Page 19 of Diablo

“Clear out the first account,” LeBlanc said. “Transfer the money to the second account on the list. And don’t even think about blowing the whistle on me.”

“Or…what? You’ll take me down with you? I could survive in jail just fine. That doesn’t scare me at all. You, on the other hand, would be a little uncomfortable.”

He didn’t answer right away, swirling one fingertip methodically around a circular water stain on the table’s surface.

“You wouldn’t want your lady to get hurt, would you?”

One simple sentence landed like a punch to my solar plexus. A cold prickle crept up my spine. LeBlanc knew he had the upper hand and he gestured to the laptop.

“Go on. Do as you’re told, Enzo.”

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I opened the laptop and got to work. After pinging my IP address off multiple locations so I couldn’t be traced, hacking into the bank took less than five minutes despite their security measures. Finding the account listed on the paper took seconds.

My gaze fell on the name that belonged to the account holder.

Sean J. Gerard.

It didn’t sound familiar. My finger hovered over the transfer button. With one keystroke, I was about to ruin this man’s life.

“Who is he?” I asked.

LeBlanc cocked his head with a disappointed look.

You know better than that.

Asking personal questions invited a conflict of conscience. What if Sean J. Gerard was a father with kids to support? What if he was a middle-aged man, desperately saving every penny for his retirement?

“Don’t ask questions you don’t need to know the answers to,” LeBlanc said. “That’s not part of your job.”

With my stomach in knots, I placed my finger on the transfer button. LeBlanc always targeted the little guy, bleeding them dry. He never went after the big fish, flush with cash. That would bring too much heat down on his head. This is exactly why I’d bailed before, eager to leave this life behind in favor of becoming an Alpha Rider. Sure, they skirted the law, but they never abused their power. They helped people and I’d witnessed it dozens of times.

That’s how Brewer met his fiancée, Alexandra, when she was in trouble with her douchebag ex.

That’s how Bear—one of the most intimidating men I’d ever seen in my life—met his sweet wife and stepdaughter, Shelby and Maisie, who needed a helping hand when they had nothing to their name except the clothes on their backs.

That’s how Axel ended up with his hot model girlfriend, Beth, when she was suffocating under a mother who controlled her every move.

They were rebels, outlaws, and misfits, but they were protectors and guardians as well, to their families, to their loved ones, and to their town. I wanted to be that, too.

Instead, I kept getting dragged into this bullshit.

Aware of LeBlanc’s icy gaze on me, I pressed the transfer button. Sean J. Gerard’s funds vanished. His bank account read zero.

“Done,” I said, my voice grating in my throat like rusty nails.

“Excellent,” LeBlanc replied.

He reached over, snapped the laptop shut, and tucked it under his arm as he rose to his feet. I didn’t budge, the sour taste of bile burning on my tongue.

“You passed the test with flying colors, Enzo. Just like I knew you would.” He turned to leave. “I’ll be in touch with some real work for you in a day or two. Rest easy, my friend. Your lady is safe, thanks to you.”

At the door, LeBlanc paused.

“Oh, and if you must know, Sean J. Gerard goes by a different name in his personal life. A name you might recognize.”

I twisted around in my seat to look at LeBlanc. He smiled—all teeth, like a cat with its claws at a mouse’s throat.

“I believe you know him as…what was it again?”

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