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Shit, how’d I forget about that? Right. Everything really had gone on the back burner because of my concerns about the upcoming fight in and out of the ring.
“Any chance we didn’t get a heads-up from our insider because he’s with his father and brother and unable to get word out to us?” I doubted that was possible, but at this point, I didn’t know what to think anymore. “Based on what I know about Sly—and yeah, that’s what I’m calling Sylvester now—suggests he’s not a cyber genius, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t task one to get the messages out for him.”
“You think one of the Sorens has been keeping us alive?” Oliver broke his silence, eyes pinned my way.
“Hell, I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I’m just confused. Maybe I’m grasping at straws, but this night was a lot to take in.”
“Sly may be part of this, but maybe not that way,” Gwen said, her tone letting me know she wasn’t necessarily discounting what I said, but also not completely believing I was on the right track.
“Go on,” Gray prompted, stepping into his team leader role as Carter continued being a silent observer while we worked through it all.
“Based on what Hugo said tonight,” Gwen began, drawing Sydney and a few others to their feet, “I believe he thinks his brother manipulated the situation in Thailand to make a power play for control of the family.”
I braced my back against the door. It’d been a long day, week, and well, year. I needed the support.
Wyatt locked his arms over his chest, abandoning his mission to tear up the floor from nerves as he waited for his daughter to continue. Despite being one of the world’s best snipers and a Tier One operator, the man really was a great dad.
Then there was my father-of-the-year, who’d tried to have Oliver and my friends killed. I’d take cautious and protective over a psychopath any day of the week. Maybe I wasn’t so fallen apart over the news, though, because some deep part of me always knew I was different from my parents. That while we shared the same blood, we weren’t the same people. Not to mention the nightmares, which now had me believing good ol’ Mom and Dad had absolutely bleached my brain, figuratively speaking, making me forget something horrible that’d happened.
Shit, it took me a moment to realize Gwen had begun explaining her reasoning already. “I’m sorry, can you start again.” I peeled my eyes away from the team and back to her.
“What if it was Sly who tipped you off about the pigeon sale?” Gwen offered up the idea. “I mean, only someone from the inside would know about the exchange. The cargo did have his zip code on it. He knew you were working for FYVM. Based on your reputation for being an honest journalist, maybe he was testing the waters to see what you’d do?”
“But why?” I whispered, a shiver rolling over my skin.
Gwen frowned. “That’s another billion-dollar question.”
I blinked twice, a thought hitting me. “Maybe it was never about me. Maybe it was about Sly’s brother all along. He knew the second I reported the story to my editor, it’d get back to Hugo. Hugo would have no choice but to take action, especially being placed in charge of FYVM. He anticipated Hugo would assume I was onto their family regardless of the fact I said it was a dead lead in connection to the pharmaceutical company story. Because how else would I know about the pigeon sale to begin with, if I wasn’t after his family or their organization?”
“Sly just never knew you were actually undercover doing that precise thing. And why would he think that given your parents’ relationship with his family?” Sydney pointed out, inspiring chills to bathe my skin in goose bumps. “But I bet Sly was also looking to end that partnership with your parents if he chose you to set up that day.”
“Kill two birds with one stone.” Jack grimaced at his analogy. “Try and instill doubts about the Vanzettis in his dad’s head, and make his brother look incompetent. Like he couldn’t even run their media company without one of his own journalists turning on him.”
“He still placed a target on his head in doing all of this,” Mason joined the conversation. “Why take that risk?”
“Because he didn’t know I was truly undercover until it was too late. Hugo only . . .” I did my best to tamp down the flashback to that horrible day and power through this, but Oliver must’ve seen me struggling.
He cut across the room and offered his hand, which I gladly accepted, feeling better once his fingers were united with mine.
“Hugo was ready to take us down regardless,” I continued, “but he planted the listening device on us, confirming his suspicions.”
“And probably shocked the hell out of Sly.” Gwen blew out her cheeks, shaking her head in surprise.
“Birds really took everyone down that day. Fucking birds,” Jack muttered under his breath, plopping down between Easton and Mason on one of the couches.
“Our hacker isn’t Sly, but it has to be someone close to him. Someone who doesn’t approve of what’s going on, but is too afraid to risk sharing their identity yet,” Sydney mused, and I was glad to see her on the same page.
“Which means it’s probably not someone at this hotel with the Sorens, which is why they couldn’t give us a heads-up,” Oliver said, tightening his grip on my hand slightly.
“Their days are numbered now that Stef and Hugo realize they have a mole.” Carter peered at Gwen, finally speaking. “Is it possible to find a way to get a message to the insider to warn them?”
Mason stood, eyes on Gwen as she stared off at her computer on the desk, her reluctance to run to it confirmation of uncertainty. “The hacker has been our guardian angel,” he began, “and I’m thinking you’re going to need to be theirs now.”
“I’ll do my best, but the signal may be intercepted by someone on Team Soren, which could paint the target on their heads,” she let us know, heading to the desk to work.
“They have no shot if we don’t warn them, though,” Gray said, clearly in agreement with Carter on that.
“What do you think Stef and Hugo will do to Sly?” I asked, not to anyone specific, but just thinking out loud. “They’re going to figure out he started this mess for them.”
