Chapter 4 - The Russian Ghost
By 3:00 a.m., Silas was staring at a wall of monitors in his underground server room. The decryption software had finally cracked the drive, revealing gigabytes of meticulously organized data.
Thorne scrolled through the files, his face pale in the blue light. "These are ledgers, boss. Bank transfers, offshore accounts, political bribes. It's the entire financial architecture of the Volkov Bratva. Whoever compiled this had unrestricted access to their inner circle."
"Her father," Silas realized, piecing the puzzle together. "He wasn't just a K-9 trainer. He was an auditor for the Bratva. He found out they were going to execute him, so he downloaded everything and gave it to his daughter."
Silas rubbed his temples. The drive in his possession was a nuclear bomb in the underworld. It contained enough evidence to put the entire Russian syndicate behind bars for life—or to completely dismantle their empire from the inside.
"If Dimitri Volkov knows she has this, he’ll burn this entire city to the ground to get her," Thorne warned.
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Silas looked back at the security feed from the guest bedroom. Elara was fast asleep in a king-sized bed, clutching a silk pillow. Curled up at the foot of the bed, watching the door with unwavering intensity, was Bane.
"Let him try," Silas murmured, his eyes hardening into chips of ice. "This is my city. And she is under my protection now."
