Page 79 of The Chameleon

“Really. We’ll see how in control you are when you learn the truth.”

Truth? What truth?

“You know, I always envied you. Your style, your money, your lifestyle. It was all so… intoxicating. I just had to have it. I figured the easiest way would have been to make you fall in love with me, then marry me. But after you made it clear you had no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship with me, I decided it was up to me to make my own money.”

“Which was why you created theBook of Sin,” Matteo jumped in.

“Book of Sin?” Edwin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Matteo shook his head. “Yeah, that’s what we’ve been calling your little journal.”

“Fair enough. I guess it kind of is a book of sin. People’s darkest secrets and weaknesses, all documented in the pages of one tiny black book.” Edwin began pacing the room. He looked agitated.

Around the room, guards were posted, all watching their interaction.

“My plan was to sell pieces of information to criminals and high-powered politicians looking to blackmail their enemies, but that fuckhead Irish prick stole the book from me one night while I was trying to negotiate a deal with him.”

Matteo remembered hearing that the journal used to belong to an Irish gangster named Seamus before it was given to Marc and Chase. Criminals stealing from criminals. How poetic.

Edwin glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Matteo was still listening. Once he confirmed that he was, he continued.

“After that, I spent another eight months trying to recreate the information contained in that journal. I hoped that once I was done, I could continue with my plan. I regretted not making a copy of your files, but with all those security measures you had on your laptop, I didn’t want to alert you to my activities. So, pen and paper it was.”

“Once again, no creativity,” Matteo taunted.

A creepy smirk spread over Edwin’s face like he was about to drop a bomb on Matteo’s head.

What the heck was the little shit hiding?

“It was creativity that helped me realize my mistake. I was looking to make small amounts of money over an extended period until I finally got rich. Then I found it. That one piece of information that had been so subtle, I almost missed it.”

Matteo felt his palms begin to sweat. What had Edwin discovered?

“Ares’s love for you.”

Those chilling four words made Matteo’s heart stop in his chest. What did Ares have to do with this?

“I knew that the two of you knew each other, but I didn’t realize just how close you really were until I started looking into your backgrounds. That was when a certain criminal family reached out to me, making me realize just how short-sighted I was actually being.”

Who had Edwin been talking to? It appeared that someone else was the brains behind this elaborate operation. Of course they were.

“You ever heard of the Zitti crime family?”

Yes, he had.

The Zitti family had a reputation for being ruthless and well-connected. From what he remembered, they mostly dealt in gun trafficking and narcotics. They were pretty powerful about ten or twelve years ago.

“Well, as it turns out, they apparently knew your parents.”

Matteo froze.His parents?

Edwin smirked. He knew he had hit a nerve bringing up Matteo’s parents.

“It appears that your parents were going to help fund a lucrative deal that would have cut the Zittis out of the guntrafficking business in Europe and make a thirsty, ambitious little mongrel the newgod of warin Europe.”

What?His parents were never in the gun trade. Yes, they had a few hands in illegal narcotics, but nothing as dangerous as gun trafficking. The only person he could think of who was also into guns was… Ares.

“Ahhh, now I see the wheels in your head turning,” Edwin taunted. “Starting to make all those connections, are ya? Want me to go on?”

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