Grand Theft |work|

The flames caught the edge of the canvas. The boy’s smile curled and blackened. The cards turned to ash. Within two minutes, the painting was gone—not stolen, not recovered, but destroyed. And with it, the Duchessa’s lies, Dante’s leverage, and Viktor’s fifteen-year dream.

Viktor stared at the painting in Marcus’s hands. The boy with the knowing smile. The hidden cards. The knife of light across the table. grand theft

Viktor ignored her. “We go in on a Thursday. The restorer’s visit is scheduled for ten in the morning. By noon, the Caravaggio will be in a custom-built case, disguised as a shipment of medical supplies, heading for the Swiss border. The painting will cross into France by midnight. From there, it flies private to Riyadh.” The flames caught the edge of the canvas

“Don’t get poetic,” Viktor said. “Just pack it.” Within two minutes, the painting was gone—not stolen,

Marcus built the forgeries: a replica of Fontana’s ID, a replica of his keycard, and a silicone mask that would turn Novak’s broad Serbian face into the restorer’s weathered, kindly features. They tested the mask in a warehouse outside Milan. Novak walked past three different facial recognition systems before any of them flagged a mismatch. By then, it was too late.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), there were an estimated 1.4 million reported cases of motor vehicle theft in the United States in 2020. Additionally, the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) reported over 2.5 million cases of property theft in 2020.