Page 101 of Shadows of Obsession

"Have you heard anything else about Devin?" he asks without looking at me.

The bastard.

"No. I hope to learn more from Denis after I finish here."

"We never expect the people closest to us to be the ones who betray us," he says, his tone eerily calm. Too calm. Not the slightest inflection in his voice.

My hand involuntarily moves toward the gun I always keep at my back while I watch Lev continue working on the camera wires, his back to me.

"A bullet to the head doesn't seem like your preferred way of handling these things, Ro."

His tone is glacial. Calculated. I have the gun in my hand, aimed at the back of his head.

"Fifteen years. You've been with us that long," I spit out.

He's still working on those wires, and when he slowly rises and turns around, all I see is a smile.

"Fifteen years of waiting to watch you burn. It's a long time, isn't it?" he asks me while raising his hands in surrender.

I yell for Anton and Niko. Right now, I don't trust myself not to kill Lev on the spot.

The look Niko gives me is enough to see his panic. Damien hasn't responded yet, which means we're taking a risk. I don't know what kind of safety measures Lev has in place, but there are clearly instructions that will be followed after his disappearance.

"You know you can't kill me. Not if you want to keep your companies intact," he says, the arrogance clear in his tone.

At that moment, a ring sounds from my pocket, and I don't even need to check it.

I knew Damien wouldn't disappoint me.

I'm the one who starts smiling now, and his look takes on a note of suspicion.

"That was the signal that we can start the fun, boys."

While Lev was making his way here, Damien and Luna went to his house with a small army. The plan was for Damien's hacker to transfer all the data from Lev's system through a Multipartite virus installed on one of his computers, leaving us invulnerable.

It's a plan I made with Damien when we first formed this alliance. We're both aware that anyone can be compromised, and we paid good money for this virus, but now every penny is justified.

I also asked Maksim to verify its authenticity, and when I got the green light from him, I knew we had a good solution.

I wouldn't have sent Luna along, but if something came up, she could fix the problem on the spot.

"If I don't make a certain call in twelve minutes, Roman, all your accounts will be emptied into mine," he tells me, and I burst out laughing before he finishes speaking.

"You really think I'm stupid enough to leave all my businesses and money in your hands, you idiot?"

He struggles to comprehend what I mean, so I make his life easier and explain.

"Did you really think I wouldn’t do anything to make sure our money and companies are safe?" I clarify, and the realization that he no longer has this leverage brings a new emotion to his eyes.

Fear. For a second. It's enough. At least now he realizes the situation he's in.

Anton pushes him from behind into the barn, where a whole section is covered with cellophane, on the floor and walls. This is going to get messy.

Apart from a few lights, chairs, and a table, there isn't much visible.

I signal to Niko and Anton to chain him up where Denis had been. I had to chain Denis there so Lev wouldn't suspect I was onto him.

I knew the warehouse was under video surveillance. If he'd suspected I knew about his plans, he would have vanished without a trace, so I had to beat my own cousin to avoid raising suspicion. I knewThe Godfatherquote would be enough for him to understand I believed him, but that doesn't mean the blows weren't real.

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