Page 79 of Violent Possession

The variables don’t fit. The equation doesn’t close.

Vasily gave me this file, using Ivan as a stupid messenger. This file connects Griffin to Seraphim. And Seraphim... Seraphim is Vasily’s ghost. The man he used to sabotage Odessa.

Why? Why would my brother give me the key to unravel his own betrayal? He wouldn’t. But does Vasily know thatIknow about Seraphim?

No. Impossible. He thinks Ivan killed Kirill. So, for him, he’s just giving me the information that Griffin is an informant. A way to make me doubt him and crack my temporary alliance with Ivan.

But if Seraphim works for Vasily, and Griffin has a connection to him, doesGriffinwork for Vasily?

It would be a catastrophic system error. The possibility is so absurd, so... complete, that it invalidateseverycalculation I’ve made in the last few days.

Was it all a setup? The challenge, the performance on camera, the vulnerability at dinner, what happened in the car... did Griffin report every word back to my brother?

Alex.

The memory of his voice.Fuck.

I close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose hard, trying to squeeze logic back into place.Holy shit, Alexei. Seriously? You let this happen?

Did I fail to distrust the man I myself put at the center of his operation? Just because he was...interesting. Because he wasa deviation from the plan. A disaster that, for one fucked-up moment, seemed more important than the plan itself.

Is that it? My greatest tool, my objectivity, corrupted by a pair of challenging eyes and a story I, arrogantly, thought I could control?

My secure phone vibrates on the desk.

The name on the screen: GRIFFIN.

How convenient. I hesitate. Is it him? Is itVasily, using his phone?

Fuck it. I answer.

I hear the sound of breathing. Heavy, ragged, fucked up.

“Boss...” His voice is a whisper, breathless, pained. “Fuck... I think your brother tried to kill me.”

It doesn’t make sense. Mybrother? If Griffin works for Vasily, why would Vasily try to kill him? How would Griffin evenknowit was my brother?

But the pain in his voice... it sounds genuine.

“What?” I say, my own confusion leaking out. “Where are you?”

As he tries to answer, I pull up the security feeds from his apartment. The room is empty. The bed unmade.

I access the hallway camera. Static.

No, not static. A loop. The image is repeating the same three seconds.Shit.

I open my security team’s status—something happened for no alarm to sound for me.

And I see that the escort was redirected twenty minutes ago. A “priority threat” alert at one of our docks. A false threat. A distraction.

The shit about sharing the same fucking blood is that men are only loyal to him.

“Uh... Wait...” Griffin gasps on the other end of the line. “It’s... in a warehouse... a division.”

Vasily redirected my security. Manipulated the cameras. And lead one of my assets to the slaughterhouse.

I admit it. He outmaneuvered me. The son of a bitch outmaneuvered me on all fronts.