Page 16 of Lethal Legacy

I hold up my hand. “I know you didn’t. Our security team picked it up.”

That gets their collective attention.

I raise my eyebrows. “What?” I say lightly. “Did you lot think you were the only tech heads on my staff? If you think I don’t know every last thing about every one of you, from what you ate for breakfast to the brand of porn you favor, then think again.”

I lean forward on the table, eyeing each of them in turn.

“I pay you fucking well. And you all own a piece of Mercura, so you’ll be paid even more when we launch. I like ideas, and I love ambition. I encourage both, and I reward them. I also don’t mind if you want to leave because it isn’t for you. Sign your NDA and go, and good luck to you.

“But take a good long look at your buddy there on the floor, and hardwire it into your brain. Because that’s what happens if you ever betray me.”

I let them all take a long look, and I let the silence draw out for a while. Sometimes, demonstrations are necessary.

None of them will be selling information anytime soon.

I nod at two of my men by the machines. “Get this cleaned up. Pavel, your team can get back to work, but I need a word with you.”

Pavel goes from pale to green. I know he thinks he’s next. I let him sweat a little before I take him into his own office. “We’re only months away from launch, Pavel. You’ve been on this from the start, so you know what it’s taken to get to where we are.”

He nods vigorously.

“Hale Property was purposely built to mask Mercura. It’s taken close on six years to convince the authorities the Stevanovsky bratva are now a legitimate realty corporation, especially after its former CEO went up in a car bomb two years ago.”

Pavel winces. He liked Mikhail. Everyone did. Mikhail was the front man, the smiling CEOwho made the front page ofGQwhen Hale made its first billion. I was the dark muscle behind that billion, and happy to stay in the background. Mikhail and I were a team, closer than any brothers could be. He killed at press conferences; I killed anyone who got in our way. I tried to argue with Yuri when he made mepakhanin his son’s place. I never asked for the spotlight, and I still hate the bullshit that goes with it. But the truth is that Mercura was always mine, just as Hale was, even if it was Mikhail who pressed the flesh.

After the initial grief of losing my adopted brother, followed by the ruthless bloodletting when I murdered every single one of the bastards responsible for leaving three children without their father, I’ve found that I don’t mind leading.

But in moments like this, I think grimly, looking at Pavel’s terrified face,I could do with Mikhail’s charm.

“If the authorities discover we’re developing an invisible currency, it’s not just me who’s fucked. It’s also fifteen-year-old Ofelia, fourteen-year-old Mickey, and five-year-old Masha. You’ve met Mikhail’s children, Pavel. Mercura is Mikhail’s legacy, and his children’s future. I need to know you’re going to help me keep it safe.”

“Yes, boss.” The color is back in Pavel’s face, along with the determination that made me hire him in the first place. “I dropped the ball.” He sounds almost as pissed off as I was when I discovered Teo’s betrayal. “It won’t happen again.”

I grip his shoulder firmly. “I know it won’t.”

It better not.

“Are we putting bullets in the people who paid that kid?” Dimitry glances sideways at me as we walk away from the gleaming software development facility we built to conceal what we’re actually doing in the server room lab below it. There are real software experts in the facility, doing real work—including the security team who discovered Teo’s little side hustle of selling information.

“No.” I shake my head. “Despite what I said back there, the breach is already plugged, hopefully with no harm done. A body trail will only make them think there’s something to hide.”

“Damn.” Dimitry grins. “We’re so woke these days, brother.”

I roll my eyes. “Tell me about it.”

“Not to mention getting a bit of a hipster vibe happening.”

“What are you talking about?” We get in the back seat, and the driver points the car down the winding road toward Malaga.

“Apparently a brand-new coffee machine just arrived at your office.” He shoots me a sly smile. “Something wrong with what the lovely Miss Lopez has been serving up?”

I give him the same glare I treated Pavel to earlier. Unfortunately, Dimitry has been watching me pin men with that stare since we were prepubescent kids, so it has rather less impact.

“Dimitry?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Fuck off.”

---