Page 59 of Merciless Obsession

My skin buzzed.

Neither spoke right away. I began to grow anxious. Just when I was about to snap at them Ezra spoke again.

“Nazai did some digging and it seems like The Veil might be behind all this.”

“The Veil?” My words came as slow as my forehead creased.

“You’ve heard of them before?”

I nodded. “But I thought they weren’t real. Or at least there’s never been concrete proof it existed.”

Of course I’d heard of The Veil. With all the digging I’d done into the organized crime world in this city and the dark web it was hard not to see or hear about The Veil every now and then. From what I learned they were a group who typically worked with mercenaries. I never thought to look deeper into them since there was never proof the group was real. People believed they were a band of people working together with unknown faces in charge.

Emmet spoke up, causing me to jump. “Yes, The Veil.”

Since he was so quiet I wasn’t sure if I would ever get used to hearing his voice. It was deep and gravelly. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t use it often or if it was just naturally raspy.

“I’ve been looking into them since Nazai brought them up to me.”

“Wait.” I put my hand up, leaning forward and setting my mug on the coffee table. “The Veil has never been proven to be real. How do we even know they’re really involved?”

I wasn’t about to get my hopes up about some urban myth.

“Nazai isn’t one to half ass anything. If he revealed this, that means he did the proper lurking and got the right information before he told us.”

“Okay…so let’s say The Veilisreal. Then that means they’re running this trafficking ring. If no one knows who they are or where to find them, then how do we stop them.” A knot began to grow in the pit of my stomach. This news didn’t make me feel better like I thought it would. If anything it made me feel discouraged. These weren’t everyday street thugs that could easily be brought down. The Veil was rumored to have high connections which makes sense since they’d never been caught.

“I checked into some things. I found a site that a lot of sickos in the city use to get things anonymously,” Emmet started, tapping on his computer as he spoke. “The site ranges from illegal adoptions to organs, and even sex trafficking.”

“You think The Veil operates it?” I stood and walked over to where Emmet was. He stared at me, frowning, but I ignored it and peeked at his screen.

“Can you take that off?” I asked. He had a privacy protector on it so when you looked at the screen from an angle it was blacked out.

Emmet stared at the computer, not moving at first, before finally removing the privacy screen and setting it to the side. Now that I was able to see his screen, I squinted and leaned in, studying the screen.

“This is run by The Veil?”

“I’m not sure yet, according to some sources it is, but I’m still investigating. I’m working on finding out where it’s running from but they’ve gone through extensive measures to make sure their location and identity stays secure. I do know a lot of mercenaries get work from the site. It’s almost like a freelance site for them. You choose a job and send an encrypted link to get more information about whatever you choose.”

“May I?” I reached for his laptop.

Emmet’s head snapped up and he glared at me with an scrutinizing expression on his face. You would have thought I just talked ill about his mom.

“E, it’s cool. Let her see it.”

“No one touches my laptop,” he responded.

I could understand. I was the same way with my things. People like us who kept a lot of incriminating and sensitive information on their devices didn’t want anyone touching them. Emmet in particular seemed like the type who took what he did to the extreme so it was clear why he didn’t want me in his things.

“Just let her see it. She not gon’ do shit.”

Emmet side-eyed me, still unconvinced.

“Oh c’mon, you were all on my home computer without my permission or knowledge. Let me see the damn thing, please.” My patience was running thin. This could be the missing piece I’d been waiting on and Emmet was acting like a child who didn’t want to share his favorite toy.

Eventually Emmet slid the laptop onto my lap. He watched me like a hawk as I examined the site.

“I’ve never heard of this site before,” I mentioned with my lips twisted to the side.