I narrow my eyes. “Fine.”
We march into my study together, the tension in the air thick enough to taste.
Sylvester wastes no time. “One of our outer compounds was hit again.”
I grit my teeth. “Damn. The Kovals. We have to respond. They will—”
He interrupts me, voice low and urgent. “This time, not by the Kovals. Someone from inside our own network. The mole has been feeding intel for weeks.”
My chest tightens. “I don’t have a mole in my house. That rules out your investigations. There’s no rat around here.”
Suspicion claws at me. Deveraux? The thought flashes.
“It’s Deveraux,” I growl. “That bastard is acting out, and we haven’t even hit him yet.”
Sylvester’s next words stop me cold. “It’s not him. It’s worse,” he says. “The mole isn’t one of your men.”
I freeze. My mind races. “Then who?”
Sylvester’s eyes lock on mine. “Vivian’s bodyguard. Kyle.”
The words hit me like a bullet. Kyle—the man assigned by Vivian’s mother, supposedly for safety—has been feeding them information all along.
I go rigid. “How do you know it’s him?”
Sylvester takes a deep breath, and for the first time I see a trace of hesitation on his face. Then he lays out every step he took—the subtle manipulations in access logs, the pattern of movements coinciding with attacks, the encrypted messages traced back to Kyle’s assigned devices. Each piece of evidence lands like a hammer.
I feel the blood drain from my face. Vivian trusted him. I trusted him. And he’s been betraying her…betraying us.
I pace the study, fists clenched. “He’s been inside my home, inside her life…watching her, reporting to them.” My voice drops. “He won’t live to see another sunrise.”
Sylvester raises a hand. “Not yet. We need him alive. Let him lead us to whoever’s orchestrating this. He’s the key.”
I stop pacing, eyes narrowing. “Fine. But the moment we get what we need, he dies. No mercy. Do you understand me?”
Sylvester nods. “Crystal.”
I don’t wait another second.
I storm out of the study, each step echoing like a warning through the halls. My blood is boiling, but my mind is ice—focused, lethal.
I push open the door to my suite, and relief punches through me when I see Vivian awake, curled against the pillows. I hadn’t wanted to wake her—not after last night, not after everything.
Her brows knit the second she sees my face. “Are you okay?”
I don’t waste time. “How long has Kyle been with you?”
She blinks, thrown off. “Kyle? Um…a while. Since last year. Why?” Her eyes sharpen. “Dimitri, what’s going on?”
I exhale, steady but furious. “He’s the mole, Vivian. He’s the one who’s been feeding intel out of this house.”
She goes still.
For a moment, she looks like someone drained all the color from her world. “Kyle?” she whispers. “No. That’s—he’s ex-military. My mother hired him. He barely talks. He—he—what? Are you sure?”
“He’s been sending details about our operations, our locations, our movements.”
My voice is harsh, but not at her. Never at her.
