Page 44 of Vicious Little Princess

Or so he’d said.

Really, I believed it to be his attempt to appease me, so I didn’t lose my shit all over the place and fuck up his stupidly valued alliance with Santino. The fact that neither he nor Leo had shown up at my door bolstered my theory even more. They hadn’t wanted me antagonized, so he’d sent his soldiers without interfering in mymarriageor my household in any other way. It also wasn’t really about protecting my wife. It was to make it difficult for me to make any moves on my own to hunt down Angelo directly, moves he definitely didn’t want me making.

I felt like all of it was boxing me in, like I couldn’t fucking breathe through it.

Something had to give.

And the worst part for all of us was that I already knew exactly what that needed to be.

“These three payments you’ve highlighted? Is that what you’re getting at?” Milo asked me.

“Yes. After not finding anything recent, I went back further. Two years further.”

“You went through two years’ worth of data in a matter of hours?” he asked, incredulous.

“I did.”

“Damn, you’ve outdone yourself this time.”

“Anyway, that was when I found these. In one month, Angelo made three large payments, each exceeding one hundred grand.”

“To three different entities, though, according to this,” he said, eyeing the data.

“So it seemed initially. These are shell corporations. They all belong to one individual.”

“He made a mistake. He should have funneled it through more, gone through another level.”

“He obviously got impatient.”

“And who is this individual?”

“Victoria Munsen.”

“That slumlord?”

I nodded. “The slumlord that Caterina hates with a vengeance.”

“She had a couple of run-ins with her, right?”

“Victoria crossed a handful of the women who frequent Caterina’s lounges, trying to intimidate them and tear them down so she didn’t have to entertain competition in the real estate sector. Caterina put a stop to it and even built a case against her that put her behind bars for eighteen months.”

“This sounds promising. Somebody who hates Caterina, just like Angelo. Victoria has a whole network of contacts through the underbelly of the city that even the three families haven’t been able to ID. She could be helping Angelo to stay hidden. And judging by these payments, he may have even bought property from her that he’s now using to hold Julian in.”

“That house where Angelo took Caterina was one of hers. I just confirmed it before bringing this to you.”

“Fuck, this is it then! Let’s go!” he pushed away from me, but I grasped his arm, yanking him back.

“Get a grip. Focus. There are a dozen soldiers outside. Also, we don’t know where Victoria is, nor where the property is.”

“I can help with that.”

We both looked to see Caterina now walking into the kitchen. “When did you untie me?”

“Five minutes after you fell asleep.”

“So it was just for show?”

“Just to get you to rest, yeah.”

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