Chapter Thirty-Six
Zahra
It took weeks, but we narrowed the coordinates on the map for Milan down to three locations.
We’d stormed the first one, but it had been an empty warehouse, a fluke to throw us off our game again.
Two days later, we set out for the second location and were attacked by three other groups looking for the painting—there, we learned that our movements were being monitored.
We’d expected it. Elio had clarified at a meeting that though we had the map, we shouldn’t be na?ve to think people didn’t know we had it.
Then again, he’d also said it wasn’t a matter of who had it, it was a matter of who had the most firepower. If we were being monitored, we needed to have enough arms to protect ourselves.
I knew all this before he raised the awareness.
I knew many things—things I was scared to speak about because the consequences meant losing more than I bargained for.
At the third location, we found absolutely nothing, like I’d suspected.
And then a few days ago, Upper had cracked another coordinate that happened to border with land that was in Arturo’s name.
The records of the purchase were buried so deep it took Upper a while to pull out all the information we needed.
I had no doubt that the gold and flash drives were sitting pretty somewhere on that property.
Those damned flash drives.
While I’d come to Milan to investigate the flash drives’ whereabouts, I’d also been spying on P. Deluxe Corp.
Leaving Sicily at nineteen, I’d had one thing in mind.
Bring down P. Deluxe Corp—the organization behind the trafficking ring or at least, that’s what I thought they were called.
From the different transactions, placement documents, and payment receipts I had found in Manuel’s records of the time he had been in the Conti Serpent Society, all executive orders came from this P. Deluxe Corp.
I had done my research about them.
Public records indicated that the corporation was a private research facility owned by a man called Pedro Lombardi, who was now deceased.
Vitale had told me that finding the corporation was too easy—and something was amiss. But I had looked at every directive and intel from spies I had in different places, and they all pointed at P. Deluxe Corp.
A week ago, Elio also mentioned their name when he told me of his findings. These were things I already knew.
We couldn’t take up the matter with authorities or make a case against the corporation being a false research facility, but we could destroy it.
As for Elio, I was going to tell him everything today—I knew he would understand why I held back, and I knew he would be by my side because if I was frank with myself, I couldn’t do it alone.
Destroying this organization had been a massive part of my life since I had discovered myself.
Who I was, what I wanted, and what I would die doing.
I wanted no child or adult to go through what I did. I knew stopping this particular ring wouldn’t stop pedophilia around the world, but it would prevent children from being born into the business.
Vitale already had our people on standby, waiting for my word to bring down the operation.
But I wanted to finish here first, get the flash drives to Elio, tell him everything, and hope to God that he let me have the flash drive I needed.
It held the information Vitale’s people required to get into the organization’s system, finding every branch and house, before blowing up the building and bringing down those bastards.
My heart was in my throat, and I was nervous.
I had to get it right if I wanted a chance to salvage all the relationships that might be destroyed today.
Right now, Devil and I were on our way to the new location, and a long convoy of Marino SUVs was behind us. Ready with arms in case any other group decided to join the fun.
Dog was in one of the SUVs with Marino’s people, and Milk and Upper were working behind the scenes, as this location required several invisible eyes rather than physical bodies.
My hand was on the gun strap around my waist, my focus dead set on the road ahead, and my mind was a chaos of its own.
“You good?” Devil’s voice reached inside my head from the driver’s side.
I looked toward him, noting the frown on his brows, but it was one of concentration.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
His lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn’t speak after that.
I studied him for a bit, knowing that despite our little jokes here and there over the past weeks, we had been tiptoeing around each other.
I didn’t want to broach the topic because the last thing I wanted was to be at odds with any of them.
“Hey,” I said, calling his attention as he glanced over. I tapped my comm, gesturing for him to turn his off.
When he did, his frown deepened. “What’s wrong?”
“I feel like we need to talk.”
His grip on the wheel tightened. “About what?”
“Don’t play pretend. Ever since I told everyone my last name, your eyes have been on me, and we’ve been walking on eggshells around each other. I’d like to know why.”
His body grew tense, and I knew he didn’t want to talk about it; he wanted to play dumb, imagine he hadn’t heard or realized anything so the little bubble he was in wouldn’t burst. He was at war with himself, and it only piqued my curiosity to know what he knew.
“It’s nothing,” he said.
I sighed. “Look, we’re about to enter a battleground together; I just want to ensure we’re good before we face possible death?”
After a second of quietness, he let out a breath. “Do you recognize the term E2?”
I went quiet, watching him with a frown before I asked, “How the fuck do you know about E2?”
He glanced at me, his eyes reflecting the same void as always. He had the unique ability to never move any muscle on his face. He looked back to the road.
“I don’t know of him. I am him.”
The silence that befell us was very heavy. At first, I heard his voice repeat in my head as I tried to make sense of the revelation. “I don’t understand.”
“There is nothing to understand. I know who you really are. We communicated prior to me finding you or Street.”
I looked away from him. “Fuck,” I muttered. “I can’t believe you’re … Fuck. How come this never came to anyone’s notice?”
“You’re one to talk.” He glanced at me with a stern glare.
“When I said my name, and you realized who I was, why didn’t you react then?”
“I was also at risk of revealing who I was. I am not one to meddle in shit that doesn’t concern me, and I stopped being E2 when Street was created.”
I sighed, my chest growing heavy as I looked his way again. “So, you’ve let me hang around your brother for the past couple months, knowing who I was and what I’m capable of?”
His jaw clenched. “You promised not to hurt him, and I believed and trusted you. Even after knowing your last name.”
My eyes turned from him and back to the road. “Well, you’re right. I have no intention of hurting him. He means more to me than you know.”
“I’m guessing he doesn’t know.” His voice was stern.
“I plan to tell him,” I stated.
From my periphery, I knew he was shaking his head.
It was quiet for a short while until he broke it. “Was everything with Street staged?”
I swallowed. Hard.
I squared my shoulders, keeping my gaze trained ahead. “We’re almost nearing the location; we should turn on our comms—”
“Was everything staged, Zahra?”
I turned to look at him. “I love Street, okay? I love each and every one of you. You guys are like the family I never got to have, and while it didn’t start like that, it doesn’t mean that everything we’ve been through together doesn’t mean shit to me.”
“Will you tell them?”
My heart and nervousness went a bit wild. “I will. When I get everything I want.”
Another tense silence passed, and he broke it again. “You were my last job.”
“What?”
“You. I was paid to kill Zahra Faizan. I only got your name, which I recognized from when you were my client. I didn’t take the job or any other information about you. Shortly after, I found you, and you made Street. I left that life behind and became Devil.”
“Who sent you to kill me?” I asked.
“Ignazio Conti.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course,” I muttered. “What other way to get the seat than to kill me off so Vitale wouldn’t have standing? He’s going to be a problem.”
“You’re a problem,” Devil muttered angrily under his breath.
I faced the road, clenching my jaw. “Only to those who are a problem to me,” I responded, looking his way. “Are you going to be?”
He went quiet, jaw clenching. He didn’t reply.
I nodded, looking away from him with a frown. “Turn on your comm; we have work to do.”
We pulled over at a lone dirt road, and I looked left and right, seeing nothing for miles, just dried-up weeds, sand, and withering farmland outside.
We got out of the car, and Dog walked toward us from the car he had been in. He looked around, eyes taking in our surroundings. “You sure we’re at the right place?”
“Yes,” Upper said in our ears. “You’re standing where the coordinates led.”
“Maybe we need to be looking for something unusual,” Milk offered. “We might not see what we’re supposed to see because the whole area is disguised to look like nothing but a dirt road.”
“Yeah…” My eyes zeroed in on a lone healthy apple tree a few meters from the woods.
Looking to either side of me, I saw Dog and Devil staring at the tree too.
“I have a very crude Adam and Eve joke that would be so inappropriate to say right now,” Dog said.
“Keep it to yourself,” Devil ordered, surveying the area.
“Admit you’re dying to hear it. You’re legit on the edge of your seat to hear it.”
“I’m not sitting.”
I stepped forward. “We should—”
The revving of multiple engines halted my statement as I spotted numerous cars driving toward us from afar with blinding speed; Marino’s men were quick to get into position.
A biker group was arriving from our left side, the roar of engines filling the area.