Lugano was quieter than Milan. Too quiet.
It was the kind of quiet that warned predators to keep their guns close and their trust closer. Adrian didn’t like it. Mountains loomed in the distance like silent witnesses, and the cold Swiss air bit at his neck as he stood outside the bank that held everything, the key to Valentina’s past, the council’s secrets, and maybe his own reckoning.
Valentina walked beside him, her expression unreadable. She hadn’t spoken much since Milan, just paced the hotel room in circles, holding that key like it could answer every question she hadn’t dared voice out loud.
“You ready?” he asked.
She nodded once. “Let’s end this.”
The clerk behind the glass hesitated when they slid the safety deposit slip across the counter, but one look at Adrian’s eyes and the
