The Dark Ghosts

87. Dirty Games

Bianca's POV

"He's an imbecile."

Hunter's words were ignored as he plopped himself next to Audrey, who briefly glanced at him before returning to her own thoughts.

"In my defense, I never liked him," he stupidly continued.

None of us couldn't help the abrasive look we threw at him and his insensitivity. He hissed when Audrey's hand slapped his shoulder and turned to look at her with a questioning look that vanished the moment he was met with her glare.

"It's too early for those jokes," she deadpanned.

I don't know if it was the lack of humor in her voice or the fact that Hunter, whether he admitted it or not, deeply cared for her that made him shut up, but I was thankful for it. Audrey was right, we were not in the mood for jokes of that kind and I don't know what could've happened to Hunter if he kept talking.

The boys were watching us carefully as silence ruled in the living room of our penthouse, where we were all sitting. They had been patient enough while listening to the news about our no longer co-worker, but you could still see the fury behind their cold, impassive eyes. They looked about to explode.

My thoughts drifted off to the doubt we all probably had. And now what? We'd never say it out loud but Holden was a crucial part of how the system of the Dark Ghosts worked. He was the one that handed us the missions as well as the one that kept the police away to hide our crimes. Losing the professional relationship with him means that we need to reconstruct that system, we need to find a new way of working. We need to start all over again.

That thought alone brought me a splitting headache. The first few days of the Dark Ghosts' birth were horrible, stressing and exhausting. I wouldn't want to repeat that era of our story. The only thing that gave me the tiniest glint of relief was the difference of the situation. We're no longer the young amateurs we were three years ago, we now have power and experience and I can only hope that's enough to make the process easier for us.

My eyes snapped to the rough hand that suddenly was placed on my thigh. Realizing it was Alec's, a ghost smile formed on my face as I grabbed it in my own hand. A wave of warm comfort rushed through me and I gave him a thankful squeeze, looking up at his concerned eyes.

"You ok?" he whispered in a tone only I could hear.

"I will be," I whispered back.

"My uncle was already informed about Holden's betrayal. All his ties with the Italian mafia have been broken too," Nathan announced, trying to take Sadie's hand in his.

However, I noticed how Sadie turned her hand downwards, her palm facing her thigh, making Nathan's hand simply rest on top of it instead of taking it. He shot a confused, questioning look at his girlfriend, but Sadie didn't even look at him. She kept starting at the wall in front of her with a look I knew too well. It was the same cold look she always had, but with years of knowing her I had learnt to appreciate the small details that could tell me what she was really feeling. Now, she was angry at Nathan, no idea why.

I still remember how she barged into my room yesterday, making me all alert. Seeing your usually most composed, calm friend acting so frantic couldn't mean anything good. Being aware of her meeting with Massimo, my first questions were accusations at him. I didn't care that he could be my potential father-in-law, I was ready to snap at him if he had hurt Sadie in any way. I'd do that for any of the girls. However, she immediately got my suspicions discarded and proceeded to tell me about the real problem, though now I believe that was not the only discovery she made with Massimo. My guess is that there's something up with Nathan as well, they were alright before.