Page 29 of Indigo Deception
I laugh, the sound raw in my empty office. Being a fool is a new feeling. I don't like it.
Rage comes next, familiar and clarifying. It floods my system like a drug, steadying my hands, clearing my mind. They think they've won.
Veronica, the closest thing I've had to a mother, working with Kovacs right under my nose. And Gianna Rossi, playing me like I was nothing.
I stand, catching my reflection in the window—a man I barely recognize. I've been hurt before, but never like this.
The pain in my chest hardens into something cold and lethal. They want to see what Angelo Bellanti does when backed into a corner?
I'll fucking show them.
11
Gianna
Myhandswon'tstopshaking.
I've encrypted Angelo's latest audio files three times now, but my fingers keep slipping on the keyboard. That night's storm was a gift—as I placed additional bugs throughout his penthouse. The rain pelting against the windows drowned out any telltale electronic whine.
I captured everything I needed; that midnight call with his Zurich banker will be the final nail in the Bellanti coffin. Kaif will be ecstatic.
But there's something else. Something that makes my stomach twist into knots.
I play the audio once again. It's a conversation in Mandarin. I can hear Veronica talking in Mandarin to someone. I catch fragments—"network security" and "access protocols"—but my Mandarin is kindergarten-level at best. Still, the hushed urgency in their voices tells me everything I need to know.
Something is very wrong.
My fingers hover over the keyboard before I forward the recording to our language specialist. I mark it urgent, though that hardly captures the dread pooling in my gut. If Veronica's been compromised...
The message alert on my burner phone makes me jump.
Kaif: "Kovacs is making big moves. Bellanti assets frozen across Asia. Prepare for extraction within 24 hours."
I read it twice, my heartbeat thudding in my ears. Extraction. Twenty-four hours. After six months undercover, everything's collapsing like a house of cards in a hurricane.
My phone buzzes in my other pocket.
Angelo: "Emergency meeting. All consultants. 1 hour."
I'm gathering my things—hands still shaking, damn it—when the specialist calls back.
"That conversation," he says without preamble, his voice tight. "They're discussing the sale of access points to financial networks. The male voice specifically mentioned 'Kovac payment confirmed.' Does that mean anything to your case?"
The phone nearly slips from my suddenly numb fingers. "Yes," I manage. "Send the full translation to Kaif. Now."
I hang up and lean against the wall, the room tilting sideways. Veronica works for the Kovacs. The pieces fit together in my mind.
We've been so laser-focused on the Bellantis—their fraud, their offshore accounts, their market manipulation—that we completely missed the wolves circling them. Wolves with sharper teeth.
—
The cab ride to Bellanti Holdings feels like watching someone else's life through fogged glass. Neon lights blur and smear across rain-streaked windows. Horns blare in a city that never sleeps, never stops, never gives you a moment to just fuckingthink.
My burner phone vibrates. Kaif. I answer immediately.
"Rossi, it's gone nuclear." Her voice crackles with tension." We're coordinating with local law enforcement. The Kovacs have people inside the building." She pauses, and I can almost hear her choosing her words. "This isn't just financial crime anymore. Get out. Now."
"But Angelo—"
