Page 103 of The Eagle's Vault

My world turned red. I should have insisted. Should have had Brie doing a deeper dive into his background.

“Enzo and Pavel said they staged the break-ins at Edoardo’s. One to bring you here for the Cassaforte job and the other…” Leigh’s gaze went distant. “I think it was a ploy for Isaac to bring me here for this vault.”

He had been the one conspiring with them.

“They said you were supposed to be down here.” Leigh tightened her grip on my hand at her waist, brows raising as if in hope. “I think Isaac was trying to protect me by making you the expert.”

“Explains why he kept egging me on about it, trying to pique my curiosity.”

“Part of me thinks he didn’t want to do any of it, but—” Leigh closed her eyes and slowed her steps. “Daniel, why did you act like you didn’t know Isaac? Hadn’t you two been working on the vault?”

“I met him in the van,” said Daniel over his shoulder. “Pavel said they were working during the daytime with an expert he didn’t think could do the job. They only brought me down at night, to ensure I didn’t tip anyone off about being kidnapped.”

Leigh’s breath hitched. “Did he attend any meetings or was he just down in the catacombs every day?”

Asshole prick. My team was going to find him and make him pay for everything he’d done to her.

Leigh trembled as she continued. “Isaac said something… about being able to save my mom. Said the talon was part of something greater.”

Scarlett’s sharp gasp over the earpiece sent a fresh wave of goose bumps up my arms. She needed to get control of that. “What?”

“He was off, looked like he was losing it,” Leigh continued, unable to hear Scarlett. “He was muttering about eternity.”

“Fuck,” Scarlett breathed. “Noah said almost the same thing about the feather in Venice.”

My stomach dropped. “If we had any doubt Isaac was involved with Fenix, this pretty much seals it.”

Leigh looked at me, brows drawing down in confusion. “How do you mean?”

I wanted to explain everything, but I knew the right answer: It was Reynolds business.

Daniel spoke before I had to answer her. “I need to take everything we found in the catacombs to my boss.”

“Who’s your boss?” I asked.

Daniel hesitated, glancing nervously over his shoulder at us.

Rav glowered at Daniel while continuing to help him walk. “You can either tell us, or we leave you in these catacombs to find your own way out.”

“His—his name is Giovanni,” Daniel said. “He’s an—um—art dealer.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the way he stumbled over the words. “Giovanni Ferraro?”

“Yeah, that’s him,” Daniel said.

“Good,” Scarlett said. “We’ll return the items to Giovanni directly. Let Daniel know he can accompany you, but he’s not taking anything. I don’t want to risk those artifacts falling into the wrong hands.”

“We found a leather folio in there,” I said to both the team and the people in the room. “It’s full of notes and sketches. I think we need to keep that, at least long enough to digitize the whole thing.”

“But the papers. You can’t continue mishandling them.” Daniel sounded on the brink of desperation, more concerned about the artifacts than his own life.

“Relax,” Rav said. “We have a book conservator on our team. She’ll take care of it.”

I bit back a chuckle at Rav calling Kiera a book conservator. She was a forger by trade, but I had to admit, she knew her way around paper and fabric. It was part of what made her so good at her job, even though we didn’t call on her often.

After what felt like an eternity of twists and turns, we made it out of the catacombs. The exit, hidden by an overgrowth of brush and trees, led us to a grassy knoll under the night sky. Malcolm and Emmett were there, a getaway car parked nearby.

Glancing over at the vehicle, I muttered, “That car won’t fit everyone.”

---