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Recap...

"The cobra may have no claws but a royal lion does. You may think you have won but the fight has just begun. The lion joins the snake to dethrone the sphynx and from the shadows, we'll take over without a fight." 

Adonis:

"What does that mean?" I demand. She says nothing. I take the blade across her skin and she still says nothing. "Tie her from the ceiling," I say impatiently. I whip her until she passes out demanding she tells me who she works for in between. This isn't working.

"Leave her here," I say as I storm out. Nico follows catching up fast. He doesn't say anything until we reach my office. "Adonis are you ok?" He asks. "How could I be ok at a time like this Nico?" I yell. "Riddles are supposed to be solvable right," Nico states calmly. He frames it as a question but he already answered it with his tone. I just nod as I pace the room. "If we work on solving it now we should be able to crack it by tomorrow," he says.

I let out a breathe and stop pacing. Looking at him I say "Let's start with finding out who the snake and the lion is, I'm assuming the Sphinx is supposed to be me," I say. It's the only logical explanation right now. "Why would you be labeled as the Sphinx?" Nico asks. "Why does that even matter right now? I could be called a kitten and I wouldn't care at this point," I say. 

"If we figure out why you were labeled as Sphinx it may help us with finding out who the snake and the lion are," Nico says. I sigh and sit at my desk. It's the best bet we have and I can't just sit here and do nothing while Kiera's going through who knows what.

"Do you have any ideas," Nico asks while sitting down as well. "It could be my origin, Sphinx are used in old Greek architecture, they were a common symbol for a sun god," I say. "The lion is a symbol used in the English monarchy," Nico suggests. I think about it for awhile. The English are our allies. They most definitely don't use the royal lion as a symbol for their Mafia.

"What about the snake? What does a cobra symbolize?" I ask. "I mean it's a symbol in Greek culture as well," Nico says. "It could be a lower Greek gang trying to take over," I suggest. Nico nods slightly still thinking. It's a possibility but it's unlikely. There are many enemies in Greece but they're all to scared to even attempt something like this. We also have people positioned to keep watch and intercept what they're doing to make sure they're following the mafia laws I set.

They owe a sort of tax for using the land I'm in control over. Anything they do, I know about. It's unlikely something this big went over my men's heads. Snakes in general are used across cultures as symbols of many things. Good or bad. God's and goddesses or demons. The cobra is a specific snake though so it should be easier to pinpoint.

"Wait," Nico says moving out of his seat. "Let me see your computer," he says. I let him as he's my right hand. He starts looking through my gang files until he stops at one and opens it. "What does the Greco Mafia have to do with this?" I ask. "The cobra is their gang seal, it's symbol is originated in Thailand. They believe that the cobra is a symbol of a forest god or goddess. If you harm one then they'll make you sick and you'll eventually die of an unknown illness," he says. The animals are related to origins or culture, it's the seals. "The Greco's aren't Thai but Ethan was raised in Thailand," I say out loud.

"Yes, who's seal is the royal lion?" Nico asks. I looked through the gangs and then moved onto the assassin's. The Kings old seal was a lion but the was Allessandro's father's seal and it wasn't a royal lion. They've had their new one ever since Allessandro took over. It's a wolf, it's supposed to symbolize leadership and honor. It's a terrible seal for them as the King's have no honor.

I finally find what I'm looking for. "Red uses the royal lion as his seal," I say. "So there's the two, I still can't figure out who the Sphinx would be then. Your symbol is Typhon not the sphinx," Nico says. I think back. We can't afford to be wrong about this. "If I remember correctly the first symbol used in my Mafia was the Sphinx. I just don't know why they would mention the Sphinx," I say going back to my computer.

We keep records of our bloodline. All Mafia's do. They have to be heavily encrypted if they're online but I needed them in a database so I got the best hacker to encrypt it for me. I scrolled all the way back to the 1700s and clicked on it. My Mafia was founded in 1738 and it's seal was as I suspected. The Sphinx. I look through all the pages in the file until I find something of interest. "Apparently the start of the Drakos Mafia had a poor start with a lot of failures. The Sphinx seal was named the seal that would always fail. The mafia built up a better foundation as soon as the seal changed when new power came in, it's always been in my bloodline though," I explain.

"They're picking at an extremely old wound, why?" Nico asks. "I don't know, none of this makes sense," I say. "At least we know who's involved," Nico says. "Yes, but who's leading the Greco gang. We tore them down when we took Ethan and we killed his right hand, he doesn't have a reported heir," I say frustrated. "I need a team to look over them and find out who could be leading them, I also need someone to figure out who red is. Look over all his cases and watch every second of security footage available," I say.

"I'll go do that now," he says. I sit in my chair a stare at my screen. What game are they playing?  

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