Page 24 of Tease

I told her without thinking about it. She was gone in the next instant, ducking under the bed.

“Rina?”

She didn’t respond to me. I frowned and hurried to put my clothes on. Then I climbed out of the bed, finding her sitting at her desk, her hand on her mouse as she concentrated on the screen. I ducked under the bed and leaned over her chair, staring at her monitors. There was what looked like a rather complicated program open, and it was running some kind of search.

“What is this?”

She looked up at me with a smile.

“A program I built.”

“What does it do?”

Her gaze went back to the screens.

“In s-simple terms, it s-searches the internet, d-dark web and o-other s-systems. I’m running the name. M-might take a few h-hours though.”

I stared down at her. Rina was surprising me yet again… in a good way. In the best way. She might actually prove to be the key to cracking the mystery of Orsino’s death. If anyone had an incentive to find out who had killed the man, it was his daughter.

“You built this yourself?”

She nodded.

“M-m-my boss encouraged m-me to.”

“And who exactly is this boss of yours?”

“His name is Xav.”

“Xav?”

Rina shrugged.

“Yeah, s-s-short for Xavier… Xavier S-S-Scott.”

The name immediately rang a bell.

Hold on a minute…

“Are you telling me you work for one of the owners of the Syndicate?”

She nodded, giving me a bright smile as she turned to look up at me again.

“He’s a g-g-good boss. He helps me learn n-new things and understands my issues. I l-like him a lot.”

I didn’t know what the fuck to say. Somehow, Zayn’s cousin had managed to end up working for the people who were rumoured to have taken down that psychopath Frank Russo. Did she know what they’d done? I could imagine she did. Rina knew a hell of a lot more about her cousins and their mafia involvement than she should.

Did Zayn know she worked for them? It was something I needed to ask him.

“I see.”

“We s-s-should g-get you breakfast while this is r-running.”

I ducked out from underneath the bed to let her out. Grabbing my phone before we left the room, I followed Rina downstairs and fiddled with it.

Arlo: Did you know Rina works for Xavier Scott?

Zayn: Yes.

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