Chapter Fifteen
Erin
The past few weeks were surprisingly light.
I settled into a normal and comforting rhythm. The clinic didn’t need me full-time, so I picked up hours here and there, not even pretending to be useful anymore. I took to long walks through the city with Lily, window shopping and laughing until our cheeks hurt.
Boston in the fall is glowing, with golden leaves and cozy café windows fogged with warmth. It is the kind of city life I never thought I’d get to like. But right now, it fills me with softness, light and a purpose.
I even went out a few nights. Nothing wild, just bars with low lighting, good drinks and casual talk with strangers. Sure, I flirted and smiled, enjoying the admiring looks and the light conversations. But I never let it go further.
Not because of Matteo, nope, definitely not. That part is done. Over. I had boxed it up, labeled it ‘delusion’ and shoved it onto a shelf in the back of my mind where it belongs. Simple and clean. I don’t need more complications.
I am fine, better than fine even .
When I see Matteo at Sunday brunch or whenever our group goes out, it doesn’t sting anymore.
I am even able to look at him now, giving him a polite smile when required.
But that’s all I do. I don’t talk or laugh with him because I can’t afford to come close to him again.
My battered heart won’t be able to mend if it breaks once more, so I keep it in the safe zone, far away from the man who has the power to shatter it with just one look.
And of course, I throw myself in the hunt after the human trafficking ring I came here to expose.
Manticore has been unusually quiet lately and the silence is eating at me.
I had foolishly hoped that I would find clues here in Boston, something to follow.
But it’s not like they’d hang a sign with their name and business hours on a building. Why can’t things be that simple?
This evening, after a quiet shift at the clinic and a dinner of Indian takeout, I sink onto my sofa, pull out my laptop and log into the darknet message boards I keep tabs on. Old habits and all that.
Most of the chatter is the usual noise—black market offers, phishing scams and the expected shadowy chitchat. But one thread catches my eye.
For Geryon .
That was it, no context…only a subject line that sends a prickle down the base of my neck. I click it with a frown. Inside is a brief, encoded post, nothing overt, just enough to imply a planned drop or meeting. The language is vague, but clear to anyone who knows what to look for.
Got info. Need to meet ASAP. Secure location only. No middlemen .
My fingers still on the trackpad. On a hunch, I pull up another tab and type Geryon into a search bar. And my stomach turns.
“Geryon—a monster from mythology with three heads, part human, part lion, and part scorpion. Similar to the manticore.”
I lean back, heart thudding. This can’t be a coincidence. This feels like one of them. I can’t ignore it. I need to find out from where it was sent. So I dig.
The post is slippery, embedded with misleading trails and decoys. But what my life had taught me was to never give up, and after two hours of intense tracing, I follow the thread of code to…a wall. No, not a wall, a fortress. One I know all too well.
Matteo.
I freeze, blood turning to ice.
This is his digital signature, his system. He has hidden it well, buried beneath layers of encryption and firewalls, but I recognize his style.
I sit back, stunned.
What the hell is he doing with Manticore messages on his server?
Was this what he meant at the gala? No complications… Keep your distance… Because he is part of them? Why would he be connected to something like this?
It doesn’t make sense. Unless…unless he’s involved.
A sharp pulse of dread races through me, crawling up my spine, nearly choking me.
Matteo. That cold, unreadable bastard. Whatever he is doing, this throws everything off balance.
Is he covering for them? Trading information? Is he part of Manticore?
Then the next thought slams into me like a punch. Damiano. His entire group. I always knew they weren’t saints—Mafia doesn’t exactly scream morality—but I believed they had lines they didn’t cross.
I believed Lily was safe with them.
After everything she went through, after being abducted and rescued by Damiano himself, I thought this group of men had a code. That they were working to shut those rings down, not protect them, or work for them. But what if I was wrong?
My pulse surges as my heart rate speeds up. I lean in, teeth gritted, pushing deeper into the Di Rossi network. My fingers fly over the keyboard. I have to find out. I have to be sure—
The screen glitches, like a flicker of static.
Then…words bleed into my terminal, they blink, stark and final, in the center of my screen.
I’m coming for you, Ghost .
I freeze.
The blood drains from my face as my breath catches in my throat. I slam the laptop shut with a loud thud.
No…No, no, no!
He knows! I’ve tripped a goddamn trap.
Panic claws up my throat, hot and all-consuming.
My mind goes white for a second, blank with disbelief.
Then instinct kicks in. I snap the laptop open again, fingers shaking as I launch the rapid-wipe protocol I specifically wrote for this kind of crisis.
A cascade of code spills across the screen, scrubbing every trace of my activity from the device.
Move. Now.
I grab the laptop mid-process, snatch the burner phone from the table, and bolt out of the front door. I fly down the stairs, my breath coming out in sharp gasps as I burst through the back door into the alley. There I see what I came searching for.
The dumpster’s rusted lid groans as I throw it open. I don’t waver, I throw the laptop in, then the burner phone. I slam the lid shut with a metallic clang that echoes down the alley with finality.
There! All evidence is gone . But I am shaking, my palms are sweaty, my chest is tight with adrenaline and dread.
That was too close. Way too close .
I drag my feet back up the stairs to the apartment, heart hammering against my ribs.
Once I have bolted the door, my panic subsides.
I go back to the couch to sit down, but I shoot up again to pace the room, unable to stay still.
My mind is racing, spinning with fury and disbelief.
I don’t know what the hell Matteo is into or how deep he is in this, but I’m going to find the hell out.
And if Lily isn’t safe? I will burn their entire organization to the ground.