Chapter 262
“Gianna,” he called out without looking up. He knew exactly where I was standing.
I swallowed and stepped forward, my shoes feeling too loud against the polished floor. No one looked at me. Not one person. It was like I didn’t exist down here.
Raphael tapped once on the glass table in front of him.
The map vanished and the numbers replaced it. Columns. Endless columns. White and green, moving too fast for/ my eyes to catch at first. Lines connected to other lines. Small blinking dots. Wallet IDs. Time stamps. Transfers.
It looked like chaos.
It wasn’t.
“Come here,” he said.
I moved closer, stopping at his side. Close enough to feel the heat coming off him, even though he hadn’t looked at me once since the elevator.
He pointed at the screen.
“These are live transactions,” he said, “Crypto chains. Company transfers. Clean routes.”
Clean.
Even I could tell that word meant something else down here. I stared at the numbers. It was too much, too fast, too layered. My brain tried to read it like a page.
Failed.
Beside me, I felt him shift. My breath caught when I felt his hand brushing my arm, “Relax,” he murmured, right
near my ear.
My spine straightened on instinct. His other hand came to the edge of the table, caging me in without touching fully. He was behind me now. Close enough that I could feel the heat of his chest at my back, even without contact.
“You’re thinking too much,” he said quietly.
I swallowed.
“I’m not-”
“You are. Stop reading it,” his fingers slid lightly along my forearm, down to my wrist, like he was guiding me without forcing me, “Just look.”

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