Page 52 of The ARC Unit: Breach

Raven didn’t answer immediately.

“Not recently.”

That answer decided it for me.

“We tell Wolf.”

Raven held up one finger. “You have spent two days lecturing everyone about assumptions. We are not walking over there and announcing that Kade is attending a pool party because Luca Bellandi likes champagne.”

“I wasn’t going to say Kade is attending.”

“Your face was.”

“Everyone here needs to stop reading my face.”

“Then develop a worse face.”

We verified what we could and it was still circumstantial, but it was definitely harder to dismiss now than it had been an hour earlier.

By the time we brought the information to Wolf, my ponytail had given up completely. I pulled the elastic free as Raven loaded the estate images onto the main screen, and my dark hair fell over my shoulders in waves that had become thicker and less cooperative as the day went on. I ran my fingers through the front and twisted one side behind my ear, then realized Wolf was already standing at the end of the table watching Raven’s screen.

He had showered after training and changed into a black t-shirt with dark cargo pants, but the mask remained. The snake coiled around his exposed forearm as he braced one hand against the table. He glanced my way when I sat down and I couldn’t tell whether he had noticed my hair or the dried mud along my shoes.

Raven then brought up the payment chain.

“Aster Private Events. Legitimate company, as far as we can tell. One Cerberus-linked shell has paid them four times. Two previous payment dates line up with events where people from Kade’s wider financial network later surfaced. Fourth payment was eleven days ago.”

I’d noticed that whenever the team briefed Wolf, they kept it tight and gave him only what he needed. Wolf looked toward the estate image.

“And this is the event.”

“Three days from now,” Raven said. “Private estate. Restricted guest list but we have a partial.”

I slid Luca Bellandi’s file across the table.

“Bellandi is confirmed,” I said with Raven’s short cadence. “No direct Kade link, but his firm touched two companies that later moved Cerberus money. Another guest has a logistics connection already in the chart.”

Wolf read the page.

“Could be nothing.”

“Absolutely,” I said.

His eyes lifted toward me, perhaps surprised that I hadn’t argued.

I continued. “It could also be the first place we’ve found before everyone important has already left.”

Wolf looked back at the screen.

Hawk and Viper had joined us without my noticing. Bear came in from the garage a moment later, wiping his hands on a shop towel, and Jackal abandoned the couch as soon as he realized something operational was happening.

Wolf enlarged the estate map.

“Road access?”

Raven brought up the satellite view. “Main entrance south. Service road east, probably staff and deliveries. North side backs into wooded elevation.”

Wolf looked toward Hawk.