Shipping fronts. Laundered funds and political targets.
She inhales sharply.
“This… Damian, this isn’t just leverage. He’s planning assassinations using Ignatov routes.”
Kiro curses. Mikhail mutters something sharp through our comms. My pulse stays steady, but the pressure behind my eyes spikes.
“We’ll analyze it fully when we get back,” I say.
Our victory is short-lived and fake. I don’t even get more than three hours to bask in it because—
My phone detonates with alerts; news articles, leaked files and images, all about me leading the raid.
The team, the drive—everything has gotten out. Kiro’s gadgets are all ringing, the same way mine are, and Harper stands there, still clicking away at her laptop, only to be flooded with notifications a second after ours.
“Impossible.” Kiro’s disoriented face meets mine as he breathes. “It was locked down. There were only—”
Three people:Harper, Inessa, and me.
My stomach goes cold.
Harper’s face drains of color as she scans her own server. “This is not me. Damian, I didn’t—”
“I know,” I cut in immediately.
It surprises her. Maybe it surprises me too. But the certainty is instinctive. Still, someone did.
I don’t even notice when Mikhail enters the room, expression granite. I only hear him when he says, “The council wants answers.”
A leak of this scale is the kind that topples leaders;of coursethey want answers.
My brain is static from then on. How I manage to get to the council, to my seat, my face carefully blank, I have no clue. Blood is roaring loudly in my ears, almost as loud as theaccusatory glances being thrown at me from the moment I step in.
Harper’s presence near the door is what grounds my feet, otherwise I would have floated away. Men and women who have trusted me for years suddenly watch me like a predator who has revealed his fangs. I know the silent speculation, insinuation that’s going on behind the muted whispers.
Others laugh under their breath at the possibility I staged the entire leak to destroy rivals. Pervasive, like moisture seeping through old walls, invisible until the damage is irreversible, I am well aware of this suspicion and how it poisons.
Inessa moves gracefully between clusters of leaders, offering sympathy with the same softness she uses when she lies.
Harper’s arms are crossed, gaze fixed on Inessa. I know she sees the same small, nearly imperceptible curl at the corner of Inessa’s mouth when another council member mutters something about my “falling judgment.”
Her eyes are full of indignation and disgust, and I imagine mine are too.
Inessa has the audacity to slither up to me, looking at me with wide, wounded eyes, all concern and innocence.
“This is a mishap, I’m sure, Mr. Ignatov. We’ll work it out like we always do. Our team is more than capable of it, especially with Harper at our side.” Her eyes flick to Harper, who is trying to kill Inessa with her eyes alone.
My jaw stays locked, expression unchanged. If I let a single muscle unclench, I fear I might just choke this woman to death with my bare hands.
“We need just a bit of time,” Mikhail argues with the others, but my ears barely hear it through the static.Just a bit of time, when time is what we don’t have.
By the time the council breaks for the night, my head feels like it’s been split open. My office is dark when I enter, but the city’s lights pour in through the windows like molten gold. I brace a hand on the desk, letting the silence settle.
The door clicks softly behind me. I don’t have to turn to see who it is.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“And you shouldn’t be doing this alone,” Harper says behind me, exhausted.
