Page 82 of The Syndicater (Dark Verse 6)

The woman smiled. "Oh, I've heard so much about you. Let me call Lex so you can meet him. He'll be so happy to see you!"

Nellie flagged one of the staff members, asking them to find Lex and bring him out. In the meantime, Dante introduced Alpha and let the two have a conversation about the place's running, how things were managed, and so on. He looked up at the camera, pointed at them, and nodded to one of the security guys.

"Get me the footage for the last twelve hours," he instructed.

"Yes, sir."

The guard left and entered the surveillance room to get the tapes just as a boy barrelled out toward them, his teeth crooked and exposed in a big smile.

"Xan!!" Lex came to a stop in front of his friend before hugging him tightly. Xander pat his back, which was the equivalent of a tight hug for him, and pulled back. Both the boys went to the side, Lex talking rapidly with loud gestures and Xander much quieter, more subdued. Nellie took Alpha on a little tour of the place, and Dante leaned against the wall outside, taking a cigarette out while waiting for the tapes. He had quit smoking, rarely doing it anymore at home, especially after Tempest was born. Sometimes, though, he liked to take a puff, especially when he was out and about.

He lit it up, taking a deep drag and letting the smoke roll out of his nose, looking around the beautiful property. The city he had called home all his life, that his daughter would call home, was becoming better since he had taken control. The violence had been curbed a lot more; his rules were strict—play dirty in his domain and die. The system might not eradicate the criminal elements, but he did, especially in his territory. There was only space for one criminal empire in Tenebrae, and that was his. The rest could stop or move.

"Have you talked to him?" Lex's voice reached Dante. Dante stayed still, realizing the boys were standing behind the wall he was leaning on, hiding him from their sight.

"Yeah," Xander said in a quieter voice. "He said everything was going as planned."

Dante's ears perked, honing in on the conversation. Who the fuck were they talking about? Could it be the guardian Amara had mentioned?

"Cool," Lex's tone was excited. "I wish he'd give me another task. I like being on cool secret missions. Since the morning he dropped us off, it's been soooo boring."

"Do you like it here?"

"Yeah," Lex nodded. "Everyone is nice. But there's no excitement. I want some more fun adventure, you know. The last time we had fun was when they all found us. That was like more than year ago!"

"You need to chill, Lex," Xander echoed Dante's thoughts. The boy had a lot more to him than met the eye. He focused on Xander talking. "Things are going as planned. It takes time for everything to happen. Don't make it difficult."

Lex laughed a little, almost like a little maniac. "I already broke a rule."

Xander's voice was serious. "What did you do?"

"I talked about him in therapy. Just a little mention. Nothing more."

Xander was quiet for a second before there was a slight thud on the wall, like he had pushed the other boy into it.

"Are you mad?" Xander hissed. "Why would you do that?"

"I was bored." Dante could hear the grin in Lex's voice.Well hell.The boy was a little chaotic and much more complicated than they'd suspected. More cunning than they'd given him credit for. What they'd thought was a slip of the tongue was a deliberate seed.

Who the hell were these boys?

Dante narrowed his eyes as he stared ahead, wondering why Xander had never said a word about any of it to any of them. Theboy loved his new family, that was pretty evident, but his loyalty wasn't fully theirs, not yet. He was in contact with someone else, in cahoots with someone else, and the instincts inside Dante were conflicted between protecting him and protecting his family.

"Fine," Lex grumbled. "Don't get mad. I won't do it again, Xan."

Xander stayed quiet.

There was shuffling before the boys came out from behind the wall. Lex blinked up at him innocently but it didn't fool Dante, not anymore. Xander stared straight ahead, his face grim.

The guard chose that moment to come through and hand him a drive with the footage with a laptop. Dante refocused, letting the matter of the boys go for now, and skimmed through the footage.

And just as he'd suspected, it was Chiara, the older, gorgeous, reptilian woman who had been unfortunately related to him. What was she doing back in Tenebrae, and why hadn't he been told about it, especially since he had an alert out for whenever she stepped into the city? Chiara might have had the face of an angel, but Dante had seen her prey on young boys in a manner that was demonic.

He thanked the guard, and once Alpha and Nellie came out, he thanked her, making a mental note to call her and let her know to keep an eye on Lex, but in a different manner now.

As he drove them back to the compound, his eyes going to the reflection and seeing the boy in the rearview mirror, wondering how much of what they knew about him was true and how much wasn't, once again wondering who the fuck he was and where he came from, Dante felt grim.

The boy was in contact with someone else. Morana would have to break her own code and hack into his phone.

They needed some fucking answers.

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