Page 71 of Savage Little War

“Screenshot everything. Transfers, incoming deposits, account numbers—anything linked. Reach out to Owen if you need extra help. He’s good at digging up information that people don’t want found,” I tell Mark.

Mark nods and whistles loudly. “We’re done.”

I turn back to Devon and click my tongue. “You could’ve helped us out. I might have spared you.”

Another shiver passes through Devon as he sinks back into the chair, trying to put as much distance between us as he can. “You’re lying. You would’ve killed me anyway!”

“I’ve spared people before,” I say, leaning in. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

Devon parts his lips to speak, but I slash at his throat with one clean swipe, blood pouring down the front of his shirt as he lets out a string of strangled gurgles. His hands twitch as he tries to reach for his throat, but the zip ties keep him subdued.

All he can do is struggle as the light fades from his eyes.

“Leo, Ivan, clean this up,” I tell them, already hearing them pull open cabinets and drawers to look for supplies. “Mark, you and I will pay our Irish friend a visit.”

“Yes, sir,” Mark replies.

I turn away from Devon and walk out of the house. I never expected to regularly collaborate with the Irish on issues, but whoever hurt Cara is a threat to us all. This is a bigger problem than we ever thought possible.

Luckily, we’re also smarter and more resourceful than our enemies give us credit for.

“Alright, I had to dig deep for this, but I think I found where the payment for the hit came from,” Owen tells us as we gather in his home office. He points to the deposits listed in Devon’s deposits on his bank account. “Here it is.” He taps the screen. “Key Consults.”

“Key Consults? What the hell is that?” Mark asks from my right as we stand behind Owen’s office chair.

“Shell company,” Owen says. “And it’s nested inside a chain of shell companies.”

“So, whoever owns them or works for them is who paid for the hit?” I ask him.

“Most likely,” Owen says as he clicks around, bringing up generic looking websites on his three-monitor setup. “They’re covers. All these are basic companies that no one would give a second look at.”

“Can you find out who owns them? We need to figure out who came after Cara and shot Sean,” I tell him, urgency breaking through my voice.

“I’m working on that,” Owen replies with a faint sigh. “Whoever built this knew what they were doing.”

“Of course,” I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck in frustration. Every time we get close, we run into another damn brick wall. “How long do you think it’ll take for you to crack this?”

“Give me the night,” Owen says, already typing. “If you lend me one of your smarter guys, maybe we can get it done faster.”

“Call in Dex. He’s mostly tech, but maybe he can lend a hand,” I tell Mark.

Mark nods and takes his phone out of his pocket as he steps away.

“Any instincts?” I ask Owen.

Owen’s eyes don’t leave the three screens as his fingers move over his keyboard. “About who ordered the hit? All of the shell companies were so generic that none of them gave me any hints. It could be one of the Italians still trying to cause trouble.”

“I’m pretty sure we killed all who were involved,” I reply, prompting Leo to nod in agreement.

Owen pauses to raise an eyebrow at me. “You can say that with a hundred percent certainty? Every single Italian who hates the Bratva and the Irish?”

I scoff a little. “Well, if there is a straggler who is stupid enough to fuck with us, we’ll take care of them.”

“We’ll find out who is behind this,” Owen says as he turns back to his setup. “In the meantime, stay off public sidewalks.”

I should just lock Cara up in the penthouse from now on to mitigate the risk, but what kind of life is that? She would never forgive me. Besides, how can we raise a family like that?

Before we can have a life together, we need to drag our enemies into the light.