The elevator doors closed behind them, leaving a heavy silence in the room.

Damiano did not move until the indicator light showed the elevator had reached the lobby.

Then he turned to me, his face grim.

“We have very little time,” he said.

“Enzo is already calling the other families.”

“The game has begun.”

He walked to his desk and picked up a black folder.

“We need to make this believable.”

“You need to know everything about my business, and I need to know everything about yours.”

He opened the folder and took out a sheet of paper.

“Starting with those files Marcus mentioned.”

“What exactly did you take from him, Arya?”

I looked at the paper in his hand.

It was a list of my former clients, people I had worked with before I fled.

“My old database,” I said. “It has the financial records of several major corporations.”

Damiano’s eyes narrowed.

“Good,” he said. “That will make the lie even easier to sell.”

He walked over to me and handed me a small, velvet box.

Inside was a diamond ring, cold and brilliant.