Isabella's Game

LUCIAN'S POV I paced the length and breadth of the wide room. Neither fast nor frantic. It carried steps that bore measure in their stride and turns that were counted. The kind of pacing meant that I was replaying every event in my head, again and again, looking for the hairline crack I might have missed at first glance. My second, Enzo, was standing near the desk, hands clasped behind his back. Silent. He was watching me the way he always did when he knew better than to interrupt, but it was I who finally broke the silence first. “So the Viper says he found nothing?” Enzo nodded once. “Clean boss. No ledger. No backup. No trace.” I let out a short laugh, and the sound scraped my throat. “Of course it was clean.” I poured myself a drink but didn’t sit. “I told you not to trust Bianca. If she kept it somewhere safe, I could sleep. But that woman…” I stopped myself. My teeth ground against themselves until they ached. “But why does she die now?” That was the question I could