Page 138 of Malicious Claim

But Makros didn't offer it.

He simply studied Dimitri for a long moment before shifting his attention back to Dragon. "I've had my doubts about Stefanos for a while."

Dragon let out a sharp breath, rubbing a hand over his face before snapping, "This is insane."

Makros kissed his teeth. "No, it's not. Come here."

They stepped away from Dimitri's earshot.

Makros' voice was low, contained. "Stefanos was trying to help Leila escape the country. And she said he had used the communications room at least twice in order to set it up. Guess what, one of the times just happens to coincide with the night Dimitri escaped. Coincidence? I don't think so."

Dragon's face clouded in a frown. "Leila's gotten inside your head, and now you're questioning your own kin?"

Makros maintained his eye contact. "Stefanos had taken Leila to a restaurant to meet a broker. The man in the yellow shirt. He was planning on running away with her."

Dragon let out a bitter laugh. "I believe Stefanos would screw your wife. But help her escape? Betray you? No. Not Stefanos."

Makros stepped closer, his voice cold. "He's been acting strangely. He ordered Nicolai to leave Leila unguarded."

Dragon's eyes darkened. "The Makros I knew wouldn't let anyone plant seeds of suspicion in his mind against Stefanos." His voice dropped to a cutting accusation. "You're losing your edge, and it's because of her."

"Damn it." Makros' voice rose before he lowered it again. His jaw set. "I'm not losing my edge. Can you make sense of what's going on?"

Dragon exhaled a sharp breath, his mind spinning. Finally, he turned to Dimitri again.

"I will—if you can spare me a few more hours with him."

Makros nodded. "You have twenty-four hours."

He backed up, nodding towards the guards. "Keep him tied down in the kitchen. I'm not through with him yet."

Dimitri's shoulders sagged somewhat as he was hauled away by the guards, but the defiance in his eyes had not been extinguished.

Dragon turned to Makros, his voice low, almost cautious.

"What if Dimitri's lying about Stefanos? I truly believe that Stefanos is being falsely accused."

Makros didn't answer right away. He held Dragon's gaze, his expression unreadable.

"If he's lying, then he's protecting someone else," he said evenly. "Your job is to find out the truth."

Dragon exhaled sharply. "And if it turns out that someone else is the real traitor?"

Makros' jaw tensed. "Then the same fate reserved for Stefanos would befall them."

Dragon let out a dry chuckle. "That's a dangerous assumption."

Makros stepped closer. "What are you getting at?"

Dragon crossed his arms. "You're trusting Leila's word about Stefanos accessing the comms room, right? But have you considered she might've used his key card herself? Did you actually see him go in on camera? What proof do you have besides her words?" He paused, letting it sink in. "If you're so certain about appropriating the same fate reserved for Stefanos, you better be ready when I prove his innocence."

Sometimes Makros hated Dragon's guts and how he spoke to him so freely. He thought that having an underboss was not as suave as the old Mafiosos usually made it out to be.

Makros ran a hand down his face, exhaling slowly. "If you think I'm wrong, prove it."

Dragon's eyes darkened. "That's what the next twenty-four hours are for."

Makros scoffed. "You're going to enjoy torturing the shit out of Dimitri, aren't you?"