d ever seen, and now it was back where it belonged. I handed it to Elira, the woman who had fought and sacrificed for years to win back her empire from corrupt men, and she tucked it into the small cloth bag at her waist.

“To Arta and Sienna for making this possible,” she said, lifting her champagne.

The gentle clinking of glass filled the air, and my cheeks flushed. I wasn’t used to being recognized for my hacking, and it made me feel like I could float away on the humid Parisian night air.

Elira, Kaltrina, Arta, Zara, Artemis, and I were celebrating our victory in our apartment’s private rooftop garden. I took another sip of the drink Arta had made. Her lips had quirked into an almost-smile when she handed it to me, which made me feel like I’d won the lottery. Getting her approval, making a real difference, meant everything, especially after Matteo’s poor reaction when he’d first found out I wanted to be a hacker for the Family.

“You need to show me how you figured out that patch,” Zara said. “I’d barely identified the problem by the time you’d fixed it.”

“Of course.” I sat straighter, preening at her admiration. I wasn’t a modest or humble person, probably a result of growing up in such a powerful family, but the admiration I usually received centered on my looks, and it was hard to know if compliments were genuine or if they were given out of a desire to gain proximity to power.

“How did you learn all of this?” Artemis asked. She’d regaled us with a play-by-play of her dinner with Claude until we were all crying from laughing.

“It actually started with the game CozyScape,” I said.

Arta snorted into her glass. She had already heard this story, but it wouldn’t stop me from telling it again.

“What? The one where you build a town?” Zara asked.

I grinned. “Yeah. I was in college and wasn’t sure what I wanted to study, but I loved that game. There was an online forum where players showed off the secret items they’d unlocked for their towns because they knew coding basics, so I signed up for an intro computer science class on the spot.”

“You’re kidding me,” Zara scoffed.

I shrugged. “What can I say? I really wanted that expansion pack. By the end of the semester, my virtual family had custom furniture, their farm had been upgraded to grow heirloom tomatoes, and I enrolled in three more classes.”

Coding just worked with my brain. There was enough problem-solving to keep me interested while still coming easily enough to keep me from getting frustrated. In my second year, I signed up for Introduction to Ethical Hacking because the name sounded cool and was immediately hooked. I took all the available courses on hacking and cybersecurity, endured my friend Leona’s many jokes about penetration testing, and by senior year, I won one of the most competitive hackathons in the world. I’d entered anonymously under the name Hedgehog, which Leona and I had come up with as a joke one night while under the influence of gummies from the local dispensary—but once I won, the name stuck.

While everyone in the hacking community was trying to figure out the identity of the Hedgehog, Sienna Rossi quietly graduated from NYU with a degree in business and a transcript that listed zero computer science or cybersecurity classes. Hacking into the university’s record system to erase my course history had been like my own personal final exam. I passed with flying colors, if I said so myself.

“I seriously can’t believe you became one of the top hackers in the world because of CozyScape,” Zara said while taking a drink. “Do you still play?”

“Hell yeah. I’m one of the top players in the world.” Number two, to be exact. It was my life’s mission to defeat the number one player, C0zyBrODeezNuts. They were my nemesis, and I was determined to crush them if it was the last thing I did.

“Is most of the work you do for your family?” Elira asked.

I gazed off into the distance where the Eiffel Tower had just started sparkling. I’d seen it countless times the past few days, but it never got old.

“No. I’ve focused on my freelance career.” I downed the rest of my drink, the alcohol warming my stomach.

I’d kept my real studies a secret from Matteo. After I graduated, I revealed everything to him—what I’d really studied, the hackathon, all of it—and told him I wanted to be a hacker for the Family. I thought he’d be proud of me and excited about how useful I could be, but he’d lost his shit. He screamed at me for the first time that night, eyes wild with rage. Why have I fucking done all of this, claimed this city, if I can’t protect you from it?

He’d apologized a few days later, but had stayed firm that I would never work for the Family.

It was fine. Fine.

I’d kept learning, taking jobs on the dark web for money and going on unpaid side quests whenever I needed an extra hit of dopamine. Everyone in the hacking community knew of my reputation, but it still stung that no one in my life knew the extent of what I did. Being surrounded by these badass women, who, at least for the sake of this mission, had seen me as one of their own, was more affirming than I’d ever imagined.

Arta made a noise in the back of her throat. She’d made it clear many times how she felt about Matteo’s efforts to shelter me. “Are you going back home tomorrow?”

I sighed. “I guess I have to.” What a waste to come all the way to Paris and only see the inside of a single apartment, but the mission was complete and the other women were flying back to Albania tomorrow.

Elira sat back in her chair, elbows on the armrest. “You could stay.”

My eyes snapped to hers. Matteo had only agreed to let me come because Elira promised I would be under her protection the entire time.

She shrugged, a wry smile playing on her lips. “You’re a grown woman, Sienna.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t give a fuck about making my brother angry, do you?”

It was strange to be reminded that not everyone deferred to my brother. I’d always been surrounded by Mafia men. Some of them, like Romeo, I even considered friends, but I could never escape the reality that they were loyal to my brother first and foremost. Even Leona, my best friend from college, had to get Matteo’s permission to enter New York City because of her position in the Irish Mob.

Elira snorted. “What you do with your life is your choice. Besides, we haven’t seen any signs of trouble in the city the entire time we’ve been here.”

Maybe it was the alcohol or the peaceful night or being surrounded by women who had won their own freedom through years of careful plotting, but the world felt filled with possibilities.

By the time we said our goodbyes and parted ways, I had already booked a hotel room through the end of the weekend and texted Sofiya to let her know my return flight was on Monday.

I smiled as I turned off the small lamp on the nightstand and got into bed. I had dreamed of having a single day to explore Paris, and now I’d bought myself three days without bodyguards or surveillance. Three days where I could just be Sienna, shopping and eating my way through the city.

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