Someone was hiding the transit routes.

I reached into my pocket and touched the corner of my phone.

The burnt page in the text message had listed a series of offshore accounts under a company called Aegis Holdings.

I began flipping through the loose folders, looking for that name.

“What are you looking for?” Declan asked, his knife stopping.

“A baseline,” I lied. “To see where the three books overlap.”

“They don’t overlap,” Declan said. “That’s the point. We don’t share.”

“Then how do you run a joint operation?” I asked.

“With a lot of guns,” Declan said.

He stood up, walked to the window, and parted the heavy velvet curtains.

The rain was coming down harder now, drumming against the glass.

Outside, the long gravel driveway was lit by two iron lanterns.

I found a small, yellowed receipt tucked inside a 2022 Vescari ledger.

It was a wire transfer confirmation.

The sender was obscured, but the destination was Aegis Holdings.

The amount was four million dollars.

I looked up at Declan’s back.

He was staring out at the dark treeline, his shoulders tense.