Page 79 of Daddies of the Underworld

I followed her over with my mouth against her hair. I was not foolish enough to think that one conversation and one desperate round of sex on a couch would fix what we’d broken, but the honest conversation helped bridge the chasm.

We returned to the dining room after pulling our clothes back on, though they were considerably more wrinkled than before.

Nina resumed her seat beside Dante, cheeks flushed and hair mussed. “What did we miss?”

“I’ve been following a new line of thinking. One we attempted to track once, but it was based on the wrong motive.” He tapped the laptop keys, opening a financial map with dozens of lines branching through the shell companies. “We first asked who benefited most from the money. I believe the money itself was not the motive. Fracturing the alliance was. After the summit fell apart, three transport corridors changed temporary control. Two shell companies bought out distressed debt at a discount. Different hands on paper but the same beneficiary if you follow through on the back end.”

“Who?” The question tore out of my chest with enough vehemence Nina took my hand and squeezed.

“Viktor Orlov.” Dante growled the name. “Once I had access, I hacked his system. You need to see this.” He clicked a file, and images popped on the screen. “I checked his system right after Nina disappeared. It was clean then. The device routing the images matches the relay used in Marco’s messages.”

“Fuck.” My hand tightened around Nina’s as image after image opened on the screen.

“I put another team on retrieval. They should be sending information soon.” As though conjured by his words, an email popped on the screen. Dante opened it.

Luca cursed until he lost his breath.

I couldn’t move. If I moved, I’d shatter. If I moved, I’d tear out of here and murder Viktor with my bare hands. While that might solve our immediate problem, it created more that put Nina in even more danger.

Because on Dante’s screen, were images of Sofia. Hundreds of them spaced out over the course of two years.

28

LUCA

Viktor was fucked. I didn’t care how long it took, I was going to find a way to take him down. It all came back to the money.

I had three laptops open, two secured phones approved by Matteo beside my elbow, and Viktor's financial network spread across my screens.

If there was one thing I understood, it was money. I grew up knowing money was a weapon, and occasionally the only difference between eating dinner and pretending sleep counted as food.

Viktor understood that too.

Unfortunately for him—but fortunately for us—I was better at following it.

Matteo stood at the far end of the table with his sleeves rolled to his forearms and a legal pad covered in neat columns. He had been making notes for three hours without sitting down. Dante leaned against the wall near the doorway, close enough to hear every word and watch the hallway at the same time. Nina sat across from me with Sofia's purple blanket folded in her lap, twisting the corner of it around one finger until the fabric wrinkled.

“Show me the Cypress company again.” Matteo tapped the end of his pen against the table and stared at his notes.

“You know, under other circumstances, I love being ordered around by a beautiful man.” I smirked at Dante when he rolled his eyes at me. “Don't give me that look, you know this is how I cope.” I pulled the file back onto the main screen. “Officially the Cyprus company bought a stake in a logistics group after the summit fell apart.”

“And it's confirmed that Viktor bought the debt of the freight broker in Rotterdam. The broker paid consulting fees to a dead man in Warsaw.” Matteo stopped tapping his pen.

Dante's jaw flexed. “While we were fighting to keep the alliance from fracturing, Viktor was doing his best to tear it all apart.”

I brought up another transaction. “He did not need to own the alliance. He needed us weak enough that people started taking their loyalty elsewhere.”

Dante swore under his breath.

“Exactly.” I leaned back and rubbed one hand over my jaw. “He made money, yes, but the better price was leverage.”

The old theft had always bothered me. According to Nina, Marco was messy. He might panic and lie, but the evidence against him had always been too clean. I pulled the next file onto the screen. “This is where it gets worse.”

I'd thought Nina couldn't get any paler but somehow, she managed. “Worse how?”

“Twelve hundred euros were transferred three days after the theft.” We'd noticed this before but dismissed it as an error. It wasn't until Nina confirmed Marco’s preference for cash that we took a second look.

Nina stared at the screen for several seconds. “You think it was Marco.”