Chapter 274
Reyna POV
Dante storms back into the hotel suite just before dawn, his coat still on, his face set like stone. The moment his eyes land on us he knows something happened.
"What?" His tone is sharp and clipped.
Luca doesn't hesitate. He pulls the flash drive from his pocket and sets it on the desk between us. "A blackout was staged, some mem broke in and they left us with this."
Dante's jaw hardens. His gaze cuts to me. "You saw them?"
"Not their faces," I say, my voice steady even though my chest is tight. "But I heard them. They knew my name, Dante. They knew where to find us at the hotel."
He doesn't curse or shout. He turns to look at Luca for a long, heavy second before dropping into the chair at the desk. "Plug it in."
Luca shakes his head once. "Not until I've swept it."
"We don't have time for games," Dante sighs, voice heavy.
"It's not a game," Luca fires back, sharp. "If this thing carries malware, you'll have trackers in every system you own."
The two men stare each other down, neither blinking, and the air in the room feels too tight. My patience snaps first.
"Enough," I cut in. I grab the flash drive off the desk and shove it into my laptop before either of them can stop me. The screen flickers, loading a single encrypted folder.
"Reyna.." Luca's voice is sharp, warning, but I bite it back with a glare.
"This is what I do. You want answers, let me work."
My fingers fly over the keys, muscle memory taking over, lines of code spilling down the screen. The lock is old, messy, but not impossible. Within seconds the folder cracks open.
Numbers fill the screen. Bank accounts. Offshore links. All with one familiar tag.
"Vegas," I whisper, nodding in confirmation at the names
Dante leans closer, eyes narrowing. "These were Francesca's."
"Not just hers," I say, scrolling faster, my heart pounding harder. "Some of these accounts are still active. Someone's been moving money through them in the last three months."
Luca paces behind me, his shadow stretching long across the carpet. "So Francesca wasn't the end of it. Someone kept her network alive."
Dante doesn't answer. He just keeps staring at the screen like he wants to burn it into memory.
Then another file pops open at the bottom of the folder. A hidden one. Password protected.
I crack it with two more strokes. The image that fills the screen makes my stomach drop.
A ship fills our vision, its faded and, grainy, shot from a distance. But I know the shape, the heavy black hull, the broken lettering on the side. I've seen it in Ana's case files, in the nightmares that Bianca told me about and Ana cried about,.
The ship Francesca used to kidnap Ana and Bianca.
The photo hangs on the screen, blurry but clear enough to twist the air out of the room.
Ana once told me about the smell of the rust, about the pirates that attacked and Rafaelle killed mercilessly, about Francesca's sudden appearance on the ship that broke her heart. I can see that ship now, frozen on my screen, proof that those nightmares weren't just memories for Ana and Bianca but evidence as well. A breadcrumb left for us to choke on.
"That's it," Dante mutters, his voice tight with fury. "That's the ship."
Luca steps in closer, his hand brushing mine as he slams the laptop shut. "Enough. We've seen what we needed."
I snap it back open before he can pull it away. "No. There's more here. Whoever left this didn't risk exposing themselves just for an old photo."
His jaw ticks hard. "You don't know what else could be buried in there. Trojans. Backdoors. One wrong move and they'll have every contact you've got."
"Then let them try," I bite back, my fingers already flying across the keys. "You think I can't handle a basic infection? You think I don't know how to work around a mirrored partition?"
"Reyna-"
"Stop treating me like I'm glass, Luca." My voice comes out sharper than I intended, but I don't back down. "You don't get to decide what I can or can't handle."
For a moment, the only sound is my typing, the steady clack filling the tension. Luca's standing so close I can feel the heat off him, his shadow spilling over me. Dante doesn't interrupt either he just watches with his arms crossed, his expression like stone.
Another folder unlocks, this one thicker, layered with years of data. Transactions. Names. Locations.
I scroll faster, my breath catching as I piece it together. "These aren't just Francesca's accounts. They're tied to fronts, shipping, imports, shell companies. Some here in Vegas, others..." My eyes skim the list. "Dubai. London. Miami."
Dante curses under his breath.
But before I can dig deeper, the screen flickers. A line of text scrolls across the top in red, glitching against the files.
YOU OPENED THE WRONG DOOR.
My stomach twists. "That's not me."
Luca swears, reaching for the laptop. "Shut it down."
"Wait-"
The text keeps scrolling, faster this time, breaking into fragments.
WE SEE YOU.
SHE DOESN'T BELONG.
VEGAS. MIDNIGHT. DOCK 27.
The laptop freezes, the cursor blinking against the black screen.
The room is silent.
Dante's fists clench against the desk, his voice low and deadly. "Dock 27."
Luca doesn't say anything, but I see the way his shoulders stiffen, the way his eyes cut away from mine just a second too long. He knows something something he hasn't told us yet.
I shove the laptop closed, the sound loud in the heavy quiet. "They're pulling us into a trap."
Dante turns on his heel, already moving for the door. "Then we can set the trap ourselves ."
"Dante- " I start, but he's gone, his men following fast.
That leaves me standing in the middle of the room, my chest heaving, Luca is still too close. His hand brushes mine again when he takes the laptop from me, his voice low.
"You should've let me shut it down."
"And you should've told me what Dock 27 means to you," I shoot back, meeting his gaze head-on.
His silence says everything.
Before either of us can speak again, a sound shatters the air, the crack of gunfire exploding from somewhere below the hotel. The windows rattle with the force of it, shouts rising in the street.
Luca moves first, gun in hand. "Stay behind me."