"With these numbers, why would they be investing in a super soldier experiment? What's in it for them? And an experiment that doesn't have any reliable data either."

My lips curl up and I can't help but look at her in awe.

"You'd be right." I get up from the chair and head to her board, continuing to watch her as she walks me through her reasoning.

"At first, I thought that maybe they'd want these super soldiers for their own organization, and certainly, who wouldn't want someone who doesn't feel pain.

" She tilts her head at me, "Has no fear and is practically a war machine.

But this is an exorbitant amount of money that's been flowing from and into their accounts. " She thrusts the papers at me.

I don't even have to look to know what she's talking about, since I have them already memorized.

"Then I thought that maybe they were looking to sell them, since they would be a hot commodity to any private or national army," she continues and my lips twitch, pride swelling in my chest as I see where she's going.

She's my match. In absolutely every way.

"But why would they risk so much money in something that's not remotely close to a finished product," she asks, her tone serious.

"Are you saying I'm an unfinished product, hell girl?" I fire back, enjoying the way she becomes flustered.

"Vlad!" she exclaims, fuming at me.

"Go on, go on." I lift my hands up to pacify her.

"What I'm trying to say," she takes a deep breath, turning to the board, "is that I don't think Project Humanitas is where they are funneling the money in or out of," she explains.

"Maybe some of it ends up there, since Miles is clearly a fanatic, but how many people do you think would buy the super soldier bullshit?

My father certainly didn't and by all accounts he would have been thrilled at the prospect of having killing machines at his beck and call. "

"Indeed," I reply, my eyes sparkling with excitement. "Then where do you think the cash flow is coming from?"

She purses her lips, her brows drawing together.

"Human trafficking of some sort. But it must be at an insane scale.

Think about it. Children missing. People without the mutation are missing.

There must be some type of underground ring and everyone is involved.

The question is, though, what could be so important that all these people were so keen on investing?

It's clear everything ties to Miles somehow, but besides his weird, rather personal, plans about the super soldiers, there's no other information on what he could be up to. "

"You're right," I agree, my voice full of pride.

"My guess is that once Miles realized he couldn't get the investment he needed for his project, he resorted to something else to draw people in.

At the same time, he funneled some of that money into his own research.

You're right that not everyone would buy into the super soldier crap he had going, even though the results do seem appealing.

The research, though, isn't reliable enough for him to be able to push it to the more skeptical people," I add, coming to stand next to her in front of the board.

"And I think that's where Meester comes into play.

" I point to his photo at the top of the board, tracing his connection to Miles with my fingers.

"Ever since my father took him under his wing, he's been extolling the virtues of human trafficking as a source of fast cash.

At the time, my father had his own, rather profitable business with drugs, and he wasn't a man prone to change what was already working for him. "

"So Meester started his own thing?"

"Yes. You saw the situation at Papillion . There's a demand for everything . There are just not enough people who can fulfill these demands. Animals, humans, rarities, every one of those is valuable to the right buyer. And Meester certainly capitalized on that."

"And the fights," she notes.

"Yes. His main business is the fighting. He buys slaves from all over the world and trains them to be the next best thing."

"Do you think that might be it? Illegal fighting? But wouldn't that profit from strong, genetically superior fighters?"

"I've thought about that too, and I've managed to pull some data from his past fights.

But because everything is so underground, I couldn't find much.

The info I do have points toward regular fighters.

So if he does have some of those super soldiers Miles might have created, he hasn't shown them to the public yet. "

"Then it can't be illegal fighting that everyone is so interested in, right?"

I shake my head.

"No. It's too niche and unpredictable for this many people to be involved in it. I've had a word with Enzo too, since a lot of the stuff that goes on in that sphere is linked to his name. He's been digging into it and he promised to send me an updated file with buyers and suppliers."

"You think Jimenez might have been involved in this?" she asks, frowning.

I'd given her a full rundown of Enzo's businesses and everything that had happened in the past few years when Enzo had struck a deal with Jimenez to sell out his family. But with Jimenez's untimely death he'd become the sole executor of half his fortune.

And since Jimenez was a known sex trafficker in the region, it might make sense that he'd be involved in this shit.

Except he isn't.

I should know since I've been listening in to all of Enzo's conversations for the better part of the year, giving me a good enough idea of what Jimenez left behind and how Enzo's been using those resources.

"Nope," I answer without hesitation. "You could say I'm intimately familiar with the workings of Jimenez's empire since he was the first one I tried to infiltrate in my search for Katya.

I know almost every facet of his business and I can assure you he couldn't have been involved.

Mostly because he couldn't break into New York until very recently.

This." I point toward the board of connections, "Is much older and probably stretches back more than a decade. "

"I see." She nods, digesting the information.

"But now, when you figure Sacre Coeur into the equation, I think it's something a bit different," I add, narrowing my eyes.

I have a hunch of what it might be, but I'll reserve judgement for after we get the information from Mother Superior.

"It's definitely something valuable if so many people are willing to bet everything on it."

"We find out what that is, and we find Miles. Because an operation of this magnitude is bound to need a lot of space to manage that flow of people. And most definitely, we're talking about a lot of crooked officials that allow this to happen."

"Dear God, but that means levels and levels of corruption," she adds, horrified.

"Yes. And knowing how dangerous going that deep is going to be, I would have ceased this immediately for your safety.

But they are already targeting us, so I need to make sure they are wiped off the face of this Earth.

Only then will I be at peace," I say, resolute in my decision to end this for good.

As long as anyone aims to hurt my Sisi, then they are as good as dead.

"Vlad," she turns to me, "you know I would never let you do that. Even if it was for my safety. You need to find your sister, and even more, you need to find out what happened to Vanya. Otherwise you'll never be able to move past this."

She raises her hand, fitting it to my cheek.

"You've seen how unlocking some of your memories has helped you. I believe that once you know for sure what happened to you two there you will be able to move on. And maybe your episodes will disappear too—this time forever," she says softly, her warm gaze full of love.

"You're right." I take a deep breath. "And I do need to get better. For you," I start, leaning into her touch, "and for the family we'll have in the future. I know I wouldn't be able to trust myself with…" I trail off and she knows exactly what I mean as her mouth pulls into a sad smile.

"You're enough for me, Vlad. I just want you to be better for you ."

"I may be enough now," I trail a finger down her face, tucking a strand behind her ear, "but I won't be enough forever," I tell her sincerely.

I'd known this ever since I'd seen how affected she'd been by the miscarriage. She is so kind and so full of love that any child would be lucky to have her.

"You're going to want children eventually, Sisi, and I need to be normal enough to be able to give them to you."

"Vlad…"

"No," I place my finger on her lips, "don't lie to me and don't lie to yourself, Sisi.

I know you will want a family someday. And I want that too, because I know what a great mother you'll make.

But until that moment comes, I'll do my best to work on myself, so that I'm not a danger to you, or to our children. "

"God, Vlad," she whispers, her eyes glossy with tears, "why are you so perfect?" she sighs deeply.

"I'm not. But I aim to be. For you," I lean in to kiss her forehead.