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"How many accounts? What do they look like? How much money do they have?"
I slam my hand onto the pillow to get him to stop. I get he wants answers, but this isn't about him. This isn't about the Guild. This is my life. And all he's worried about is information that will assist him.
I sigh, nausea rolling in my stomach. He's not concerned with how I'm affected or what I went through. I resign myself to sticking to the facts.
"There's dozens of accounts. They come and go. I only have access to a few of them at a time. All the transactions are monitored. Actually, I'm monitored all the time too. I can't tell you how much money they have. As I said, I don't have access to all of them at once, so I don't know," I say robotically.
Just the facts. If I stick to the facts, then this will be over.
"Can you fuck with their accounts?" he asks, pushing from the bed to pace across the room.
"No. I'll explain how it works, how the accounts is set up, the other cities they have business in. I'll give you everything I can, but I can't mess with the money," I say, tucking my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.
"Can't? Or won't?" he spits, shaking his head as he rips back the curtains and stares at the dying sun.
My heart aches and something shrivels within me. It might be the last gasp of hope Dante lit in my mind. Or something else. I don't care. Or maybe I just wish I didn't care. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that I should have kept my heart locked away behind more doors. Then it wouldn't hurt so much.
"Both." I clear my throat. "I can't because there are safeguards in place. You're better off getting a hacker to get into their systems. A good one, obviously. And I won't because while you may not care what the cost is, I do."
He swings around, confusion etched across his face. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Just that even if I could, I wouldn't do it. I'm not in a position to accomplish what you want."
"That's bullshit, Aelia, and you know it."
"You can disappear, Dante. Whenever you want." I bite my cheek to keep the accusation at bay. "I'm sorry I can't be as dedicated as you are."
"What the hell is wrong with you? Did Grant do something? Is that what this is?"
"Is he still chained up in his room?"
"Don't change the subject, Aelia. Tell me what the hell is going on." He crosses his arms, glaring at me, and I shake my head.
Burying my face in my knees, I wait for the rage. Isn't that a normal reaction? I wouldn't know, but it seems like I should be angry. Searching myself, I find nothing. No fury, no outrage, no resentment. Apparently, I found my apathy. I just wish it wasn't because of Dante.
"Nothing," I whisper. "Absolutely nothing."
Twenty-One
Dante
"What did you find, Cruz?" Jenkins asks.
Keeping my eyes off Aelia this time around isn't as easy. With her seated behind me, I hear her tapping away at the keys. Two days since I've found her, and she still won't tell me what's wrong. She won't reveal anything about what Grant did. She won't say much of anything, actually. Other than feeding me little tidbits of information she thinks will help, she won't talk to me. I don't know what I did, but I need to figure it out.
"The Night Slayers seem to have moved on. Or been taken out. I wasn't able to find which one. Most of them took off around the time I showed up. They were fighting with a rival MC, though finding which one wasn't possible. I believe it was in another city."
"And why is that?" he murmurs. I can't tell if he's paying attention. He's buried in a stack of paperwork I've been trying to read upside down for the last five minutes.
"The leader—"
"President. In an MC, they call them the president. You really aren't a blue-collar criminal, are you, Cruz?"
"Certainly not. I'd rather not get my hands dirty in that way, Jenkins. I suspect you’re much the same."
Each lie burns on the way out. I feel like I'm betraying the Vipers with each syllable. None of this matters, though.
"Why do you think they're gone?"
