"He was there for us. For her brother, more precisely. Gabe also wasn't hit, and the explosions were positioned so he wouldn't have been an accidental casualty."
I close my eyes, my anger abating as a headache forms. Fucking Gabriel Romano.
"And the guards?"
"Seven dead. Three wounded. Henderson, George, and Sebastian didn't make it." He pauses. "I'm sorry. I know George and Sebastian were cousins on your mother's side."
I'm quiet.
Three men. Three families I'll have to visit. Three lives lost because of Gabriel.
"What about the attackers?" I move to the bar, pour myself a scotch. My hands are steady. They shouldn't be. "Any of them survive?"
"All dead. They were gunning for us. Anyone we encountered, we made sure they weren't coming out."
"IDs?"
"I didn't have time to check." Leo's voice hardens. "My priority was getting Sera out alive."
"And you did." I take a drink. The scotch burns going down. "She's alive because of you."
I'm still pissed, but I realize Leo isn't to blame. He had no way of knowing the shit would hit the fan this badly. None of us did.
Gabriel played us.
"She's traumatized because I failed." Leo's expression is stone. "This is on me, Adrian. You weren't wrong about that. I trained those men. I outfitted the security of that safe house. My responsibility. I should have?—"
"You should have what?" I turn to face him. As irate as I am, I realize he's right. "Anticipated a military-style assault on a safe house that's never been breached before? Had more men stationed there? What, exactly, should you have done differently?"
He doesn't answer.
"You got her out," I say again. "That's what matters."
"For now." Leo moves away from the window, starts pacing. It's the only sign of his agitation. Leo never paces. "But this isn't over. Gabe Romano isn't some low-level gambler."
"I know."
"Do you?" He stops. Looks at me. "Because this wasn't some amateur hit, Adrian. These guys were professionals. Well-trained. Well-armed. They knew exactly when to strike and how to do it."
"You think it was the Morozovs?"
"I think it was someone with significant resources." Leo crosses his arms. "The question is who and why. I've met Gabriel three times. He wasn't particularly illuminating. I can't see the idiot organizing this."
I set down my glass. Sera said as much. "I might have an answer to the why."
Leo waits.
"Gabriel didn't just owe Alexei fifty thousand in gamblingdebts," I say. "He embezzled nearly a million dollars from Morozov operations."
Leo's expression doesn't change. But I see the calculation in his eyes. The way he's already connecting pieces. "He was working for them?"
"Trying to. He was low-level. He got a job on the docks and needed to pay his debts. Alexei didn't say anything, but I suspect he was using Gabriel's job to get intel on our shipments. Probably didn't anticipate Gabe skimming money off the top."
"When did you find this out?"
"Today. Right before the attack Alexei showed me proof. He thinks Sera is involved, so he decided to retaliate."
Leo studies me. "This changes things."
