Chapter 131 Over a year now
Dante's POV
It stood out immediately I set my eyes on it. It sat there, tucked neatly inside its own binder like someone had placed it there with care.
It was nothing like the others we’d tossed aside after checking, those were scattered and a couple of pages slightly bent with their edges sticking out in different directions.
But this one? It looked untouched, almost too rightly placed, giving the feeling that it had been set aside on purpose.
My stomach tightened at the sight, that couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Nico,” I called out as I straightened, keeping my eyes on him while stretching down again but to the other side. “Pass me that folder on your left. The one in the black binder,” I instructed.
Nico looked up from his phone at me with his brows up high. “Which one?” He asked with his rising.
“That one right there,” I pointed, stretching more. “The one with a black cover sitting separately from the rest,” I further instructed.
He glanced down and as he did, a frown formed over his features even as he picked it up slowly.
“This?” He asked as he raised it in the air to me and I nodded.
“But I believe I've already been through it, Don. It’s just warehouse backup logs. Nothing there,” he explained.
I straightened immediately and held out my hand to him. “I know, but there's no harm in a second look, or is there?” I asked carefully.
He hesitated with fingers tightening on the edge of the binder.
“But I can swear I checked every document laying here. I crossed them with the system and everything. You really want to waste time on something I already cleared, Don?” He pressed on.
“Yeah,” I said, keeping my voice even. “I do, now hand it over,” I ordered.
Nico sighed but passed the folder across the table while Marcus watched quietly with his arms folded, saying nothing yet.
I flipped it open immediately I got it and started scanning through immediately.
The pages were smooth and the entries were written in neat handwriting.
At first glance, it looked normal, the dates, amounts, signatures all matched with those on the system.
But the more I compared it to the laptop screen, the more things didn’t line up.
There was a shipment listed on paper of thirty crates and marked as “special order.” It was dated six months ago, but on the system? There was zero record.
There was another, two months later, the exact same thing. Then another, and another.
All had no records in the digital files. I kept turning pages as my heart began beating faster.
Every missing entry had the same quiet note in the margin. “R family pickup.”
And there's only one person that fits. The Romanos.
Weapons, guns, high-grade stuff we never sold outside our own circle had been sold straight to the Romano family for the good part of last year.
And it wasn't just on, dozens of transactions while some descriptions even mentioned Luca being present at handovers.
My blood ran cold at the reading of his name.
These deals had been kept off the system on purpose, someone wanted them to remain a secret.
And that someone had to be someone who knew exactly how we worked.
I looked up slowly. “Nico… you really checked this one?” I asked carefully.
He leaned forward, frowning harder. “Yeah, I believe I did. Why?”.He replied.
I turned the folder around so he could see. “Because the paper shows sales to Romano. Guns, loads of them and none of it’s on the system. Not a single line,” I said firmly.
Nico’s face went blank for a second, then he lifted the page up his eyes slowly.
“No way. I would’ve seen that,” he remarked as he scanned it quickly.
His mouth opened, closed, then opened again when he turned to me. “I… I swear, Don. I looked at every entry. It was clean when I checked,” he explained but I didn't say a word.
Marcus stood up without a word, went around the table from behind me, and took the folder from Nico.
He read it in silence for a full minute, flipping back and forth between pages and crouching down at the screen.
“It’s there,” he said quietly as he straightened.
“Clear as day. Someone had probably skipped it from the digital side, maybe kept the paper cause they figured we’d never bother looking,” he added as he returned to his seat.
Nico rubbed the back of his neck with his face burning red. “I must’ve missed it. I’m sorry, I thought I was careful enough," he apologized again.
I didn't bother responding, I just stared at the page again. The lapses weren’t random one bit, the amounts hiked in places like an entire shipment had been split and recorded elsewhere.
Could be in another hidden folder we hadn’t pulled yet.
I closed the folder gently, shaking my head.
“We’re not stopping here, we'll trace every one of these. Starting now, we'll find out where the pickups happened and who signed them off, even who drove the trucks. Everything,” I instructed.
Marcus nodded. “I’ll pull the warehouse camera logs from those dates. See if any faces match Romano’s crew,” he exclaimed as went to work.
Nico was already typing on his system before I could say a word. “I’ll cross the dates with delivery routes. We can narrow locations faster that way,” he reacted.
While I went through the news feed and all sorts of information that could help us pin down something.
We worked in silence for the next hour and ended up narrowing our search to three main pickup spots outside the city.
One was an old garage, another an abandoned lot, and the last was a small warehouse listed under a fake company name.
Each one had been used multiple times in the past year.
Marcus looked up from his screen. “The garage is the most recent. Last transaction was ten days ago. I’ve got its address,” he remarked.
I stood up.
“We go tonight, no backups just yet, just the three of us,” I said, looking between them both. “We’ll watch, listen and get as much proof as possible,” I added.
Nico grabbed the keys, still looking a little rattled. “You sure we shouldn’t wait? This could be bigger than we thought,” he offered.
I met his eyes, taking the keys from him “That’s exactly why we don’t wait,” I deadpanned.
And without any further challenges, we took the back elevator down to the garage.
Just the three of us, moving like we used to back in the days.
Marcus slid into the passenger seat as we stepped out and Nico went in the back. I started the engine and drove off immediately.
Twenty minutes later we were rolling past the city as it grew darker, following the GPS Marcus had pulled.
It wasn't long before the garage appeared ahead, an old brick building with a single light over the side door and two cars parked out front that I couldn't recognize.
We killed the engine half a block away and slipped out, sticking to the shadows.
Marcus took the left side while Nico took the right and I moved straight for the back window, remaining as alert as possible.
Voices drifted out from inside as I crouched beneath the cracked glass and heard it clear as day.