Page 10 of Corrupted

"I have no idea," I admitted. "What does he care about more than me or his money?"

"Power," Ric said. "The same thing that drives most of us. If we can whittle down his power, he'll have no choice but to show himself. If we tell everyone he's the Sparrow, who…abducted a woman he met while he was working, people will start to turn on him."

"Definitely," I said. "That goes against the assassin code of conduct. But we can go one further. We can tell everyone he murdered an innocent child. They only need to look into it to learn the truth. We give them the place and the dates and they can confirm it."

Her face flashed in my memory, small and perfectly innocent. Another pawn in Kurt's fucked up game, like I was.

"I can provide the logs of my movements that night."

Reuben rolled his lips before he said, "Do it."

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" Gianni rose and came to put his arms around me.

The nicks in his neck had stopped bleeding, but my pulse ratcheted up at the sight of them. Each one of them. I had to push the thoughts aside before my panties ended up drenched again.

"Once the name of the Sparrow is tarnished, it's going to be hard to clear that," Gianni said. "Once people believe it's really Kurt, that's what they're going to keep believing. They're not going to want to hire the Sparrow when the rest of it comes out. You may never work under that name again." His brow creased, dark eyes worried for me, and the implications of the idea.

I appreciated his concern for me and the reputation I'd worked so hard to build. He was always first to think of me, and make sure I was all right, no matter what was happening.

I leaned into him and inhaled his masculine scent. Today he smelled like cinnamon and leather, and satisfaction. Maybe with a tiny hint of blood.

"I'm starting to think that persona is my past," I said. "I can build a new one. If this is the only way we can get him, I'll gladly give it up. It was a part of me, but not all of me. Not my entire identity."

"No, you're Mina fucking DiMarco," Gianni said. "My badass woman."

"Our badass woman," Reuben growled.

Damon grunted his agreement.

"Our badass woman," Gianni corrected himself. He kissed my forehead.

"I'll start to put out hints that we have this information to sell," Caleb said. "I doubt it'll take more than a day or two to get a few bites."

He looked satisfied at this compromise. That was fortunate, because I'd wondered if his intention was to throw me to the wolves. Evidently, he was more interested in the same agenda as the rest of us. Putting an end to Kurt Lasalle.

"I found references to a Gage Prior," Damon said, his blue eyes on me. "Apparently he worked for Reuben's father. As far as I can tell, he was investigating something, but there's no mention of what. If I had to guess, I'd suspect there were suspicions about Kurt and he was trying to uncover what he was doing. He disappeared around the same time as Mina. They never found his body." He looked regretful.

Caleb, on the other hand, looked shaken. "Gage Prior was investigating Kurt?"

"You knew him?" Reuben asked. There was more concern in his tone than I'd ever heard from him when he addressed his younger brother. He appeared genuinely concerned at Caleb's response. Even the twins were staring at Caleb like they might actually be worried about him.

"He… We were…" Caleb swallowed. "Yes, we knew each other. I was aware he disappeared, but never knew why. I always thought…" He looked rocked to his core.

"We only have Leon's word for it that he's dead," I said. "It's possible he's…somewhere else. I was." I briefly explained what Leon said.

Caleb swallowed, his skin slightly green. "That sounds like Gage. He was always trying to be a fucking hero. Like he could save everyone. He never understood some people couldn't be saved." He seemed to be talking about himself.

"Everyone can be saved," I said softly. "They just have to want to be."

He gave me a sharp look, and a curt nod. "I should get to work. The sooner this is dealt with, the better."

I got the feeling the matter had become personal to him. I also got the impression I'd never get the truth out of Caleb, but at least he had answers about his… Friend.

Although, maybe it gave him more questions than answers. That might be cold comfort.

CHAPTER 4

GIANNI