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Chapter 54

"Wake up." Dante said in a serious tone as he splashed water on Stephans face. I watched from the corner of the room as Stephan stirred in his seat, shaking his head slightly before looking up at us. 

His hands were tied behind his back, and his ankles were bound to the legs of the chair. Isa, Natalia, Dante, and Angelo watched intently as their cousin regained consciousness. 

"The fuck..." Stephan mumbled as he examined his situation. 

"You can't be serious." Stephan said seriously as he looked up at his cousin. Dante was standing in front of him, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. 

"Start talking." Dante said as he cracked his knuckles, filling the air with the pops of his joints. 

"Talking about what? I have no idea-" He began to say, but was cut off by Dante's fist colliding with his face. The impact made me cringe slightly as I continued to examine Stephan for any signs of lying.

There are many ways to spot a liar: micro-expressions, eye movements, signs of stress, etc. 

However, Dante succeeded in making my job significantly harder. I opted for Stephan to be in a regular room, where he wasn't tied up. Seeing that touching the face and overall body language is a large indicator of lying, it would have been easier for me to see if he was telling the truth. 

But of course, Dante had to have it his way, and tied up the poor bastard in the basement. 

"Start. Talking." Dante repeated as he bent down, looking Stephan in the eyes. 

"Cousin, I have no idea how that device got in my phone. I have no idea what the hell that thing even is!" Stephan said loudly. His wide eyes were locked onto Dante, not looking away for even a second. 

"You don't know what that device does?" I chimed in from my corner, making Dante look over his shoulder. 

"No, I have no idea what that thing is." Stephan said as he looked at me. I looked at his face, looking for any signs of micro-expressions. 

A micro-expression is a flash of true emotion that shows briefly. And when I say briefly, I'm talking from one-fifth to one-twenty fifth of a second. The main one I'm looking for would be signs of guilt.

"Then let me enlighten you." I said as I walked closer. 

"That 'thing' that was attached to your phone is a Russian tracking device." I said as I looked down at him, revealing no emotion as I spoke. 

"So anything you've been doing, the Russians have been able to see and hear everything." I explained, making his eyes go wide once more. 

"I did a sweep on every phone within the estate, and yours is the only one that was compromised." I stated. 

"There's no way, no way! I would never work for that bastard!" Stephan said as he balled his hands into fists. He displayed signs of distress, but so would I if I were tied to a chair pleading my innocence. 

Who am I kidding, I would still be calm as hell. 

"Then why was your phone the only device on the property that was compromised?" Dante said slowly, repeating my words once more. 

"I-I  have no clue." Stephan said as he looked at us. His constant eye contact was a hint that he was telling the truth.

"You were undercover for a while, what were you doing?" I asked as I tilted my head, remembering that he was in France preparing for Pavlovski's imminent attack. 

"I was making sure our weapons made it into France." He said quickly as Dante stood up once more. "I-I was at our estate the entire time, you can even check the cameras." Stephan said as he looked at Dante with wide eyes.