Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ivar
“...But the bastard’s face was covered the whole time,”
Zane paced the room like a caged animal, his fists clenching and unclenching as if he was about to strangle someone.
“We have no idea who he is.” he added.
The black-and-white image of a man in a hoodie displayed on the three screens on the wall. The grainy footage did little to give us any solid leads.
Mike, standing in the opposite corner from me, wore the same intrigued expression as I did.
It didn’t feel real.
There were about ten cameras around the property. Adding to it, half-dozen men constantly securing the perimeter.
How this happened under our noses should be considered one of the mortal sins of idiocy.
We were either getting sloppy or stupid, possibly both.
Sure, there hadn’t been much happening to keep our senses on high alert in years, but this shouldn’t have happened. This kind of breach shouldn’t have been possible.
Zane looked more irritated with every glance at the screens. At times like this, he looked like a fucking bull. Red the only color he saw.
“You think this was the Red Scorpions?” I asked with doubt, knowing there was no way they had the means, Well, not unless something had changed.
He stopped in his tracks, glaring at the screens again. “Probably. Who else?” He exhaled sharply, “But it’s Chloe’s reaction that’s bothering me.”
That caught my attention. “You think she knows the guy?”
Zane shook his head slowly, his expression darkening.
“I’m not sure but there was definitely something off with the way she reacted.”
Ah, there it was—his real problem. His little princess was in distress. I couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow at his concern.
“She’s been through hell these past weeks. It’s normal for something like this to shake her up,” Mike finally spoke, his tone surprisingly soft.
If I didn’t know better, I’d have said he was going soft on that hexing bitch too. For fuck’s sake.
“And once again, all this shit seems to follow our princess wherever she goes, doesn’t it?” I muttered.
Zane’s glare snapped to me, dangerous and intense. Not sure if it was the statement itself or the fact that I’d called her our that hit a nerve.
“Relax. Just stating facts here.”
He didn’t respond with words but his jaw ticked.
His frustration was simmering just beneath his last layer of skin. He was wound up tighter than a coiled spring, and it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge.
Mike shifted uncomfortably, glancing between us.
“We need to focus. If this is the Red Scorpions, we’re dealing with a much bigger problem than we initially thought.
” His voice cut through the tension, pulling our attention to him.
“If this happened, then we have to consider the possibility that they’re getting help from the inside. ”
The room went silent. The idea of someone on the inside being corrupted was unsettling but it wouldn’t have been the first time. Our lower-ranked men could be easily corrupted with the right motivations. It was the risk of hiring people outside the family to do most of the heavy work.
Zane’s fists clenched again, “We’ll root them out,” he muttered, his voice low and cold. “Every last one of them.”
“What about Chloe?” I asked.
Zane’s glare intensified. “I’ll pressure her about this. If there’s more going on, I’ll know.”
Andy barged in, and every head in the room turned to him.
“We found something, and we have a problem.”
Wonderful! Another one!