Chapter 44 - The Paris Directive
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By 3:00 AM, my private cleanup crew was already scrubbing the blood from the hardwood floors and disposing of the mercenaries' bodies. I had no intention of waiting for the police. This was Syndicate business.
I stood in the underground bunker, staring at the massive monitor where Jax had compiled everything he could find on the Sterling family.
"Victoria Sterling is virtually untouchable, Emily," Jax said, rubbing his tired eyes. "She operates out of a fortified chateau in the Swiss Alps. But she doesn't dirty her own hands. She uses a network of European brokers to move her money and order her hits."
"Then we start by cutting off her hands," I said, leaning over the steel table. "Who is her top broker? Who handles the money for the Council?"
Jax’s fingers flew across his keyboard. A photograph of a handsome, sharp-featured Frenchman sitting at an outdoor café appeared on the screen.
"Luc Fontaine," Jax announced. "He operates out of Paris. High-end money launderer. He handles the slush funds for the European Council. Word on the dark web is that he’s currently holding a digital ledger containing the blackmail material Victoria uses to keep the other Sovereign families in line."
"If we get that ledger, we strip Victoria of her leverage," Elias noted, standing behind me with a fresh bandage wrapped around his forearm. "We can turn the entire European Syndicate against her."
"Exactly," I smiled dangerously. "Victoria wants to play games with my mother's legacy? Fine. We’ll take her empire piece by piece, starting with her wallet."
"I have a Gulfstream fueled and waiting on the private tarmac," Elias said, checking his heavy steel watch. "Flight plan filed for Paris. Are you sure about this, Boss? Once we touch down in Europe, we are in her territory. We won't have the home-field advantage."
"I don't need an advantage, Elias," I replied, grabbing my leather jacket and sliding a spare magazine into my pocket. "I just need a target."
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I looked back at the monitor, at the serpent crest of the European Council. They thought they had buried my mother’s history. They thought they could intimidate me with a midnight raid. They were wrong.
"Let's go to Paris," I ordered. "It’s time to introduce Europe to the new American Sovereign."
