My body betrayed me, leaning into him as if his presence were a drug. My fingers curled against his chest.
“Move your hips one more time and you’ll beg for mercy I don’t give.”
That was a promise. But he had already grounded me. His lips grazed the corner of mine, just a turn of my head away from a kiss. His cheek, rough with the scrape of a close shave, brushed against mine, sending butterflies into my stomach. For a split second, I wondered what he would taste like if we kissed.
“Get out of here, Little Gem,” he murmured against my lips. “Or I’ll ruin every innocent part of you.”
Before I could react, he pushed me off him, placing me on the cold floor as he got up. I stayed there, watching as he disappeared. My body still thrummed with adrenaline and something new.Need.
Chapter Nineteen
Rodion
The dim light from myoffice desk lamp cast long shadows over the papers before me. Numbers, names, and dates, all pieces of a puzzle I had been piecing together. Some of these men were already dead, their debts paid in blood. Others were still walking, unaware that their time was running out.
I flipped through the latest report, my fingers tracing the ink-stamped signatures. These had evidence of backroom deals and transactions buried deep. Thanks to Mauro Romero, I now had my hands on the darkest secrets of a small bank that had been a hub for men who needed to move money unseen.
The door creaked open, and Matvet stepped in carrying a thick file. He placed the file on my desk, tapping a finger against the cover.
“Mr. Romero and his wife are safe,” he said. “And we have more records.”
Leaning back in my chair, I exhaled. Alessia’s father worked atthe bank and had access to everything I needed. That was why Marco dated Alessia to get the information through her father. But now I had Mauro Romero in my pocket. He would do whatever I wanted to keep his daughter safe.
At the thought of Alessia, my cock stirred. She has been invading my thoughts lately. I kept replaying her confession from the night she was drunk. She said she was a virgin and had planned to let Marco take her that night before I attacked. She couldn’t remember how she climbed onto my lap and started moving her hip, grinding with a hunger that didn’t belong to some shy girl.
Alessia was chaos wrapped in curves, and all I saw that night was a rare little gem begging to be owned. I pushed the thought away and grabbed the file Matvet brought. Flipping it open, I scanned the documents. My eyes moved over the names, picking out the ones that mattered.
“These are the accounts?” I asked.
Matvet nodded. “Everything Mr. Romero could get.”
A slow smirk pulled at the corner of my lips. Every man listed in this file had worked with Luigi—just the people I needed. I turned to another page, my smirk fading when I realized Leonid’s name was missing.
No,come on.I frowned and flipped back through the names, scanning each like a hit list. It didn’t add up. Leonid should’ve been here. I have been tracking his business surge for months. And I knew Luigi was the hand feeding that fire, just like he had with every other name on the sheet. Leonid’s empire shot up when the Bratva started bleeding. Every Italian fattened up on our downfall, and Luigi was the key player behind the curtain. But Leonid? He didn’t show any link to Luigi.
I snapped the file shut and looked at Matvet. “There must be missing papers here.”
“That’s everything Mr. Romero found.”
“This was the last bank connected to Luigi,” I said, tapping a finger against the desk. “So, either Leonid never did business with him, or they handled it off the books.”
Matvet hesitated. “We could pay him another visit.”
The thought of seeing Leonid made my skin itch. I hated that bastard. But I needed to know what he knew. On my feet, I reached for my gun.
“Boss, did you take a good look at this?”
Matvet stepped forward, flipping open the file again. His finger circled a name. I followed his gaze, and the blood drained from my face.
The column showed a large transaction from Luigi to Renat directly. I stared. I had never trusted him, but I had never had any proof until now.
Grabbing the file, I hurled it across the room, the papers scattering like dead leaves. Alessia was right about Renat being the rat on the inside. I knew he fed scraps to the Gallos, but seeing his ties to Luigi changed the game.
This wasn’t betrayal. It was treason. I already had plans for him, but now, they weren’t enough. He needed to bleed slowly.
“Keep this between us. We move as planned. But I want eyes on him. Watch every step. If he even breathes wrong, I want to know.”
Matvet nodded. “Understood.”