Page 69 of King of Envy

If Sean made it past Jeremiah, my butler and the ultimate authority over who got past the gates and who didn’t, it was important.

I pulled off my headset and waited.

“We found something.” Sean cut straight to the chase. “A SIM card in an abandoned garage uptown. We picked it up and traced it back to the point of purchase. The odds of it being helpful were slim, but we got a hit.” Satisfaction glinted behind his exhaustion. He’d been chasing the mystery Brother nonstop for weeks, and it’d taken a physical toll on him. “Devin Rhoades. An alias for a known member of the Brotherhood.”

The air stilled as every cell of my body locked on to that piece of information like a shark sensing blood in the water.

“This is everything we could dig up on him.” Sean handed me a file. “The man is a ghost, which is expected given his affiliation. But look at his last name.”

I opened the folder to a clear photo of the mystery Brother. He stared straight at the camera, his face a map of brutal planes and cold green eyes. Early thirties, American, Caucasian, last seen in New York City. He’d operated under multiple aliases, but the earliest name on file came from his foster care records.

Roman Davenport.

“Yes.” Sean accurately read my stunned silence. “ThatDavenport. He and Dominic were assigned to the same foster home in Ohio when they were in their teens. Dominic went off to college, and Roman disappeared off the grid. The details of his Brotherhood recruitment and training are unknown, but he resurfaced about six years ago in France. Rumor has it he was responsible for the hit on a local crime lord there. Decapitation. It made quite a statement.”

I quietly digested the influx of information.

Roman and Dominic Davenport were foster brothers. The same Dominic I’d done business with, frequented events with, and exchanged civilities with at Valhalla.

Dominic never talked about his family or his pre-college years. My gut told me he wasn’t involved with the Brotherhood, but in situations like these, I couldn’t discount anything.

What’s Dominic and Roman’s current relationship like?

“Unclear,” Sean said. “As far as we can tell, they lost touch after Dominic left for college. However, these are our preliminary findings. We’ll have to do a deeper dive, but I wanted to notify you about our discovery right away.” He paused.

I cocked an eyebrow at his hesitation. It was unlike him.What else? Spit it out.

“Do you remember the Sunfolk scandal two years ago?” he asked.

I nodded.

The scandal was one of the biggest crime stories to hit mainstream news in recent years. A member of an unnamed mercenary organization had leaked a redacted contract between the Sunfolk Bank CEO and the mercenaries to get rid of Sunfolk’s competition by any means necessary (i.e. murder).

The contract had spread like wildfire online. Most of the details had been blacked out, but that didn’t stop rumors and conspiracy theories from flourishing. Sunfolk’s CEO had died under mysterious circumstances in prison, but someone else stepped in to buy the bank when it was flailing: Dominic.

The pieces fell into place.You think the Brotherhood is the organization from the contract.

“Yes. And I think Roman may be the one who leaked it.” Sean’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “I can’t confirm anything yet, but given the timeline and the players involved, it makes sense.”

It did, and fuck, I wish it didn’t.

Dominic’s involvement would add an extra layer of complication. We weren’t friends, but we ran in the same circles. I tried to keep my past and present separate, and he was too intertwined with my present life to have ties with my past one.

Pull on that thread. I want daily updates.

Sean nodded. “One more thing. As your Chief of Security, I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize how important it is to increase protection measures both here and at your office. We’ve implemented the soft security upgrades as discussed, but if the Brotherhood is keeping an eye on you, they may already be privy to our search for Roman. They’ll know thatyouknow they’re after you, which means another hit may be imminent.”

He was right. Again.

I hated having armed guards around me. The more people involved, the greater the chances of a leak and the greater the odds of betrayal. It’d take only one slip-up or one traitor to bring things crashing down. It didn’t matter how well they were vetted; most people could be bought. Unless I had an established history with them and they’d proved their loyalty, I didn’t trust anyone.

Fortunately, there were other ways to protect myself besides hired muscle.

No bodyguards. Enhance the other measures. I can take care of myself,I added when Sean opened his mouth to argue.

He sighed, but he didn’t press the issue. “Consider it done.”

After he left, I stayed at my makeshift shooting range and tried to connect the missing pieces of the puzzle.

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