Page 56 of Corrupted Empire

“I agree, but anybody could have seen you there, Gabriel. You need to be more careful.”

He does have a point, though I am loath to admit it. I grind my teeth as we stare at each other, neither willing to look away.

I will be the first to admit I underestimate Silvano sometimes.

“I will think about it,” I say.

“Good.” Silvano smiles tightly. “How are things with Alexis?”

“Better,” I reply. “I find that I actually trust her now, which I never thought would be possible. Though there have been a couple of bumps.”

I am referring mostly to a week ago when she greenlit a plan to start investigating the Cartel more aggressively using her journalism resources without consulting me first.

Silvano nods thoughtfully. “That’s good. The more united of a front you can present, the better.”

* * *

I go out after my meeting with Silvano to take care of some business and return in the afternoon. I am tired and hungry, and I head directly for the kitchen. On my way, I pass the living room, and from inside, I can hear Harry’s happy gurgles and Alexis’ coos of encouragement. I can’t resist the urge to look in on them.

Alexis is sitting on the floor by the closest bookshelf, with Harry sitting across from her. They are stacking blocks between them. Harry likes this game. He always wants to make the tallest tower. Then he likes to knock it down.

“Look!” Alexis points to me. “It’s Daddy.”

Harry turns around, grinning at me, and I watch as Alexis snatches a few blocks from the tower and stashes them beside her. She winks conspiratorially at me.

“What are you two up to?” I ask, coming to squat at Harry’s level. I run my hand over his feathery-soft hair.

“Creating, destroying,” Alexis answers. “Playing God.”

I chuckle. “I see.” My eyes land on a stack of files next to her, and I frown. They look like files from my office. Alexis’ gaze follows mine.

“What are those?” I ask.

She shrugs and hands the files over. “A little light reading.”

I open the one on the top and am horrified to see that these files look like they came from my office, because they did. Skimming through each of them, I realize Alexis has pulled a large cross-section of documentation, spanning everything from legitimate business licenses to cooked books and protection contracts.

“Have you read them?” I ask, trying to keep calm despite the rage flooding my veins.

It was only this morning that I told Silvano that I felt I could finally trust Alexis again. Is this going to be our relationship going forward? I trust her, she breaks that trust, rinse, repeat?

“Not yet,” she says. “I was going to put Harry in his playpen after he demolished the tower and then start to go through them.”

I lick my lips, staring hard at her. I am so angry that I want to scream, but I can’t do that in front of Harry. I have to keep calm.

“How did you get these?” I ask, lifting Harry into my arms and walking him over to the playpen.

“Tower,” he says, pointing to the rickety pile of blocks after I set him down.

“We’ll build you a new one later,” I say, forcing a warm smile.

Now, time to deal with Alexis. I walk over and sit down in front of her, waiting for her to explain.

She shrugs. “I snuck in as you were leaving this morning,” she says, as though it is the most reasonable thing in the world. Then her eyes match the intensity in mine. “I told you that if I am going to be part of this, I am going to be part of it. That means going through the looking glass and seeing it all firsthand.”

I swallow, gazing down at the manila folders spread on the carpet between us. This is exactly what I would expect of her, but I’m hesitant to let her see everything. What if it’s all too much?

I tap a finger on one of the files. “You might not like what you find,” I tell her. “I don’t think you understand the level of violence in my world.”

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