Charlotte looks at her. Something passes between them. Two women who process the world through numbers and patterns instead of violence and threats.
"What do you need?" Charlotte asks.
"The Cyprus accounts funnel through a law firm in Nicosia. Kontos and Demetriou. They're a service provider, probably clean, but they filed paperwork for six shell corporations between 2022 and 2023. I need to know who authorized those filings."
"You need the beneficial owners."
"Yes."
"That information won't be in any public database. It'll be buried in client files, trust documents, things that require direct access."
"I know." Alexandra leans forward. "Can you get it?"
Charlotte is quiet. Then she looks at Claudio, who's been standing by the door, silent and watchful.
"What happens to me if I help you?"
"You stay here," Claudio says. "Under protection. Until we neutralize whoever tried to kill you."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then you leave. But you leave without our protection, and the people who sent that hit team will find you within twenty-four hours."
It's not a threat. It's a statement of fact. Charlotte seems to understand the difference.
"I'm not a criminal," she says. "I don't work for the mafia. I don't launder money or forge documents or help people hide their assets from the government."
"No one's asking you to," I say. "We're asking you to help Alexandra. That's all. The same thing you do every day, just pointed at a different target."
"A target that tried to kill me."
"Yes."
She's quiet again. Thinking.
Finally, she nods.
Claudio steps forward. "I'll take her to the secure suite. She can work from there."
I watch them go. Charlotte walks beside Claudio, matching his stride, not flinching when he puts a hand on her elbow to guide her through a doorway. She's not intimidated by him.
That's unusual. Most people are.
Alexandra comes to stand beside me.
"She's smart," she says quietly. "She could help us a lot. Aurelio should offer her protection. She’s confident too. I could see it in the way she talked about the ledgers. She understands finances."
"Claudio sees it too."
"I noticed." She glances at me.
There was nothing platonic about the way Claudio looked at Charlotte during the interrogation. Not with interest, exactly. More like... lust. The way a predator looks at another predator. Need and desire warring with each other.
"She's going to be a problem," Alexandra says. "Not for us. For him."
"Maybe. Or maybe she's exactly what he needs."
The next morning, I find Claudio in the armory.
