Page 116 of Merciless Sinner

“I hope this works, Virgo.’ Dante chimes in. “This will be attempt number six.”

“I know.” I nod. “I'm holding out on hope here.”

I secure the device to the key panel on the unit. It latches on like a leech. I then press the button, and it lights up. If this works, the locking system will release.

We wait a minute, then another, and another.

We look at each other, and I gaze up heavenward, because this looks like another failed attempt. I sigh, and I'm about to take off the device when we all hear the distinct click of the lock coming free. My whole body sighs with relief.

“Thank God,” I rasp. I was starting to believe I'd lost my touch in the tech world.

I glance at Dante and Cillian, who both nod at me with relief.

“We just need to watch the recording now.”

“Hopefully we’ll get some answers,” Cillian says.

I open the unit and take out the microchip. Then I walk over to the computer, switch it on, and slide the microchip in the side.

Dante and Cillian join me as I bring up the menu, detailing the dates that were all recorded on the device. I'm shocked to see that my father has recordings going back as far as eight years.

I select the date he was shot on another menu that comes up.

These lists the times for each hour. As Borya said, he'd seen my father up until eight o'clock, I look from that time. Nothing happens in the first hour or for the next two hours. Then my father comes into the office. He sits in his chair and takes a call. He waits like he's expecting someone.

Five minutes later, the door in the wall, by the bookcase, which leads to the secret passage, slides open and I gear myself up to see who will come through.

I expect a man, someone from the Bratva, or one of the other associates my father deals with. But who I see stuns me to my core.

It's Amelia. Actually, Amelia.

Her father works for mine, but there's no reason for her to be meeting with my father alone in his office.

The three of us look at each other, completely confused.

“Is that seriously who I think it is?” Dante asks.

“Yes,” I reply, but my voice sounds as if it's far, far away.

What the fuck would Amelia be doing in my father's office?

The dark feeling in my gut tells me I already know the answer.

Father smiles when he sees her and looks her up and down like she's a piece of meat.

“I have no need for you tonight,” he says in a taunting voice. “I thought I already fucked you hard enough the other night. Is your pussy greedy for more?”

A stone drops in a pit of my stomach and keeps going down, plummeting through the earth.

My father was having an affair with Amelia.Seriously?

“I'm not here for that,” she replies.

“What a shame. I was ready to bend you over my desk. Why are you here then?”

She walks up to the desk and stops in front of him.

“It seems you've been snooping around my father's business,” she replies in a voice that sounds more confident than I've ever heard her. Something tells me that this is the real her.

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