Page 108 of The Pakhan

“I think the Italians at least knew their system had been hacked. I don’t know about the men. There’s no trail or mention of them. That skull Ms. Randall mentioned? It came from the main intranet system located in the corporate headquarters of Marino Industries.”

I laughed softly. “Stefano is such an arrogant man. Okay, go on. What’s on the drive?”

“This is the fun part. At least Joshua wasn’t hedging all his bets. He was smart enough, like I would be, to realize that he could be considered collateral damage.”

“Nice,” Nikolay whispered.

“He captured correspondences?” I was getting somewhat excited.

“Yes, including what everyone thought were secure emails between certain people asking for his help, but Joshua went further. He dug into the responsible party’s computer systems as well, snagging information on who they were and their purpose. That’s where some of the data remains damaged, although I’m not giving up on salvaging that too.”

The kid was one of the best hires I’d made. “Go on.” I knew the talented young man was looking for accolades and he’d get them. His entire team would, but my patience was running out.

“He might have been discovered. I’m not sure about that. Let me pull up a few very interesting pieces of information.”

“Who was Francois in this cagey world?” Nikolay asked.

I sipped my drink. “Yes, I’m curious.”

Joe tilted his head. “Don’t quote me on this, but I think he was hired to be this organization’s cleanup crew. Paid very well to do so.”

“To the tune of two million dollars.” Hence what Caroline had heard.

Nodding, Joe studied me briefly.

“Tying up those loose ends,” Aleksander mused.

Sighing, I was more than eager to see what Joe had found, prepared to make a list. However, I’d already started filling it out in my mind.

“Here is one email that’s pretty incriminatory,” Joe said, pulling back so we could all take a look. I had to admit one of the names who’d signed off on the email I hadn’t expected.

“Fuck,” Aleksander said in a gruff voice.

The sense of a new presence behind me created a stiffness in my muscles.

As I turned my head, I could see the look of horror in Caroline’s eyes. She was struggling to breathe, her eyes flitting back and forth across the email. Damn it. This was the last thing she needed.

“Caroline,” I started and she threw out her hand.

“Just don’t. Okay? Just… don’t. I need some time to process.”

She was as stubborn as ever, but I didn’t blame her this go-around. To find out her own father was a part of what was going on would be damning for anyone.

As Aleksander glanced into my eyes, I smiled. I was already developing a vile plan.

The fuckers had no idea who they’d attempted to back into a corner.

I wasn’t just dangerous. I could turn into the worst kind of monster when it came to protecting those I cared about.

CHAPTER 28

Caroline

It wasn’t every day that someone found out their own father was a lying sack of shit.

Or that he’d been partially responsible for his daughter’s near death. Okay, so I hadn’t called either one of my parents. I’d known what they’d say.

“You’ve embarrassed us as I knew you would.”

---