House cleaning.
Is that what he called it? Hunting down the men I had planted in his organization and no doubt slaughtering them like pigs with his deathly violin bow?
The rage that lived in my chest—the one I kept caged behind walls of control and calculation—rattled against its bars.
I will end this war soon.
We turned a corner.
More cells came.
More darkness.
The ceiling lowered here, the ventilation shafts narrowing to thick metal tubes that groaned with each gust of recycled air. It felt like descending into the belly of some ancient beast.
"Let's hope the Butcher just thinks it is those two spies and never catches the other spies or even the hackers." Hiro's voice was thoughtful. "We only need the hackers to track our father."
My brother was right.
Unfortunately, the spies were expendable—sacrificial pieces on a board that spanned continents. But the hackers were different. They were ghosts in the machine, invisible threads woven into the Butcher’s digital infrastructure. If Jean-Pierre found them, we would lose our best chance at locating my father before he located us.
"Keep watch on the Butcher." I sighed. "Perhaps we may have our father's location earlier than we thought."
Reo nodded.
I turned my attention to Hiro. "How was my Tiger this evening?"
Something shifted in his expression. A flicker of warmth beneath the usual sardonic mask.
"She’s very smart. Funny." He let the word hang for a moment. "Beautiful."
I frowned.
"It was fascinating to see her work, but most of all. . .she smelled quite delicious."
I sneered at him. "It wasn't a date, Hiro. It was a mission."
"I know. According to you, I cannot date your Tiger." Hiro's frown was theatrical, but there was something genuine beneath it. Something that made me want to remind him—violently—exactly who Nyomi belonged to.
“Careful, brother.”
“Being careful is boring.” Hiro reached into his jacket and pulled out a phone. "This is what your Tiger found in Mami's room. The messages and proof of—"
"I don't need to see it." I waved the phone away, before he could show me the screen. "If my Tiger said the spies are Mami and Sako, then that is what it is."
Hiro smirked and then handed the phone to Reo without another word.
My Tiger. . .
Gratitude swelled in my chest.
You did it.
She had walked into a den of serpents tonight and emerged with proof of their venom. She had done what my own security had failed to do for years. She had found the rot at the heart of my household and ripped it into the light.
And she had done it while I was in another part of the mansion and unable to protect her.
The gratitude curdled into something darker.
