Page 122 of Rise of the Queen

“Not as fast as I was. I’m still trying to get it back, but it’s coming.”

“Keep training like you did the other day and Ivan won’t have to hold back at all with you,” he said, patting my hand as we continued our house tour.

Once we were back with everyone else, Battista filled us in on what he’d found out about Ricardo and the other three bosses.

“We don’t know exactly when yet, but Niko and Vito are planning on returning to the city. We don’t even know exactly why they’re returning to the city, but we think it’s because the underbosses have stopped collecting the taxes in their absence. They’re running short of cash,” Battista said.

“The underbosses have been keeping very low profiles,” Ivan said. “They heard what happened to Anthony, Lorenzo, and Massimo. They’re scared.”

“They also know no one has seen Armando or Dario in months. The rumors abound about what happened to those two,” Stephen said.

“You have them both, no?” Battista asked. Adrik simply nodded his head, which kept the rest of us from saying anything further.

“We have eyes on all of them, so when Niko and Vito leave, we’ll be able to notify you. I’m not sure if you want to pick them up at the airport or let them come back to the city,” Battista said.

Adrik was quiet for a moment, which meant he was weighing his options. “If we let them come back to the city, it might lull them into a false sense of security. We can also see just how loyal those underbosses are going to be. My guess is not that loyal, given that they’ve all taken a vacation while the bosses have been away. Might be fun to crush them a little bit before we grab them,” Ivan said.

“What are your plans for them? Same as Armando?” Vitaliy asked.

I could feel Adrik’s anger just under the surface as he thought about what to do with Niko and Vito. Battista didn’t know about his eyes changing or Ivan’s eyes changing yet. Tonight might be the night he found out.

He looked to me, asking for my thoughts. Instead of saying anything, I just thought about Stephen breaking Niko and Vito the same way he did Armando. I saw the look on Adrik’s face that meant my eyes had changed to purple. It was half enchantment, half disappointment. He looked back at his father, nodding his head once.

“Where are you at with the mayor? That could help determine your plan for Niko and Vito,” Battista asked.

“He’s currently looking through most of what we have on Ricardo. We kept back some of it until we know for sure he’s willing to move on it. We told him we have Dr. Moretti. He was going to meet with his DA to see what they could actually charge him with. Since no one but Sephie can remember him, it’s difficult to charge him there. There’s also no evidence that he’s the one who created brawn, past what Sal’s security guy told us. I’m not turning him over if he’s going to walk free,” Adrik said.

“We checked out the DA. He’s also good. At least for now. If there’s a way to charge him, he’d be willing to do so.” Battista thought for a minute more, adding, “Perhaps we can help them find evidence that will hold up in court. Has anyone been to Sal’s house since he left?”

“No. He’s still got security there, the last time we checked. But I can’t say I wouldn’t like to go take a look to see what we could find,” Viktor said.

“How much security? Can you guys get past it?” Battista asked. “I only ask because I know Ricardo likes to keep records. If Sal has been working with him, then he will also like to keep records. What we’re looking for could very well be in his house.”

“I’ll have a team check it out in the morning,” Viktor said. “Depending on how many guys he has on the house, we might be able to get in and get out without anyone knowing.”

Misha clapped his hands together. “I love breaking and entering.”

Three days after we met with Battista, we were all on our way to break into Sal’s house in the middle of the night. He did have security on his house, but it was minimal. Our guys watching the house said the night shift would usually fall asleep, if they showed up at all, so it should be an easy endeavor to slip into the house undetected. We were only interested in his files and his office happened to be all the way at the end of the house, which made it easy for us.

We decided everyone should go, to make it easier to look through all the files in a shorter amount of time. We weren’t exactly sure how many files we were going to be looking at. Because Adrik had promised me that he was never sending me away from him again, it meant I was going to break the law with the rest of them.

I couldn’t say I was disappointed about being included in this little adventure. Any chance I could get to stick it to Sal would make me very happy.

I had strict orders to stay with Adrik or Ivan at all times. Like I would argue with that.

We left the vehicles down the block from his house and went the rest of the way on foot. The team that had scouted the house ahead of time told us where the security was supposed to be. We found them inside the house, watching TV. They clearly took their jobs very seriously.

Adrik was the one who snuck in the house, silently walking right by the security team on the couch, and unlocked the window to the office for the rest of us to come in. The security team never suspected a thing. We ran to the end of the house, two at a time, until we were all in the office. Stephen kept an eye on the hallway, Viktor kept an eye on the window, the rest of us quickly looked through files for anything we could find that would tie Dr. Moretti to the creation of brawn and/or Sal.

As I was looking through files, I felt Stephen get tense. Before he could say anything, I told Ivan and Adrik silently,“Stephen noticed something in the hallway.”Ivan was next to him immediately. Stephen signaled what he’d heard, then the two of them disappeared. We heard the faintest sounds of a quick commotion, then nothing. Then Stephen and Ivan appeared in the office once more.

“We need to hurry. They’ll eventually wonder where their buddy is and come looking for him. There’s a bedroom down the hall. We put him in the bed, hoping to buy us some time. He’s going to be sleeping for a while anyway,”Ivan said to me and Adrik. I looked at Andrei, tapping my temple. I relayed the message to him, so he could relay the message to Misha. We all continued looking without a word spoken.

“Got it,”Adrik said. He kept flipping through the file in his hands. “Battista was right. Sal kept detailed records. This is everything on Dr. Moretti. This should be enough to put him away.”

I caught Andrei’s eye, telling him we found what we needed. We quickly exited out the window, two at a time, and left Adrik to close and lock the window behind us and once again walk right past the security team on the couch. We waited for Adrik to join us and we were back at the vehicles quickly. The entire process took just over an hour.

On the way back to the penthouse, Adrik said silently,“Having you as the go-between for Andrei, Misha, and Stephen was very helpful. We’ve never not had to talk to each other before.”He put his arm around me, pulling me to him.“And you caught on that Stephen knew something right away. That could’ve been much uglier.”He looked at me, his sexy smirk on his face.“You’re quite handy to have around. I think I’ll keep you.”

---