Page 100 of Unexpected Redemption

My soul cries for him.

I stretch my lungs with another deep breath, letting the oxygen fill the painful cracks inside me.

No sense in spending more time dwelling on the dark. Gotta get back to the task at hand.

Rubbing my palms together, I twist to face the easel. “Where were we with this mess? And speak slowly. The only exposureI’ve ever had to this Greek mythology was the movieHercules. And all I recall from the film was his impressive biceps and calf muscles. I suspect the little old Russian dude’s tale doesn’t touch on that. With my knowledge baseline out in the open, let’s get to it.”

Digging into this is precisely what my brain needs to distract me from dark thoughts.

Neither of them resumes their storytelling, so I snap my fingers. “Whatcha waitin’ for? Let’s all go tumblin’ down the Greek rabbit hole.”

Chapter 21

Cue the bestiality

TOMER

Another strike. No one in payroll fucked with Lettie or asked anything inappropriate to set her off since she never made it down there. That’s according to the three individuals who work in that department.

Yes. I asked each of them personally.

Still no clue what triggered her.

When I return to the lair, I stand in the doorway before making myself known. I need a moment to recenter. To get a grip on my disappointment over another failed interaction with Big Al, putting it behind me for now. Bury it with all the other skeletons.

My eyes skim around the office, finding everything is basically as I left it. All three are in relatively the same positions, with Klein and Mia standing in front of Sue’s notes. Lettie’s sitting at the table, giving them her full attention.

Yet it’s the energy that’s different than it was before. Although I’m not one for reading vibes, I can easily tell this one isoff.

Intentionally clearing my throat, I alert them to my presence. “Everything okay?”

Lettie’s blue eyes find mine. “Yep. All good.” Her smile lacks a touch of its normal shine. Although she tries to disguise it, I know her too well.

“We’re not far into the overview,” Mia says.

Instead of heading to my desk, I sit beside Lettie and grab her hand without hesitation. She pulses her fingers around mine and guides our joined hands to her lap.

Klein tips his chin at me. “Boss good? Anything we need to know?”

Rather than telling him why I was there, I offer the truth as simplistically as possible. “No. It was an unrelated issue. NSTR.”

Factual since thereisnothing significant to report.

He eyes me cautiously for a bit too long for my liking. It’s as if he knows I’m weighed down by the oppression of Big Al’s judgment.

Klein’s so in tune with emotions—not only his but everyone else’s—he’s acutely aware something is wrong. More than likely, he knows when people are upset before they even know themselves.

And this situation between Boss and me has Klein’s full attention.

Blinking free of his warm stare, I glance at Mia. “Keep going with the explanation. Perhaps I’ll catch something I missed the first time around.”

Mia’s shoulders rise with a deep inhale as she studies the easel. “Okay. To recap... when Sue relistened to the audio recording of Yuri’s interrogation, she caught something we all breezed past initially. While rambling, he said something along the lines of, ‘There’s so much more to the story than Icarus. Much more. You should read it sometime.’We were more focused on the stink he had in his voice when he was talkingabout King Minos, aka Lenkov. So we didn’t catch the weighted pause and shift in tone when he said it. But Sue did.”

Pausing for a breath, Mia raises her brows as she scans the room. We all nod, following along.

“That’s why we have all these players written here on the easel. Let’s start at the top and work our way down.” She points at the first two names on the list. “King Minos and his wife,Pasiphae. They have an interesting backstory filled with drama and even some bestiality. So that’s fun for them. Not all their kids are on here because there isn’t enough paper in the building, buttheseare the ones Sue found with parallels that might relate to our story or who are at least somewhat important to the tales on the periphery of Icarus. First up is a daughter named Ariadne. Put a pin in her. We’ll come back to her later. Second is ason namedAndrogeus. With a name like that, one can only assume he dressed like he was part of The Revolution. As in Prince’s highly androgynous band, and not like an actual revolution. Ruffled blouses and eyeliner.”

Lettie giggles into her hand.

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