Page 58 of Hell Breaks Loose

How the scouts had reported in, not just from Sanctum, but from other territories as well. And I gave him the rundown of who was staying in line, who was skimming. It was easy to find out once I started playing dirty.

At least one guy in every crew was more than willing to rat on their buddies for a payout or favor with the boss.

“Numbers are up on protection money out of Portland. The major players in the car racket want better lookouts, so I looked into getting them some cyber security. Hackers will do side hustles for relatively cheap. Cameras, police monitoring.”

“Decided to get your hands dirty while I was gone?” Marco smirks, sipping a cup of coffee after his dinner. I could tell he was skeptical.

Until he looked everything over the next day.

Saw the way the men were deferring to me.

Within two days, he was getting irritated with just how involved I had become. Funny thing about Marco. He loves ambition.

Until it starts to step on his toes.

And I figured out just how far to push to get him to want me occupied elsewhere.

Seeing to the management of the house was the first step. Once I had that, I moved on to scheduling his day and organizing his meetings.

Control freaks can’t take interference for long.

But I’m competent.

He couldn’t find many flaws. Still, I could see it wearing away at him.

At dinner my last night at the estate, I made my final move.

“So I was thinking, when you head down to San Fran this week, I might join you.”

“Why?”

“Expanding my knowledge base. Being seen.”

“And what if I don’t want you to be seen yet?”

“It’s got to happen eventually.”

“Or maybe you just want to make a run for it in a big city.”

“Seeing a big city does have its appeal, certainly. But I hardly want to run. I’m just getting started.” The smile I let play over my lips gave him pause.

“You really should keep your sights pointed northward, Hellena. Let me handle my empire for now.”

So I sighed and nodded, clearly not pleased.

“I’m restless here, doing no one any good. Isn’t there something I could do? Some piece of the puzzle we need to make progress on?”

“I was just thinking the same thing. I was thinking that it’s about time for you to share what you know about the Sinful with me. About the… holdings.”

“I told you before. I need to recover my father’s notes. We were on the verge of discovering the layout of the political infrastructure, their network of spies and government moles.”

I watched his eyes light up, even as he tried to hide it.

“And of course, the location of the mines.”

Hook. Line. Sinker.

“What do you propose, then? Clearly, you have a plan in mind.”

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