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“Tell me.”
Leo wiped his hand over his face, looking much older than his years. “The Syndicate is lethal about its privacy. Anyone who worked with them knew that speaking about it meant certain death. We had a contact, a handler, at the Syndicate during the Alliance when the first shipment was being planned.” Amara felt ants crawling up her skin at the casual way he referred to innocent children as ‘shipment’. She stayed silent, letting him continue. “We had a meeting with him to discuss further action. It was later that I discovered that Talia, Dante’s mother, had overheard the meeting.”
Pieces fell into place. “So you killed her.”
He shook his head. “No. Lorenzo grew very fond of her actually. They’d had a rough start but over the years things became good for him. We decided to keep it quiet and protect her. She became antsy after that but we were containing the situation. Except we didn’t realize another thing about The Syndicate – they always plant their people where they’re dealing. One of our soldiers was their spy, and one day, he went into her studio and made her slit her wrists while holding the gun to her son’s head.”
“Oh god,” Amara clapped a hand over her mouth, the shock of the words hitting her. She felt her heart bleeding for the woman, for little Damien, for Dante.
The wind swept over her exposed arms, chilling her to the bone, her eyes taking in the sincerity on the older man’s face.
“I’m sorry,” Leo said, his voice deep, and hesitated. “It was to teach Lorenzo a lesson, to keep him in line. There were bigger fish in the sea than he was.”
“What happened to the spy?” Amara asked, her hand fisting the fabric of her dress.
“After the assassination and Lorenzo’s cooperation, the spy got promoted in the Syndicate and became our handler. Any work, any news, any report, he was our contact.”
The hesitation in Leo’s demeanor had a rock lodging itself on Amara’s chest.
This was bad. Whatever this was, it was bad.
“Say it,” she whispered, hoping it wasn’t what her mind was telling her. She felt Vin’s hand come on her shoulder in support, and took a deep breath, steadying herself.
“When we caught you eavesdropping, we had to report it to him,” Leo said, his eyes regretful. “He-”
A shot rang out, a bullet hitting him right between the eyebrows, and Amara screamed, her throat straining. Vin ducked, pushing her down to the floor, and Amara kept her eyes on the dead body of the man who had been partly responsible for her abduction.
A wave of dizziness swept through her, and she realized she’d been holding her breath for too long. Gripping the marble at her side, Amara felt her eyes begin to burn, her jaw shaking with the effort of keeping in the scream in her throat, memories, horrific memories, assaulting her.
What had he been about to say?
Guards came running to the gazebo, along with some guests from the party. Amara sat up on the floor, the chill from the marble seeping into her bones.
“Amara!” Dante’s voice thundered through the ground as he ran towards her, his eyes panicked.
He dropped on his haunches as soon as he reached her, his hands going to her face, his eyes running over her body. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay? Fuck, Amara talk to me!”
Amara shuddered, hanging onto his hands. “I’m okay. We’re okay,” she reassured him and watched his eyes harden as he turned to Vin. “I want to know where the bullet came from and which motherfucker fired it.”
Vin gave him a quick nod before running towards the mansion, and Amara turned to Dante, watching the deep pools of darkness in his eyes, wondering how she was going to tell him what she’d learned.
“So, wait, let me get this straight,” Morana said over the video filling her phone screen. “This MrX dude who ordered your abduction was an Outfit soldier before he became a Syndicate spy? He got promoted for killing Dante’s mom? Wow, that’s a different level of fucked up. How did Dante take it?”
Amara sighed, stroking Lulu’s fur in her lap. “How do you think?”
“Not well, I’m assuming?” Morana winced, the penthouse lit up behind her.
“He’s been having meetings in his office for the last few hours,” Amara told her. “I think my being so close to the bullet shook him.”
“It’d shake anyone, Amara. Especially after finding out what he did about his mom,” her expressive eyes softened in sympathy for him. She got distracted for a second on screen, looking to the side. “One second, Amara,” Morana said before moving to the side. “No, no, that’s not how you do it, Xander. Put the basic code in and open the file. Yeah, that’s it. Well done, you! High five!”
Amara felt her eyebrows go up. Xander was what, eight? And he was talking code with Morana? What the hell?
Morana came back on screen, a huge smile on her face. “Sorry, Xander needed some help.”
“How’s he doing?” Amara asked, curious about the boy.
Morana shrugged. “Not the best, if I’m being honest. He’s not talkative at all but boy, he’s freaky intelligent. Like even I wasn’t doing the shit he’s doing at his age. He likes to sit with me when I’m working, seeing all the codes and stuff. But doesn’t talk, except to maybe ask a few questions. Just my luck huh? Stuck with two guys who barely grunt,” she ended on a little laugh, shaking her head.
