Chapter 197 ALLY OR ENEMY.
\~~~LUCIANO.
Two days.
That was all it took.
Two days after that conversation, and we were standing in the middle of another ruined deal.
I had kept things tight, no loose ends, just me, Viktor, and Gabriel in the loop for this next deal.
When we pulled up to the unit just after dusk, the chain-link fence rattled in the wind. The place looked deserted, just stacks of rusted containers under flickering sodium lights. I killed the engine, grabbed the bag from the back seat, and drove inside, wrapped in foil to block any signals.
We moved to the side door, the one Viktor said our contact would leave unlocked. But as I twisted the handle, it didn't budge. I frowned, pulling out my lockpick kit. “This ain't right.”
Seconds later, the door gave, but the inside wasn't what we were expecting.
It was chaotic. The unit was trashed, shelves were toppled, and papers were scattered like confetti from hell.
And there, in the center, a single envelope taped to a crate. My stomach dropped. I ripped it open, heart pounding.
Inside, a photo of the drives we'd planned to hand off, stamped with 'Intercepted' in red ink.
“Sabotaged. Again.” The words came out flat, but rage boiled under them. I crumpled the paper and tossed it to the floor.
Viktor cursed under his breath, kicking a metal can that skittered across the concrete. “How? We were the only ones who knew.”
Gabriel knelt by the mess, his gloved hands sifting through debris. “No forced entry. Someone had a key or was let in.”
I paced the dim space, flashlight beam cutting through the dust motes. Only three of us knew the when, where, and what.
I'd double-checked and made sure there were no texts or emails, just face-to-face and coded calls.
My mind raced. “Wiretap,” I said, stopping dead. “Maybe they're listening. Bugs in the cars, phones, or the warehouse.”
Because, I'd rather believe that than accept that one of my two trusted men in the world had just vandalized me.
Viktor's face hardened. 'We swept everything after the last one.'
“Not clean enough, apparently.” I pulled out my phone, dialing the head of our security team.
“Rico, it's me. Make a full sweep on all devices, vehicles, and the works. And pull logs on this location right now.”
“On it, boss,” he grunted. “Give me an hour.”
Gabriel shifted beside me after I dropped the call, then spoke, almost like he was thinking out loud. “Wait…”
I glanced at him. “Who finalized the location again?” he asked. “Viktor, right?”
There was silence for a few seconds. Viktor didn’t react immediately. He only frowned slightly, like he was trying to remember.
“I confirmed it,” he said. “Yes.”
Gabriel nodded slowly. “Then maybe we should retrace who had access to it. Just to be sure.”
I looked between them and for a second, something flickered in my chest, small and annoying but I pushed it down hurriedly.
“We will find the culprit,” I said, firmly. “Soon.”
Because we would. We had to.
We cleared out fast, back to the SUV, tension thick as fog.
Gabriel drove this time, Viktor and me in the back, silent. My thoughts churned. If not a wire, then what? A tail we missed? No, these hits were too precise, and like the knife knew where to twist.
Back at the safe house at a nondescript brownstone in Brooklyn, we waited.
Viktor paced by the window, his phone in hand. Gabriel slumped in a chair, cracking his knuckles. An hour ticked by like a bomb countdown.
My phone buzzed and it was Rico. “Boss, we got something. The sabotage is sloppy this time. They left a digital footprint. An IP bounced from a VPN, but it cracked easily. And we traced to a contact in the east side network.”
“Who?” I pressed, voice low.
“Not naming yet, but it's tied to an intro you got a while back. Someone vouched for this guy.”
My blood ran cold. “Who vouched?”
There was a pause, like he was hesitating.
“'Viktor did. Remember that supplier link from last spring? He brought the name to the table.”
I hung up, staring at the wall. Viktor. The contact used in the sabotage was introduced by him. The pieces were falling wrong, pointing at the one man I'd bleed for without question.
The door creaked open then, Viktor and Gabriel stepping in from their smoke break outside. “Any update?” Viktor asked, wiping rain from his face.
I met his eyes, searching for a crack, a tell. Nothing. “Working on it,” My voice came out clipped, no details.
Gabriel raised a brow. “Come on, boss. We need to know.”
“Soon,” I waved them off, turning to the window. Inside, doubt clawed at me.
Viktor was my right hand, closer than blood. We'd grown up scrapping at everything, shared scars and secrets.
He was marrying my sister… tomorrow, for Christ's sake.
Alessia glowed talking about him, Raina trusted him like family.
No way.
But why did the trails keep looping back? The anonymous tip to Raina months ago that Viktor's network had brushed it. The clean jobs before, and now this sloppy one leading to his contact.
Coincidence? Or design?
I couldn't voice it. Not yet.
One wrong accusation and trust shatters.
Viktor's phone buzzed then, sharp in the quiet room. He glanced at the screen, face tightening just a fraction. “Gotta take this,” He stepped out to the hall, door clicking shut behind him.
Gabriel shot me a look. “Everything good?”
“Yeah,” But it wasn't. Viktor was back in minutes, but longer than a quick call. He pocketed the phone, his expression blank.
“Who was that?’' I asked, as casually as I could.
“Nothing. Wrong number.”
Bullshit.
Viktor never brushed off calls like that. He was the guy who answered everything, and pieced puzzles before they formed.
He was being evasive and my pulse kicked up.
I stood, nodding to Gabriel. “Give us the room.”
Gabriel hesitated, his eyes flicking between us. “Boss…”
“Now.”
He left, door shutting with a soft thud. Alone with Viktor, the air thickened, charged like before a storm. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, waiting.
“Is anything wrong?” he asked, voice even.
I stepped closer, searching his face, at the steady jaw, and the eyes that had backed me in every fight.
“Tell me I'm wrong.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Confusion creased his brow, but no panic.
I swallowed hard, the words tasting like ash. “The leaks... the sabotages. They lead to you. The contact, the traces… everything points your way. Tell me you're not the spy.”
Silence crashed in, heavy and suffocating. Seconds stretched to a minute, the clock on the wall ticking like a heartbeat. Viktor's face didn't change. There was no flush, and denial burst out. Just that steady gaze, holding mine.
“Y... you think it is me?” he finally said, his voice calmer than a summer sea. No anger, no hurt. Just a question.
“Answer me. Tell me it is not you,” My fists clenched at my sides, my nails biting palms. I needed him to roar it, to swear on Alessia, and the kid she carried.
Anything to kill the doubt.
I would believe him if he said no.
Even if I see the proof, clean and clear, I would believe him as long as he said no!
“You think it is me,” he repeated, taking a step back and his brows furrowing deeper as though I had just slapped him.
“Viktor…”My voice cracked, low and raw.
But he didn't speak, didn't deny, and didn't defend himself.
He just looked at me, his eyes unreadable, the man I'd called brother now a stranger in the dim light.
I couldn't push anymore. Words stuck, and my throat tightened.
For the first time in years, I stared at him and wondered if he was an ally or an enemy.
The room spun with what-ifs, the wedding just a day away, and Alessia trusting him with her future. If Viktor was the leak, it tore everything apart.
If not... who?
We stood there, locked in that endless stare, the unspoken hanging like a blade. No answers, just the edge of something breaking.
And in that silence, the real sabotage began.