Lev’s stare holds mine. Then he exhales through his nose. “Show me what Enzo wants.”
I pull out my phone and slide it across the counter.
Lev reads, and his eyes narrow the further he goes. Then—barely there—his mouth twitches like he hates how clever it is.
Tatiana. Or is Natalia more appropriate?
I think it’s about time we played for Checkmate.
Lev looks up slowly. “That’s not a warning,” he says.
“It’s a funeral,” I reply.
For a moment, he doesn’t speak. Then he gestures to the necklace with two fingers. “Give it here.”
I hesitate.
His eyes flash. “Don’t test me, boy.”
I take a deep breath, like him calling me that, just like he has done since I was fifteen, doesn’t splinter something in my chest.
I slide it toward him.
He opens up the locket, and when he pulls back both sides, I see the tiniest of drives. And then he heads towards the living room. Grabbing his laptop, he unplugs a small device from underneath. The kind of thing he built because Lev doesn’t trust off-the-shelf anything.
He slots the necklace into it like it’s a key into a lock and enters the code.
A small light pulses. And the screen boots. Encrypted files populate instantly. Rows and rows of them.
Tatiana. Bloodline. Accounts. Routes. Contacts. Names I recognize and names I don’t. More information pours in, all in Russian.
Lev’s mouth tightens like he’s staring at his own sins. “Christ,” I mutter. “This is… everything. And more?”
Lev doesn’t look away. “It was always going to be everything,” he says. “That was the point.”
My throat tightens.
Because Lily wore this like it was a piece of her childhood, when in reality, it was a noose made of diamonds.
“And I assume you’ve got a more up to date one, seeing as this is eighteen years old?” I ask.
As valuable as past information is, in recent years, more power plays have been made. There are new players. More intel. I’ve got my own store of them, but Lev has always been deeper on the ground than me. But, clearly there is something more historical that Tatiana needs.
He pulls his wallet from his pocket and gets out another drive. A similar size.
“What do you just keep a collection of these?” I joke.
He doesn’t flinch. “Yes. This one has the more recent findings on it. We can merge them together, then it’s a complete timeline.”
I grin. I fucking knew he’d have something.
Lev’s fingers start moving, fast and precise. Extraction first. Copying every file. Duplicating it to a secure drive.
Then, wiping the necklace clean.
And my pulse drums harder the longer I watch.
Because once this is done…
