Chapter 5 - The Underground Ledger
Three hours later, the penthouse was secure. The private cleanup crew had quietly removed the bodies, scrubbing the marble until it gleamed as though nothing had ever happened.
Ghost lay heavily on a custom leather sofa, heavily bandaged, breathing in slow, rhythmic intervals. Nina sat on the floor beside him, her fingers tangled in his charcoal fur, refusing to move.
Lorenzo stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at the rain-slicked Manhattan skyline, swirling a glass of amber scotch.
"You cost me three million dollars in security upgrades tonight," Lorenzo said without turning around.
"You wouldn't have survived the front door without us," Nina replied, her voice hoarse from crying.
Lorenzo turned, his whiskey eyes studying her with a new, dangerous curiosity. "The Bratva didn't just want the dog back. They wanted the data chip hidden inside his custom tactical collar. A ledger containing every name, account, and drop-off point for the city's largest trafficking ring—including half my associates."
Nina looked up, her jaw tightening. "I don't care about your ledger. I want my dog, and I want to go home."
"Your home is a two-room apartment behind a failing pharmacy where your brother is slowly dying of kidney failure," Lorenzo stated quietly, walking over and tossing a heavy leather pouch onto the coffee table. It landed with a dull, heavy metallic clink.
May you like
Nina unzipped it. Stacks of pristine, banded hundred-dollar bills stared back at her. Ten thousand dollars. Twenty. Fifty.
"What is this?" she whispered.
