Not the outer perimeter of the mansion.
Not some guard station at the edge of the compound.
But right inside my fucking home.
"The location?"
“Inside Nyomi’s office.”
The words carved through me.
That room wasn’t just her workspace—it was her refuge. The place where she wrote, researched, recorded her thoughts. I’d given her this space so her brilliant mind’s desires could be protected and supported.
This son of a bitch had gone through it.
Touched her things.
Rifled through her notes and drafts like a scavenger picking at a saint’s bones.
This wasn’t just spying. This was trying to understand her, dissect her, weaponize her words against me.
My vision darkened at the thought.
I fisted my hands and spoke through clenched teeth, “And the footage on who went in there?”
“Erased.”
“Who was monitoring the cameras?”
Reo’s expression hardened. “When I arrived at the security room, all three men were already dead.”
The words hit like a blade sliding under my ribs. “Dead?”
“Execution style. No struggle. Whoever did it knew what they were doing—one bullet each, straight through the eye, and the footage wiped clean.”
My mind ran the data automatically.
Whoever sent that message didn’t have time to leave the office, cross the mansion, and kill three armed men while my Fangs, Claws, and Roar were inside.
Something like this had to happen fast, in less than five minutes.
And those three guards—no alarms, no panic. They’d let the killer walk right up to them. Which meant they knew the face that ended them.
To erase footage that fast, they’d need Reo’s clearance level or mine.
Someone had given it to them. How?
The timing and precision meant this was a job for at least two operatives.
My stomach twisted. “The spy isn’t working alone. We’re not dealing with a single snake. There’s a nest.”
Reo’s jaw tightened. “Agreed. One person sent the message. Another erased the proof—and they both knew exactly when you’d be distracted.”
The Dragon stirred under my skin, scales scraping bone.
Ice flooded my veins.
This was a person who lived under my roof and breathed my air.
