“A gift.”He nods toward the laptop on the table between us.A blue thumb drive sticks out from the USB port.“Two drives full of evidence that Luca was the one working against us all along.Recorded calls, conversations, video footage of him setting things up, including the villa attack and the ambush on us.He was the perfect Trojan horse.I never suspected him.Not for a second.”
Perfect indeed, because neither did I.“Any clues about the man on the outside?”
“Nope.”He shakes his head slowly.“Whoever left this wants us to figure it out ourselves.In all the phone conversations, there’s only one voice that was distorted on purpose.Which tells me it’s someone we would recognize immediately.And that’s the voice giving the orders, fed him directives.”He pauses.“As for the other voices… Two Uppermen, four Soldatis, and one junior member from the surveillance team.All are suddenly conveniently missing.Likely ran scared after seeing what happened to Luca.”
Taking a slow drink of my coffee, I gaze out over the backyard.“Luca was their chosen king, huh?Meant to ‘replace’ me.”
“According to the evidence, yeah.”He nudges the laptop toward me.“Listen to the recordings for yo—”
“Luca’s already dead.No point listening to him be a disloyal piece of shit.”I don’t even look at the screen.“Whatever’s on there will just piss me off.And I need to keep a clear head for whatever’s coming next.”
“You think it’s Red Cage helping us?”
“Nah.”I shake my head.“They’d never risk it withTHE O.”
“Then I don’t fucking get it.”He throws his hands up, frustrated.“Who left this, and why?Are they helping, or taunting?”
I know exactly who left it.But Lorenzo’s already looking at me like I’m deranged for admitting out loud that I felt Raya here last night, so I keep it to myself.He won’t believe it’s her.“Go get some rest, Lo.I’ve got a meeting with the Gregors at three.I’ll take over until then.”
Lorenzo stands, stretches his arms behind his back.“Just so you know, I blameyoufor all this disruption.If you hadn’t kept pushing the limits withTHE O,this would’ve all been handled clean without us ever knowing it happened.”
I wave him off.“Yeah, yeah.”
He’s about to leave when the chime from the front door echoes through the house.
A minute later, Cora appears.“Tazi and Eleni are asking to speak with you.They say they have information about Luca.”
“Doubt it’s anything we don’t already know,” Lorenzo mutters through a yawn.
“Bring them in,” I say.
In a few moments, Tazi and her wife are in front of me.While Tazi’s standing strong and undaunted as usual, Eleni’s shaking like a leaf, head bowed in either fear or remorse.
“What the fuck’s her problem?”I demand.
“Apologies, boss,” Tazi says, side-eying her with barely masked resentment.“She’s shaken up.In the wake of this morning, she came clean to me about something.And I want her to relay it to you herself.”
She elbows the trembling blonde beside her.“Tell them.”
Eleni stammers, “I-I-I didn’t want to—I-I—”
Before I can chuck my coffee mug at the blubbering idiot’s face, Lorenzo steps in and cuts to the point, “What did she come clean about?We don’t have time for this shit.”
Tazi notices my grip tightening on the mug and instinctively steps in front of her wife.“Raya found out Eleni was cheating on me with an Upper, and she used that information to blackmail her into hooking up with Luca, just so she could plant some kind of chip inside his belt.”
Lorenzo darts me a look.
Well, hell.Don’t I just love being right.Beating back a smile, I motion for Tazi to move out of the way.
She hesitates, but steps aside.
“Hey, look at me,” I tell her wife.
Eleni trembles harder.
“LOOK AT ME!”
She jumps in place, head snapping up, her fast-blinking eyes struggling to focus on me.
