Chapter 101 – One Night Bargain
The interior of the abandoned house smelled faintly of old smoke and pine resin, the kind that clung to timber for decades. Kairo scanned the corners first, eyes taking in every shadow, every potential angle of approach. Only once satisfied did he set his satchel on the warped table.
The stranger pulled down his scarf, revealing sharp, angular features and a neatly kept beard streaked with frost. He had the look of someone accustomed to surviving winters without comfort —scar tissue along his jaw, a faint split in the lower lip.
"You can call me Rinaldo," the man said, removing his gloves with deliberate slowness.
Elira stayed by the door, not bothering to hide the blade in her hand. Her gaze flicked between the two men like she was measuring distance for a strike.
Kairo pulled out a chair but didn't sit. "You said Feretti's men are less than a day behind. That's a problem for you too if you plan to live past sunrise."
"I'm not afraid of Feretti," Rinaldo said. "I'm afraid of the people who get between me and what I want." His tone carried no threat, just fact. "And right now, you're between me and my chance to take him down."
Kairo's jaw flexed. "You've got one night to convince me you're worth keeping alive."
Rinaldo's smile was faint but confident. "I've spent the last year inside his network. I know where he moves his shipments. I know the names of the men who handle his books. I even know the number of the offshore account he uses to pay the politicians that keep him untouchable."
Elira's brow arched slightly. "And you're offering that for free?"
"No," Rinaldo said, eyes moving to her for the first time. "I'm offering it in exchange for one thing —Feretti dead, and his empire gutted before the year is out."
Kairo circled the table slowly, as if testing the man's words for weaknesses. "You don't strike me as someone who gives up a seat at the table unless you've already been pushed out."
"I wasn't pushed," Rinaldo said evenly. "I walked out the night he ordered the killing of a family that wasn't part of the game. Three people— one of them a child. It was sloppy, pointless, and it told me everything I needed to know about the man's judgment."
Something cold flickered in Elira's expression, but she didn't speak.
Kairo stopped on the far side of the table. "Information is leverage. Leverage is currency. Currency buys survival. You could sell this to anyone— Interpol, rival families, even the Council. But you came to me."
Rinaldo met his stare. "Because you're the only one who doesn't want to inherit Feretti's empire. You want to burn it."
The silence stretched for a moment. Elira's hand tightened on her dagger, feeling the shift in Kairo's posture— the faint lean forward, the predator's focus settling on its prey.
"Where's your proof?" Kairo finally asked.
Rinaldo reached into his coat, slow and careful. From an inner pocket, he withdrew a thin, leather- bound notebook, the edges worn and stained. He set it on the table, pushing it toward Kairo. "Names. Routes. Ledgers. Not copies— originals. The kind you don't fake because if you did, I'd already be dead."
Kairo flipped the book open. Even at a glance, the handwriting, numbers, and dates had the smell of authenticity. Several pages were coded in shorthand, the kind only someone inside would understand.
"How do I know this isn't bait to get me killed?" Kairo asked without looking up.
Rinaldo shrugged. "You don't. But I do know that by the time Feretti realizes this book is gone, we'll both be long gone — if you move tonight."
Elira shifted closer, her voice quiet but firm. "And if you're lying, I'll make sure it takes you a very long time to die."
Rinaldo's expression didn't change. "Fair."
Kairo shut the notebook and slipped it into his coat. "We leave before the hour's out. If you're with us, you move when I move. You speak when I tell you to speak. You breathe when I tell you to breathe. Understood?"
Rinaldo gave a short nod. "Understood."
The wind howled faintly against the boarded windows, and somewhere far beyond the ridge, the sound of boots on frozen ground was still closing the distance.
Kairo met Elira's eyes for a fraction of a second — enough for her to read the unspoken thought between them.
This night wasn't going to be long enough.