The rage that thought brings is ice cold and absolutely focused.
"I want the two we captured alive," I say. "Get them to the interrogation room. No one touches them until I get there."
"Boss, you need stitches."
"After. First, I need to know who sent them."
I find Aurora in my bathroom, huddled in the corner with her arms wrapped around her knees. She looks up when I enter, and her eyes go wide.
"Oh my God, you're bleeding!"
"I'm fine. It's not as bad as it looks."
"You're lying. Axel, you're..." She's up, hands reaching for me, then stopping. "We need to get you to a hospital."
"I have a doctor here. He's probably already setting up." I cup her face with my non-bloody hand. "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay? You're the one bleeding!"
"I need to know you're safe. That's all that matters."
"I'm safe. I'm fine. But you..." Tears are streaming down her face now. "You could have been killed."
"But I wasn't. I'm here. We're both here."
I pull her into my arms, and she clings to me despite the blood. We stand like that for a long moment, both of us shaking.
"This has to end," she whispers. "This can't keep happening."
"It won't. Because I'm ending it."
I have no idea how, but I’ll end this very soon.
26
AURORA
The numbers don't add up.
I've been staring at Axel's financial records for three hours now, cross-referencing transactions against shell company accounts, and something is wrong. Very wrong.
"You're frowning," Viktor observes from across the office. He's been helping me navigate Axel's more complex financial structures, teaching me the ins and outs of money laundering on a scale I never imagined.
"Because something's off." I turn my laptop toward him. "Look at this. Every month for the past six months, there's beena transfer. Always the same amount. Always to this account number."
Viktor leans in, studies the screen. His expression darkens.
"That's not one of ours."
"I know. I've checked every shell company, every legitimate business, every offshore account. This doesn't match anything in the system."
"How much?"
"Two hundred thousand. Every month. That's over a million dollars total."
"Fuck." He pulls out his phone. "Boss needs to see this."
Axel arrives ten minutes later, looking exhausted. He's been running on maybe three hours of sleep since the attack two nights ago. The stitches in his side are still fresh, and I can see the pain in the way he moves.
