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“Level Seven is thebomb. I can’t wait to see the last game.” Grayson walked over, sat down, and grabbed an egg roll. He wore a yellow stylist shirt that Natalie probably designed for him. I’d hired his architectural firm to renovate my museum and other properties a while ago, and we’d become good friends. He filled his plate with wings and the dumplings Audri had brought over.

“Not anytime soon,” I said.

All the boys came to the table, expressing their thoughts on Level Seven.

Remington pulled out a chair next to me. “Do you need me to look into Dr. Nico Messina?”

I told them about seeing him in Emmanuel’s social media feed.

“That would be great,” I said. “Enzo Stevens, Nico Messina, and Milton Kalkounis are all part of something big. I can feel it.”

“Enzo and Nico were just names on our list of Trogyn members, but now we’ll move them to the priority section.” Royce shoved a French fry into his mouth. He’d recently returned from vacation with Michelle and now looked like a tan Thor.

Each of the boys had taken a different angle into The Trogyn. This crime syndicate was a colossal monster with ties to extremely powerful people with hidden identities. We had to be careful how we attacked them now. They knew about us, and I knew they were planning to hurt our families and businesses.

Remington had destroyed a profitable sex-trafficking warehouse. Grayson destroyed an underground tunnel used to transport drugs and shit. Royce had eliminated key members of their organization. Forrest had closed down another sex-trafficking ring. Arrow had brought down several elite members, including a Supreme Court judge and a European prince. Orion had eliminated their money laundering business and life insurance scams involving multiple banks worldwide.

“Milton Kalkounis changed his name to Jean-Claude Dumas,” I said.

“The fuck? Why?” Arrow asked.

“Not sure. But I’m gonna find out.”

More laughter erupted, and the boys shook their heads while smiling.

“It sounds more fun over there,” said Grayson.

“You can join them.” Arrow slung an arm around Grayson.

“If they let you,” Remi said, his expression turning contemplative.

He didn’t need to say anything. I knew what he was thinking. We had to eliminate The Trogyn to protect the joy in that room.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

VANESSA

The next day,Attikus shoved the last suitcase into the trunk of his Maserati SUV, closed it, and looked at me. “Is that all?”

Most men would ask me why I had three suitcases if I were only staying at his place temporarily with the option of going home to retrieve more items when necessary, but he didn’t.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

“What are you talking about?” He walked me to the passenger side door and opened it for me.

“I just gave you three large suitcases and two duffle bags. Aren’t you going to ask me why I need so many when I could just drive back to my apartment to get what I need?”

His lips twisted into a sardonic smile that did something strange to my stomach. “You haven’t seen my mother or my sister travel yet. I’m used to it. This is nothing.”

“I should drive my car there.”

“Why?”

“Because I might need a car to go places?”

“You can use one of mine. It’s best to keep your car parked here.”

Now it was my turn to ask, “Why?”