Page 145 of Shadow Of Sin

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“I do.” He stops turning the glass. “I told Wolfe to cut you loose months ago. I made threats that I shouldn’t have made. And you found out about it in the worst way possible.”

My free hand clenches tight in my lap and I sit up straighter. I didn’t expect this. Not from him. Not here, over comfort food and empty wine bottles.

“I’m not going to apologize for protecting my family. That’s my job, and it’ll be my job until I’m dead and buried.” His eyes soften a little, the ice melting just enough where I don’t feel like he’s trying to freeze me out anymore. “But I was wrong about you. I treated you like a problem to solve instead of a person my brother chose. And that’s on me.”

I don’t know what to say to that. Can’t even process it fast enough to pull together a response. So I just nod.

“You’re part of this family now,” he says. “That means I protect you the same way I protect them. No conditions, no strings.”

“Even though I’m a risk?” I can’t help it. The words slip out before I can swallow them back.

His mouth twitches. “Everybody’s a risk. Some people are worth it. I’m going to assume you’re worth it until proven otherwise.”

“Wow, I’m flattered,” I say dryly. But I’m smiling huge while I say it, and I feel like the two of us may have just turned a corner in our otherwise tense relationship.

Cillian comes back to the table carrying a platter of tiramisu like it’s the Stanley Cup. Gavin is behind him with a second platter because apparently one isn’t enough.

I catch Ronan’s eye and nod. And he freaking smiles, catching me completely off-guard. Not a smirk, an actual, legitimate smile. I didn’t even know he had teeth.

He’s actually a good-looking guy when he’s not glowering all the time.

The rest of the night is filled with sweet treats, more wine, espresso, and lots of smiles. Gavin tries to arm-wrestle Sal and loses, which nobody expected, including Gavin. Cillian makes plans for Sal to come to Venom next week so he can check out the bar kitchen. Adriana and Sal discover they have the same opinion about store-bought marinara—that it should be illegal. Then they spend twenty minutes bonding over their shared hatred of jarred sauce. And Wolfe is next to me, his hand on my knee. Our shoulders touch and his face is relaxed in a way I’ve only ever seen at the cabin.

But this isn’t the cabin. This is a restaurant full of people and noise and chaos, and he’s calm in the middle of all of it.

When he looks at me and smiles, I know it’s because I’m here with him.

I look around the table at the wreckage of a meal that my brother spent all day making for a family I never expected to be part of. If someone told me six months ago that I’d be sitting in my brother’s restaurant watching five Irish mafia brothers argue over who gets the last serving of tiramisu, I would have told them to get drug tested.

This is what I almost threw away. All of it. Because of a laptop and a dark night and the belief that nobody ever stays.

But they did stay. Every one of them. Sal stayed after I lied to his face for three months. Wolfe stayed after I drove away from his cabin at midnight. And even Ronan, in his own impossible way, decided to stay and let me in…part way, at least. Which I think is a lot for him.

I take a bite of tiramisu and it’s so good I almost cry, which would be embarrassing but also understandable because Sal’s tiramisu could literally end wars.

Wolfe’s thumb traces a circle on my knee. I lean into his shoulder and realize that I haven’t looked at the door once tonight.

Not once.

I don’t need to know where the exit is anymore. I’m not planning my escape route with my go bag packed, or counting the steps to the street, or calculating how fast I can get out if everything falls apart.

For the first time in longer than I can remember, I’m exactly where I want to be.

And I’m staying.

EPILOGUE

WOLFE

TWO MONTHS LATER

I wait until Rosario’s clears out on a Tuesday night.

Sal is behind the bar wiping things down when I walk in by myself. He looks at me, peers behind me, and frowns.

“Where’s Eva?”