Page 48 of Celestial Combat

There he was, staring back at me from the screen.

A mugshot. Criminal records. A long history of violence – assault, armed robbery, drug trafficking, human trafficking links to the New York Yakuza. The list went on.

My blood ran hot, my breath shallow. My hands curled into fists on the desk, nails biting into my palms. I had spentfour fucking yearschasing shadows, following dead leads, coming up empty every time.

Now?

Now, I had a name.

Now, I had a location.

I forced myself to breathe, dragging the cursor across the screen as I deleted every trace of what I had accessed.No way in hellZane would find out what I had been looking at.

I leaned back in the comfortable chair, the silence settling over me, thick and dark like the sleek wood lining the underground office. Everything here smelledgood– like leather and expensive cologne, all sharp edges and control.

Like him.

The thought made my chest tighten, and I shut it down immediately. I had more important things to focus on–

A deep voice cut through the dark.

Low. Smooth. Dangerous.

“Comfortable, mama?”

The moment my voice cut through the dark, Kali startled, shoulders snapping straight like prey caught in a trap.

Neither of us moved to hit the lights. The glow from the monitors cast sharp blue shadows over her, catching the sharp angles of her cheekbones, the gleam of her bottom lip as she swallowed down whatever excuse she was about to spit out.

I stepped further in, the heavy weight of my black leather jacket slipping from my shoulders. I threw it over an armchair in the lounge area.

“You wanna tell me why you’re here?” My voice was calm, almost bored. But I saw the way she stiffened, fingers twitching at her sides.

“I was just… Checking something. That’s all.”

“Hm.” I stood in the center of the dark office, hands in pockets. “That right?”

“Yeah.” She said it easily. Too easily. Like it was nothing. Like she hadn’t just been diving into my systems, hunting.

I didn’t say a word as she moved, her exit quick, controlled, but not quite natural. I caught the briefest flicker of something in her expression – excitement, the thrill of it.

She was practically vibrating with adrenaline, trying to hide it under the cool mask she always wore.

The corner of my mouth lifted as I watched her disappear through the door.

Through the glass wall overlooking the warehouse, I tracked her movements, my eyes never leaving her as she rushed down the two-story stairs. The underground gym below was dark, the fight cages empty now, only the hum of distant machines filling the space.

She ran across the gym floor, her figure moving through the shadows, sleek and quick like shebelongedin the dark.

Then, she was gone.

I let out a slow breath, turning back to my desk and lowering into my chair. The leather was still warm from her body, her presence lingering in the space.

I didn’t bother searching through my system to see what she had accessed.

She was good.

Really good.

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