Chapter 144: I found Something

POV: EVE

Eve sat at her desk at Phoenix Talent, staring at her laptop screen without actually seeing anything on it.

The quarterly reports were due. She had three client meetings scheduled for tomorrow. Melissa had left a stack of contracts that needed review.

But all Eve could think about was what Dimitri had told her this morning.

Antonio owns an illegal pharmaceutical company.

The Covenant killed his mother with a virus Antonio helped develop.

He’s planning to overthrow his father and go to war.

Eve pushed away from her desk, moved to the window.

The city stretched out below her....millions of people living their normal lives, completely unaware that monsters like Antonio Valentino existed. That organizations like The Covenant were out there developing biological weapons and testing them on kidnapped victims.

That the man she loved was planning a war that could get him killed.

Her phone buzzed.

Dimitri: How are you holding up?

Eve smiled slightly, typed back: Distracted. Can’t focus on work.

Understandable. Want me to come get you?

No. I need to think. I’ll be home tonight.

Okay. I love you.

I love you too.

Eve set down her phone, turned back to her desk.

She’d told Dimitri she wanted to help. Wanted to be a partner in this.

But sitting here doing nothing while he and Mike planned a war felt wrong.

She needed to do something. Contribute something. Prove that she was more than just someone to protect.

Eve pulled up a secure browser, started searching.

She wasn’t looking for Prometheus, Dimitri and Marco had that covered.

She was looking for something else.

The people.

Antonio’s inner circle in Italy. The ones Dimitri and Mike had identified as potential targets for recruitment.

Eve had spent three years building Phoenix Talent from nothing. Had learned to read people, to understand power dynamics, to identify weaknesses and leverage points.

Those skills didn’t just apply to talent agencies.

She pulled up the list Mike and Dimitri had created, started researching.

Giovanni Ricci - Weapons Supplier

Age 48. Based in Naples. Divorced twice. Three children from first marriage. Known for being mercenary....follows money, not loyalty.

Eve dug deeper.

Found his social media (surprisingly active for a criminal). Found his girlfriend, twenty years younger, expensive taste, posting photos from luxury vacations.

Found his business dealings....not just weapons. Also owned several legitimate businesses. Restaurants. A small shipping company. Real estate.

And there, buried in property records, she found something interesting.

Giovanni owned a villa in Tuscany. Purchased ten years ago for 8 million euros. Currently valued at 12 million.

But the property taxes hadn’t been paid in three years.

Eve’s mind started working.

A man who made millions in weapons dealing, who owned multiple businesses, who had a girlfriend with expensive taste, and he wasn’t paying property taxes on a 12-million-euro villa?

That meant either he was in financial trouble, or the villa was being used for something that couldn’t draw official attention.

Eve kept digging.

Found planning permits filed two years ago for "extensive renovations" to the villa. Found contractor invoices, nearly 3 million euros in work.

Underground expansion. Reinforced walls. Industrial ventilation systems.

The kind of renovations you’d do if you were building something you didn’t want anyone to see.

A weapons cache, maybe. Or a manufacturing facility.

Something Antonio wouldn’t want discovered.

Which meant Giovanni was more deeply involved with Antonio’s illegal operations than the surface intel suggested.

Which meant he had more to lose if he betrayed Antonio.

Which meant offering him better terms might not be enough, Dimitri would need leverage.

Eve made notes, kept researching.

Marcello Bellini - Territory Manager

Family man. Three kids. Wife with medical condition requiring expensive experimental treatment.

This one Dimitri and Mike had already identified as a weak point.

But Eve wanted to know more about the wife.

She found her name, Sofia Bellini. Found her medical records (not legally, but Eve knew people who knew people).

Stage 4 ovarian cancer. Treatment protocol: experimental immunotherapy. Cost: 200,000 euros per year. Survival rate with treatment: 60%. Without treatment: 6 months.

Antonio was paying for Sofia’s treatment. Had been for two years.

Which meant Marco was trapped. Couldn’t betray Antonio without losing his wife.

But...

Eve kept digging.

Found something interesting.

The treatment Sofia was receiving? It was being conducted at a hospital in Rome. A hospital with... connections to Prometheus Laboratories.

Which meant Sofia wasn’t just receiving experimental treatment.

She was a test subject.

Antonio was using Marco’s wife to test experimental cancer therapies. And Marco either didn’t know, or he’d accepted it as the price of keeping her alive.

That was leverage.

Show Marco that Antonio was using his wife as a guinea pig, and suddenly the loyalty calculation changed.

Eve made more notes.

Spent the next three hours going through every person on Dimitri and Mike’s list.

Found patterns. Weaknesses. Angles they’d missed.

By the time she looked up, it was 6 PM. Her office was dark except for the glow of her laptop screen.

Marco appeared in the doorway, silent as always, but she’d learned to sense his presence.

"Boss is asking when you’re coming home," he said.

"Now." Eve closed her laptop, grabbed her bag. "I have something to show him."

***

POV: DIMITRI

Dimitri was in the kitchen when Eve came home, helping Nonna finish dinner prep.

He heard the elevator, moved immediately to meet her.

She looked...focused. More energized. Her eyes bright in a way that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with purpose.

"Hey," he said, pulling her into his arms. "Long day?"

"Productive day." She kissed him, then pulled back with a smile. "I found something. Several information. But they can wait until after dinner. Nonna made ossobuco and I’m starving."

Dinner was warm, familiar, normal.

Nonna told stories about old Italy. Eve asked questions about Italian cooking. Dimitri watched them both, feeling something settle in his chest.

This. This was what he was fighting for.