CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

B en dropped his bags on the kitchen bench and took one last look around the apartment. He was packed and ready to leave when this job was done.

He just had one last thing to do before heading back to the Moretti castle. Ben pulled his phone out of his jeans and sent Ari a message.

I’ll be an extra day, then I’m back and you can kick my ass. I need to do this, Ari. I’ll explain everything when I return.

Well, not everything.

Oliver could have said something, but Ben suspected he wouldn’t have unless Ari had ordered it.

As expected, his phone rang. For the first time since he’d met the ancient original vampire, Ben pressed the red button, ignoring his call.

Ari didn’t leave a voice message.

Ben looked out the large glass windows and sighed.

“What a clusterfuck,” he said out loud.

Walking out of the castle earlier that night, his eyes had darted everywhere looking for Anna. She was likely setting up house in her new accommodations, angry and upset with him.

Ben cursed.

Now he had to head back and brief the Moretti SLCs on what he knew, or at least what he could tell them. He had huge respect for Brayden for trusting him despite everything that had transpired.

Ben would have liked to have spent more time getting to know Vincent, but he was busy doing king shit and spending time with the new prince, Lucas.

Would Ari want to know about his new family member when he discovered Ben had been inside the Moretti camp? Lucas was the first new Moretti to be born since Brayden’s birth in 1020. All vampires had heard the news of Lucas Moretti’s birth via VampNet, and when Ben had told Ari, he’d simply nodded and given Ben a small smile.

It was hard to imagine what went on in Ari’s head. He had started his life as a human and then become a vampire along with his brother, Giorgio, better known as King Giorgio to every vampire in existence.

With no direct bloodline or mate of his own, the original vampire had, eventually, left the Moretti fold and built his own world. Ben respected it had been a difficult decision for Ari to make, and why he was protective of The Institute’s existence.

If the race knew who he was, it would threaten the very structure of their world, and he could be seen as a threat to the king’s leadership. It was why his identity had been hidden in the early days. How fucked up was that?

To not be acknowledged as one of the originals.

But a new time was upon them, and Ben was beginning to think Ari needed to reconsider his position. Not that it was his call to make.

With the race under such extreme threat, it was only a matter of time before the truth was completely out. The Moretti’s would be stronger if they were all together and with Ari on their team. In his opinion, anyway.

Ari treated him like a son. Like family. He hadn’t been the first vampire to join The Institute, but very quickly, the two males had formed a close relationship that was obvious to them and those around.

Ben valued Ari, and he hated that he was keeping secrets from him. But...Anna.

Was she his mate?

Even now, his chest was physically aching at being away from her when knowing she was hurting.

With one decision, he could swoop her up and create a home for her she’d never be taken away from.

Ben had savings to last ten lifetimes. He was paid extremely well—excessively, some would say—but the assassination business was a lucrative one. Ari had taught him how to invest and turn his loose change into, well, billions. And it was just sitting in a handful of offshore accounts and stocks doing nothing useful except getting bigger.

When faced with the choice of accumulating wealth for a rainy day or providing Anna with a safe home, Ben knew exactly what he’d rather do.

But that was the thing. A home wasn’t just four walls and a roof. It was people, love, laughter, arguments, and memories. Ben would need to walk away from The Institute and Ari if Anna was his mate.

He’d promised Ari he would return. And he would.

Whether he stayed was another thing.

Whether Anna would accept him if he returned was a completely different issue.

BEN HEADED TOWARD THE operations room, nodding hello to a few familiar faces. Sofia still hadn’t returned his texts or calls.

He sighed.

In a moment, he’d be face-to-face with Lance, Sofia’s mate, and he felt it best not to ask the warrior about it. He understood why his sister was pissed with him, but after telling her he was departing the country, he was surprised she hadn’t responded.

Ben swiped and pushed open the door.

Everyone was inside and greeted him.

“Hey,” Kurt said with a smirk. Yeah, the guy was cool.

“Sup, brother,” Marcus followed.

Lance stared at him, but without menace. Ben couldn’t help himself. He’d never been good at keeping his mouth shut. “Just tell me she’s okay.”

Lance nodded. “I wouldn’t be sitting here is she wasn’t.”

Ben gave a quick shrug. “Right.”

“Give her time,” Lance added.

Yeah, time. That was something he didn’t have.

“Okay, ladies, let’s get down to business,” Craig interrupted, pushing a button which lowered a screen.

Brayden smirked from his desk and gave him that international guy greeting with his eyebrows. Ben found the edge of a desk and perched against it, crossing his arms.

“As the prince mentioned, Ben is consulting with us on this. He has information he’s going to share with us tonight about the people responsible for the laboratories,” Craig started. “What we know is that Russo and the Italian president were in cahoots, but there were others.”

Brayden stood. “The data we obtained from the US when they raided the labs and returned our vampires is limited. Whether they chose not to share information is something Vincent is working with POTUS on, but it’s likely the high-level information was not kept on-site.”

“Right. So we don’t know who the other invested parties are,” Craig finished.

“And fuckface Russo isn’t talking,” Lance added.

“Which kind of happens when you tell a guy he’s about to have his head removed,” Kurt said sardonically.

Lance shrugged and smiled.

“Speaking of...are you coming to the execution in a few hours?” Brayden asked Ben.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

He was hoping to find Anna before it started so he could support her. Whether his presence would be welcomed was yet to be seen. But selfishly, he was going to do it anyway.

Craig gave him a knowing look but quickly cast his eyes away. “Tom, bring up the other file.”

Tom, who Ben hadn’t spent much time with, tapped away on a laptop, and a bunch of photos and data appeared on the large screen on the wall. It resembled the sort of thing you saw on one of those cop shows, with suspects and all their connections pieced together with red lines. Plus a whole bunch of questions.

He had many answers for them, which meant he had to be really fucking careful about what he shared.

Nothing could lead back to Ari or their source. Not that he was completely privy to who those sources were, but he knew more than most people at The Institute.

“This is what we have. Ben, the floor is yours,” Brayden said.

He got up and walked closer to the screen. Not because he couldn’t see; rather he was thinking and processing.

“Thanks,” he spoke, delaying further, staring at the screen with his back to the vampires. Then he turned. “Let me be clear about why I am here. Like you, I am angered by the torture of members of our race.”

Nods and murmurs of agreement filled the room.

“When I found out Anna had been one of them, it became personal. I’m not going into that further, but I think everyone in this room knows she is important to me.”

“Yeah, when you kidnapped her, we figured that out,” Kurt let out, raising a brow.

Ben let out quick laugh and turned back to the screen.

“Diego Lombardo is one of the key players in this, along with Xander Tomassi, executive at BioZen. We fucked up when we let him return to the United States, but—”

Fuck. See, this is why he shouldn’t be here. He’d nearly said too much.

“He’s being dealt with,” Ben finished. “Lombardo is a powerful supporter of BioZen’s projects, but something has shifted recently. I suspect it has to do with the bust of the labs; we didn’t know about that until I arrived in Italy.”

He stared at Brayden, awaiting clarification, but none came.

“If you join the team, I can share the classified information about that, but not before,” Brayden told him, holding his stare. “What I can confirm is Diego’s influence among global leaders has lessened recently.”

Ben nodded.

“Unfortunately, his involvement with the bigger plan hasn’t. I know the royal family isn’t in the business of eliminating people or vampires, but you need to know, before I leave Italy, I will be eliminating him.”

He let that sink in.

No one said anything.

“He’s working independently,” Craig pointed, glancing at Brayden.

“With our assistance,” Brayden countered, frowning.

“I don’t need it,” Ben replied. “Nor your permission.”

“I’ll need to speak to the king,” Brayden continued.

“I’m not looking for permission,” Ben repeated, crossing his arms.

Brayden stood. “I’m not looking to stop you, but as prince and captain of the Moretti Royal Army, it is my responsibility to keep the king informed of such matters.”

Ben knew as well as the prince did that he should stop him. The vampire race wasn’t given free will to go around killing humans or their own race when they wanted. For the most part, they adhered to human laws and regulations. It was how they fit into the world around them.

“You will need our help,” Craig said, and Ben knew he was right. It wasn’t impossible, but the job would likely be done faster and more effectively with help. With Oliver gone, the help of the SLCs would be valuable.

Assassins were solo creatures by nature, but they didn’t work alone. There was always a team behind them.

Brayden sat on the edge of his desk and plunged his hands into his pockets. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s unlikely to be a problem. Let’s continue, and after the execution, we will regroup, and I’ll get the king’s approval.”

Ben nodded.

He had no doubt the prince would come through, but what none of them realized was that he had his own authority to answer to. Another Moretti. As a member of The Institute, he couldn’t just execute whoever he wanted, whether he had Vincent Moretti’s approval or not.

And yet, he wasn’t leaving Italy until the president’s heart stopped beating.

No matter the consequences.