Chapter 7 CODE RED

DALLA 

Dalla stared at his reflection in the mirror as he applied ointment on the mark Tobias' hand left on his neck. 

The safe house conversations echoed at the back of his head. Tobias' glare stuck to his mind like glue. 

The sense of familiarity that he felt between Tobias and Jethro was unexplainable. 

He was very sure that they knew themselves more than the encounter that he'd witnessed on the flash drive.

Tobias had left him inside the house for a patrol 20 minutes ago. 

He walked around the house with his pistol strapped to his waistband. 

He could see Tobias' reflection from outside walking around the building. Dalla grabbed a bottle of scotch on his vanity, taking huge gulps from the bottle directly. 

Anything to clear his head, to erase the thoughts from his head. He tried to think, to figure out what next to do for Liam, but nothing was coming through. 

The only thing he could hear was the contents of Jethro’s conversation echoing at the back of his head.

He turned on his laptop, watching the video one last time, trying to see if there was any hint or clue that he could trace to figure something out.

He noticed something he hadn't seen before at the end of the video. 

It was a code.

He spent 10 minutes trying to break through it, but nothing was working. 

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, watching carefully, trying to see if he could get an idea. 

After staring at the code carefully, he saw the Mulvaney sign at the end of the page. That was when realization hit him. This was the code to access his father's hidden deepest private network that nobody had access to except Liam and Jethro and Silas. 

Anxiety clawed up his throat as he thought of it.

He tried again for the second time until he failed. 

He panicked as he heard Tobias' footsteps, but he wasn't coming into the house. He was still on patrol, so he still had time to finish up. 

He pressed wrong numbers till he finally cracked it open. 

He was greeted with his father's offshore transactions. He sort through, till he finally got to the spot where he realized that it was also the American mafia hidden financial ledger. 

He tapped on it, revealing rows of encrypted transactions, shares from firms, and offshore transactions. 

Dalla looked through it carefully, panicking as he searched through the exact date and time, looking for the date of Liam's execution. 

His breath stiffened as he entered the transactions. 

One single massive transfer at 2:17 AM, 17 minutes after the timestamp on the alley's footage. 

The amount was unexplainable. 

The receipt was very clear.

“Asset number four (slate)”. The payment description was “clean up.” 

Dalla stared at the screen until the letters blurred. Bile rose up to his throat, the letters blurring as he stared. The taste of scotch in his mouth irritated him instantly. 

“Clean up”

The thoughts started hitting. 

Tobias had been employed to watch him, He was paid for to make sure that he could eliminate him if things went south, the same way they did with Liam.

But the only issue was he couldn't figure out what exactly Liam did that would make Jethro consider to pay such a huge amount for the heir to be taken out.

As far as he knew, Jethro was in charge of the finances and half of the business in the Mafia. His father was about to retire, but he needed Dalla to be in shape.

Dalla on the other hand wasn't willing to do his father's bidding, causing his father to move most of the responsibilities to Jethro for now. 

Rage and pure hatred crashed through Dara's chest. His hands shook as he gripped the edge of the table, staring at the laptop screen, staring at the figures displayed to him. 

All those moments of Tobias pinning him against the wall, choking him, fucking his throat raw had happened by the same man who was paid to kill his brother and possibly him. 

The worst part wasn't even the betrayal that pained Dalla, It was the sick twist in his guts. The sick way he remembered how good his acts with Tobias felt. 

He swallowed hard. His throat still hurting him from before.

"FUCKING BASTARD," he whispered to an empty room. 

He stared at the screen as he muttered to himself, "You let me choke on your cock while you were paid to murder my brother, and God knows if i’m part of your long list of murders." He stared at the window one last time, watching Tobias' figure walk through the house. 

A part of him wanted to pick up a knife or a gun and point it at him, even if he knew he couldn't harm him, but at least an attempt would maybe ease the rage in his heart. 

He forced his hands back to the keyboard because he needed more than just that information he had gotten.

He needed the full transaction chain, the address Tobias came from, and the approval signature. 

He needed to know who exactly orchestrated the kill. 

His mouse hovered over the ledger as he caught another payment, but that was three days after Liam's death. 

Asset number four, (Slate). The description was ongoing. 

Just ongoing. 

What did ongoing mean? 

Dalla laughed as he saw it. A dark, ugly sound from his throat. 

That was what they called Tobias guiding him, Tobias putting him in order. 

Ongoing. 

So if things went south, the description would change to clean up.

He jammed the drive into the laptop, trying to copy the ledger. 

It loaded 12%, 19%, 31%. The invisible clock in his head ticked louder as his heart raced. 

Tobias would be here any moment from now, and who knows if Jethro was still lurching around, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. 

One wrong move and both of them could end up dead, or probably just him. 

Fear Sweat dripped from his brow as he stared at the keyboard, hoping that it would load faster. 

Fear clawed up his spine. Every little sound he heard, his heart sank. "Come on, come on, you can do this," he muttered.

67%, 74%. The transfer was almost complete when the screen suddenly went blank.

Dalla’s heart sank completely. 

A red alert exploded across the screen. 

“Unsanctioned access logged. Unsanctioned access logged.” 

The laptop webcam blinked on. Dalla slammed the lid shut instantly. 

The copy had stopped at 89%, but the alert had already gotten straight to the Mulvaney mansion. 

His father would now know that someone had breached through the ledger from inside the safe house. 

He shoved the flash drive in his pocket, his hands shaking, sweat dripping from his palm. 

The room suddenly seemed smaller. It felt like the walls were closing in.

He stood on his shaky legs, his chest heaving, his breath shaking. 

As much as he hated Tobias and wished to slam his head against the wall, he needed help. 

He knew that it wouldn't take Tobias anything to put a loaded gun against his head and shoot him, and his father wouldn't even be bothered. 

Dalla pressed his back to the wall, hoping that something could happen.

The sound of the doors swinging open, snapped Dalla back to consciousness.