Page 59 of Shadows of Obsession

"Devin sent someone after Luna. Apparently her ex-boyfriend accumulated debts and put her up as collateral."

I barely manage to keep my tone normal even though, inside, all of last night's fury starts to boil. I know what happens to women given as collateral, and the fact that Luna has paid his debts before only makes the situation worse.

"For God's sake..." I hear Niko muttering.

We both know what it means to fall into Devin's hands. The man has connections to organ and skin trafficking. So many women havedisappeared after stepping into his club that just the thought of Luna potentially sharing the same fate makes me want to flay the bastard who put her up as collateral.

"Okay, I've already discussed transferring funds with some associates. We've emptied certain accounts for liquidity, and I think we should talk to Damien about sending us some men in the coming period."

That's why I leave the numbers to Niko. He gets why I did what I did, and I'm grateful he doesn't push it. Not that he could change my mind anyway, but the last thing I need right now is drama with my brother.

"I've talked to Goran about Victoria's security. I'm thinking of moving her courses online for the foreseeable future," I tell him while texting Goran for a status update.

"Agreed. Any leads on Smert?" he asks, and I realize I've completely forgotten about the man who wanted to get his hands on Luna's code.

"No, Lev is still trying to find leads."

Something's off about this.Lev can dig up dirt on anyone - guy's got an MIT degree and has spent his whole career working for crime syndicates, not corporations. Unlike most in his line of work, he's kept his humanity - it's why I trust him. So if he can't find anything on Smert, maybe those rumors are true. The man really is a ghost.

Or something bigger's wrong if Lev's coming up empty lately.

But I shut down that thought. Not my style to jump to conclusions without proof.

"Fine. I have another meeting in thirty minutes, so I need to prepare. Roman..." I see he's struggling to formulate what he wants to say.

"Spit it out, Niko."

I know whatever it is, I probably won't like it, but we've always been honest with each other. No secrets. That's why we work so well as a team.

"I like Luna, honestly, but be careful your new passion doesn't get you killed," he tells me quickly and leaves the office.

I can't be angry with him, because he cares. I'd probably give him the same advice, but I don't plan on dying. Not when I finally have Luna beside me, in my house, in my bed.

This morning, the hardest part was getting up from beside her body. I had to scold my brain for all the thoughts it generated seeing her in my bed. Thoughts of her in the shower. Thoughts of my head between her legs. Thoughts of her on her knees. But I need patience. I don't want to scare her right now when she seems to understand she's made for me. So, I'm not planning to die. I'm planning to be the one doing the killing, starting with that pathetic excuse for a man who offered her as payment for debt.

Still, the fact that I haven't heard anything from Lev unsettles me, so I call him. The phone rings once before he answers.

"I didn't know you were so agitated, Roman," he tells me in what's meant to be an amusing tone, but I sense his nervousness.

"I didn't know you were incompetent either, Lev, but I see we're both being surprised lately."

I'm being an asshole, because Lev has always delivered. But I don't want him thinking such delays are acceptable. We pay him royally precisely for his speed. Something's wrong if he can't track down Devin or that rat Aidan.

"Any news about Smert?" I ask.

"I can only tell you that he was born in Saint Petersburg and started operating twenty-one years ago." Lev holds his breath because he knows what I'm going to ask next.

"Why do we only know that much?"

"The man doesn't exist, Roman. You can't even contact him. From what I understand, if you want to get in touch with him, you need to have a big enough problem that he's interested in solving it. Payments are made to different accounts, and it would take forever to try to identify anything from them. Whatever reason he has for wanting this application, I don't think you can find out without him explicitly seeking you out!"

I realize he's telling me the truth. If no one knows of his existence, his identity, that says enough.

"Let me know if you find anything else," I tell him and hang up.

I keep circling around the idea Luna put on the table. What if it's not about the application itself, but what it could do?

An image from Luna's bedroom then comes to my mind and I grab my phone and call Sofia, who answers after a few moments.

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