Page 114 of Morally Corrupt

"He was a priest at the church that took me in after I left foster care. He's the one who helped me get back on my feet and train for the small league fights. Why would…" I trail off, not making sense of any of this. Why would Jimenez's man help me after his own boss killed my family?

"Maybe he wasn't working for Jimenez yet?" Bianca offers, and I shake my head.

"No, I don't think so. He never spoke with a Spanish accent back then, never even used Spanish words. If he wasn't under Jimenez, why try so hard to mask his speech?"

"But that would mean…" Bianca starts.

"That Jimenez has known who I am all along."

"Wait!" Bianca suddenly remembers something and puts her clutch on the desk, her fingers working the opening mechanism and removing what looks to be a memory card.

"Can you play this as well? Now that we know what he looks at, maybe we can get some clues from what my camera filmed." She hands the memory card to Vlad to plug it into his computer.

"I didn't know you were filming as well," I add.

"Cozying up to the enemy is only ever for information gathering. Let's face it. Enzo may be all nice and polite, especially given Martin's death in his house, but he's still going to be the enemy after this ends."

"Fair enough. I like that you're so thorough," I admit, my voice filled with admiration. And I am.

I don't know whether it's because she's stopped pretending or because she's drug-free, but this version of Bianca is competent and scary.

But I find that I like that too.

Vlad signals that the video has been downloaded onto the computer and plays it for us.

"Lucky we weren't there for long," Bianca adds drily, realizing that we can't just fast forward it as we did with the audio.

Our eyes glued to the screen, we keep watching.

"There. See that man?" Vlad points to the silver-haired man in the far right of the frame. "When is this?"

"It must have been when I was talking with Martin. He was watching him."

We continue to watch frame by frame, and the man appears a few more times in the background. Most of the time, he was in Martin's vicinity. There's one instance, though, when we were in the drawing room, the man was present, this time watching us.

"Shit!" Bianca curses and purses her lips. "Vlad, whatever you know about Jimenez, I think now it's time to spit it out. This is getting out of hand."

"You wound me, little goddess. So little patience."

"Vlad!"

"Fine, fine. I told you I'd give you the club he frequents. It's called The Block, and it's in Atlantic City. And it's a little more… on the wild side. Other than that, I know a few of his businesses, but honestly, half the time, the information I get on him ends up being a fake rumor."

"How do you know this club is legit, then?"

"I have very close sources that attest to the information."

"Perfect. I'll wait until the funeral, and I'm going," I say.

"We're going," Bianca corrects. "I'm not letting you go alone."

"I can handle myself just fine."

"Fine will get you killed. Don't worry, I'll be your bodyguard."

"Bianca… seriously?"

"I'm extremely serious. You're not going anywhere without me. And that's final." She folds her arms over her chest, suggesting the conversation is over.

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