CHAPTER 8

The money wasn't disappearing into offshore accounts and this was the fun part. Rather, It was being mlved quietly, efficiently to new identities, safe houses, escape routes for Victims, people the system had failed, including top FBI agents and thus was why everything was now confusing.

These were names he recognized, how come he found them here, or was some foul play going on or something?

However, he knew this was the moment that could either make him or change and right there the mission shifted.

Rafe stared at the open ledger. His breath hagged and forced from his lungs. The truth behind the club... that the club protects the innocent, and maybe forced by top ranking government officials to do the evil deeds they did…this whole thing was just confusing and shattered his morals, the ones he had built over the years. It only made his mission a moral impossibility, and he knew there would definitely be problems with this new discovery. He had to be sure, he had to really understand why was going on here and that's why he had to keep digging.

He was defined by his commitment to the law. But the law was corrupted by personal gains. Derek Smith-Protocol represents Corrupt Justice and Personal Vendetta. He had weaponized the law to destroy Dante personally. The Devils were not Monsters hiding behind leather and engines. They were protecting the innocent in their territory and it still didn't make any sense while reimbursing the rich and those in high places.

Rafe sat there, shaking. The tension was still there, burning hot. It was now a low and slow unwelcomed heat… still burning beneath his skin.

He had spent two years of brutal training, rehearsed habits, and carefully constructed lies. He was the mole, the instrument of the law, and the ultimate outsider. And he was sent to destroy a man who protects his people without apology.

Dante didn’t steal the name. It was given to him. He earned loyalty without any blood entitlement or royalty.

Rafe’s world paused as he processed everything. He had leaked critical but non-fatal intelligence to the FBl. He had been acting like he’s waiting for something to go wrong.

But based on his morals, he was the threat. He was the monster. He realized that this was bigger than he imagined and there was some power play here that he was yet to understand.

He traced the safe house addresses. They were for women. For children. For a Moretti soldier whose wife escaped using the Devils' network.

The money laundering was to protect the innocent from them, men like him, devoted to destroying the poor and this broke him. His mission collapsed, leaving him with a desire and burning betrayal impossible to ignore.

He thought of Camille, if she knew about this? Or should he warn her?

But once again, he was caught between his professional oath to his country and the new passionate, forbidden desire and loyalty he develops for Dante and his respect for the syndicate.

Basically, they were not bad people, but they were only trying to buy protection for their own people from the men that sent him here.

Come to think of it, he now wondered what was really happening here that those FBI agents were interested and needed compensation for?

But that wasn't the real problem now, he must choose, protect his career... or surrender to the man fully.

He bit his lips hard,fighting the desperate and shameful urge to let out a sound. He dropped the ground hard, and his breath shuddered as his body thud.

His heart raced as his vision was slowly fading. His whole life was built on a lie.

But now, every choice he makes now will destroy someone who loves him. If he gives the ledgers to Camila, Dante dies. The victims die. The safe houses burn. If he hides the ledgers, he commits treason.

He stared at the numbers. They were clean, controlled, and dangerous.

Suddenly, a sharp creaking sound came from behind him and he froze, his fingers immediately turned white.

The heavy door at the back opened and his heart stopped. His body stiffened and he couldn't even turn around. He suddenly felt it again,bthe effect of the looming shadow behind him even before he saw who was there, which he already knew who was there.

Silence ruled the air, but was occasionally disturbed by the footsteps approaching and fear enveloped him.

He turned slowly to meet Dante’s burning gaze.

Dante Moretti was standing behind the desk now. He hadn’t moved closer but somehow the room felt smaller, and tighter, like the walls were closing in.

Dante’s eyes lingered for a second too long, taking note, accessing him deeply.

Dante’s eyes narrowed, a faint smile curled up around the corner of his mouth. He looked calmer than Rafe had expected and was scary now in ways no file ever captured.

He stepped into the light. His gaze cut sharp through him like he could see through him and for a second he thought he was caught.

Dante looked at the open ledgers. He looked at the secondary accounts and then he looked at Rafe's shaking hands.

"What are you doing, Santos?" Dante’s voice came in again. It wasn't sharp. But it held so much power and calmness and that’s what makes it worse.

Rafe couldn't breathe. The truth was out. The crack in the case was wide open. And Dante was standing right there.

What would he explain now, that he was doing in forbidden areas with ledgers he wasn't meant