LAYLA'S POV
The fortress has been standing for three days, and while the four of us figure out what we are in hallways and kitchens and common rooms, the work hasn't slowed. If anything, it's accelerating.
Gears finds me in the garage on Tuesday morning with something in his hands that makes the cold purpose in my chest go colder.
"Third layer." He spreads the documents across the workbench. "Underneath the shell company – another holding entity, one step further removed from Black Viper's legal address." He taps a deed transfer form. "This connects to a property sale. Land on Iron Howl's eastern border. Quietly sold eight months ago to a shell entity without a council vote."
I stare at the paperwork. "She's selling our territory."
"Not just bleeding the accounts." Gears looks at me.
