Page 135 of Their Reckless Thief
Vincenzo crossed his arms. “You can speak in front of my team. What the fuck’s going on?”
Carl cleared his throat. “He’s been spying on you and selling information to The Shadow.”
I saw the barely suppressed fury in Vincenzo’s countenance. “Who is it?”
Carl shifted slightly. “His name’s Roderick. He guards one of the tears in the Veil, several miles north from my post.”
“How did you obtain this information?” Vincenzo asked, his hands balled into fists at his side.
“People talk, and word spreads. Unfortunately, Roderick decided to spill his guts to me. And you know I’m loyal to you, Vincenzo. I wasn’t about to let that asshole get away with it.”
“Do you have any idea how long it’s been going on?”
Carl shrugged. “He didn’t say exactly, but he made it sound like it’s been going on for a while.”
Vincenzo’s jaw tightened, and he turned to us. “Load up. We’re going to get him.”
Carl, catching Celeste’s gaze again, gave her a respectful nod.
She responded with a playful look, tilting her head with that flirtatious spark she had mastered. “Be careful out there, Carl. Don’t let anyone give you a hard time.”
He blushed, appearing half-amused and half-stunned as he glanced at her one last time before heading out. The look on Carl’s face—bewildered admiration—was one I knew well. Celeste had a gift for making everyone feel like they had something worth offering. A glance, a word, and she made you believe she meant it all. I didn’t even think she was aware of it.
As we moved toward the garage, Vincenzo pulled Vivian aside with Alessandro and Camilla in tow. “You three stay here and keep working on the specs for the heist. I want updates on anything you find that might be useful by the time we get back. We’re running out of time to make final preparations.”
Vivian gave a sharp nod, and the three of them instantly turned back to their stations.
As I slid into the driver’s seat, I glanced at Celeste in the rearview mirror. Her face was fierce, focused.
We tore down the road, our minds on the mission. For me, this wasn’t only about loyalty to Vincenzo or settling some score with a traitor. It was about protecting what mattered most.
Her.
We pulledup to the tear’s location—a desolate edge of the forest, dense with an unsettling quiet that even Celeste noticed.
She leaned forward, glancing out the window. “I’ve never passed through this particular tear. It feels different than Carl’s spot, less… I don’t know, public.”
I nodded. “That’s the point. It’s smaller, not well-known, so you don’t get people lined up like they do at Carl’s. It’s more VIP, as you humans would say.”
Vincenzo shifted in his seat, his gaze cold and steady. “Luca. Pull him in.”
Luca’s shadows flared to life, twisting and darkening as they seeped out of him like thick smoke, weaving their way out of the SUV toward the traitor lurking around the tear’s edge. The guy didn’t even have time to react before Luca’s shadows wrapped around him, slithering up his arms and over his chest. One thick tendril shoved itself into his mouth, cutting off any chance of a scream. He thrashed, panicked eyes wide, but the shadows only tightened, silencing his pathetic attempts to break free.
“Get him in here.” Vincenzo’s voice was ice.
The shadows dragged the guy into the SUV, dumping him into the middle seat. I glanced over at Celeste, who was watching with a cold fascination. She was getting used to this, and that surprised me. It was a testament to how much she’d adapted. Or to how shitty her life before us was. There’s so much we still don’t know about her life in the human world.
Her gaze met mine briefly, and I caught that slight nod, a flash of steel in her expression. She wasn’t going to look away. She wanted this traitor to pay as much as we did.
Good. I turned my attention back to the man, who was pinned in place by Luca’s shadows, squirming uselessly against the grip that held him in a vice.
Vincenzo leaned over from the front passenger seat, his expression cold and calculating. “Hello, Roderick. You’re going to tell me everything I want to know. Or you’re going to suffer. Understand?” He nodded to Luca, who withdrew the shadow from the man’s mouth, letting him gasp for air. “Do you deny selling me out to The Shadow?”
The man spat blood, giving a wry, defeated smile. “No point in denying it. You’ve already made up your mind.”
The muscles in Vincenzo’s jaw twitched. “Dorian.”
I glanced at Celeste once more, expecting her to turn away. But she held my gaze, that subtle nod telling me everything I needed. She was in this with us. This was her family too.
