Page 51 of Ruin
I toss and turn, struggling to get to sleep, but ultimately, I can’t.
It's past midnight when I give up, slip carefully out of Cassius' arms, and gather my clothes.
He barely stirs when I leave—exhausted from our evening together and the stress of the Russian situation.
I leave a note on his pillow.
Couldn’t sleep. Gone to my apartment to review Michelle’s files. See you tomorrow.
By the time the elevator reaches the garage, two of Cassius’s men are already waiting beside the car. No questions. Just a quiet nod as one of them opens the door.
Cassius may sleep like the king of this city, but his security never does.
Michelle’s email is waiting when I open my laptop in my apartment.
Dozens of attachments—case files, investigation reports, surveillance photos, court transcripts.
I pour myself a glass of wine and settle in for a long night of reading.
The pattern becomes clear within the first hour.
Over the past ten years, seven judges have been murdered.
All were known for being incorruptible, refusing bribes, pushing hard sentences for organized crime.
All were initially attributed to Russian Bratva expansion into new territories, but the details don't add up.
The Bratva likes to make statements—public executions, bodies left where they'll send a message, families terrorized as warnings to others.
These murders were clean, professional, designed to look like different organizations each time.
Too sophisticated for the usual Russian approach.
My wine sits forgotten as I cross-reference the dates with my father's case files, the ones I've kept in my bedroom closet all these years.
Dad was investigating something big in the weeks before his death.
His notes mention "local crime family," "extensive money laundering operation," "RICO could bring down entire organization."
One name appears over and over in his meticulous handwriting: Wolfe.
My hands start shaking as I open another document.
This one is a newspaper article from eight years ago, dated just three months after my parents' death: "Young Crime Boss Takes Control: Cassius Wolfe Assumes Leadership of Family Organization After Father's Retirement."
The photo is grainy black and white, but the figure is unmistakable.
Tall, dark-haired, sharp features that I know intimately.
He looks younger, harder around the edges, but it's definitely him.
Cassius Wolfe. Twenty-seven years old when he took over his father's criminal empire.
Twenty-seven years old when my parents were murdered.
I pull up another file—the official police report from my parents' case.
The timeline shows they died on March 15th at approximately 11:45 p.m.
