👉 Previous decision: You chose to use Ethan’s master keycard to infiltrate the brownstone basement and steal Julian’s double-entry ledgers.
“Follow me,” Ethan whispered, his face grim but determined.
We moved under the cloak of 2:00 AM darkness. Ethan led me to the brownstone’s rear, a maze of garbage bins and crumbling brickwork. He pushed open a rusted metal door, revealing an old coal chute.
The chute was narrow and dusty, smelling of forgotten years. I squeezed through, scraping my knees, landing softly in a subterranean boiler room. The air was heavy with the scent of oil and damp concrete.
Using his security keycard, Ethan bypassed the cult’s biometric locks on a heavy steel door marked “Manager’s Office.” Inside, a small, cluttered room. Filing cabinets, a dusty desk, and in the corner, a reinforced floor safe.
“Mara keeps her own set of keys,” Ethan muttered, working quickly. “But Julian’s safe… it’s a separate access.”
He produced a small, sophisticated toolkit from his backpack. His hands were surprisingly steady as he worked the tumblers, listening intently. A soft click echoed in the quiet room.
He pulled open the heavy steel door. Inside, nestled on a single shelf, was a thick leather binder.
My hands trembled as I pulled it out. It was heavy, worn from years of use. Inside, two distinct sets of books.
One side meticulously tracked the cult’s blood debts, the names and forged signatures of dozens of vulnerable tenants listed alongside staggering, fabricated balances.
The other side, coded in a complex system of shell corporations and offshore accounts, told a different story. It showed Julian and Mara had siphoned an astounding $1,400,000.00 directly from Viktor Kostov’s mob laundering accounts over the past four years.
“They weren’t just ripping off the tenants,” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “They were ripping off the mob.”
➡️ Read CHAPTER 13 to continue the story.
+ There are no comments
Add yours