Page 63 of The Shadow King's Brother

I step back, slowly, my hand still curled into a fist. My voice is low, trembling with barely-contained fury. “Why?”

Vinny lowers his head, but I won’t let him look away.

“Why the hell were you with her?”

Vinny flinches, his eyes dropping to the floor. He knows I’m not buying his bullshit, but he won’t meet my gaze. “She just wanted to tease you, mess with your heads... and so did I. That’s it. Nothing more.”

I don’t believe him. Not for a second.

My fists clench, the sharp edge of frustration cutting through me. I turn to Jackson, voice cold and controlled despite the storm churning in my chest. “Check what Nica’s mom is doing. What her company is up to. Now.”

A sick feeling twists in my gut. This can’t be happening. My mind races, trying to make sense of it, but the pieces don’t fit.

Why would Susan Galli kidnap her own daughter? Why? And what about her company? A money-laundering operation, a front? It doesn’t add up. Unless… unless I’ve been wrong about her all this time.

She’d been working in the shadows. Plotting. Planning. What? A takeover? A new empire of her own? While we were busy cleaning up the city, she’d been out there, dirtying it all over again.

No. It can’t be. Can it?

My thoughts spin in a whirlpool of disbelief, but I can’t shake the growing sense that I’ve missed something. Something crucial.

Jackson’s fingers fly across his phone, I hear the clicking of the keys. His brow furrows as he digs deeper, scrolling through records. The tension in his voice is palpable as he mutters, “I can’t find anything, damn it.”

“Look for aliases,” I snap, my voice sharp. “Run an AI search on possible cover names for Susan Galli and her company. I want every stone turned.”

“On it,” Jackson replies, his fingers flying over his phone again.

“It’s... it’s her. I know it’s her,” I murmur, trying to steady my breath. “Search for anything and everything. Sophia Galli, Susanna Guinea, anything.”

Jackson doesn’t miss a beat, his fingers still moving quickly searching the police’s secure databases.

A few minutes pass in tense silence as I pace back and forth, my eyes glued to the video feed again. My mind is racing, trying to process what we’re uncovering. I glance at Vinny. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me about her?”

Vinny’s face pales. “It was just a joke from a long time ago—”

“You’re fucking lying.” I slam my fist onto the nearest table.

I step closer, ready to make him feel the weight of his mistake, but Jackson grabs my suit, pulling me back. He reeks of alcohol and sweat, but I don’t care.

He clears his throat. “Elio, I’ve got it. Sophia Gale—aka Susan Galli—owns The Broad Corporation. It’s looks like a money laundering front. She bought it a little over a year ago from the previous owner of Mighty Machines, which is another cover-up. She’s behind it all. Everything leads back to her. And she’s not just clever—she’s smart, Elio. And intelligence? That’s dangerous. She’s done everything to protect herself, cover her tracks.”

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath.

My mind races. This is bigger than I thought. This isn’t just some petty operation; it’s a full-scale takeover happening right under my nose. Broad is working its way into New Haven’s mafia—quietly, methodically, like a shadow creeping up from behind. Money laundering fronts are just the beginning.

“Jackson,” I say, the weight of it all sinking in. “We’ve been blind to this. They’re moving in on the whole damn city, and we never saw it coming.”

“She’s trying to wipe out the De Luca family and take over,” Vinny grunts, his voice tight with anger. “Fucking bitch.”

For once, I agree with my stupid brother.

I pace the room, the pieces clicking together, finally falling into place. “Check other properties,” I bark at Jackson. “Where does she keep her operations? I want every scrap of intel you can find. Now.”

Jackson’s fingers fly over the screen again. The silence stretches for what feels like forever. Then, he looks up. “There’s a warehouse down by the dock. It’s hers. Not listed under her name, but it’s connected to her... through the company.”

I stop dead in my tracks.

That’s it. That’s where she is. Where Nica is. I know it.

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