Page 28 of Shadow Of Sin

“He asked about Sal, too,” I add. “He knew his Saturday schedule and mentioned the restaurant being busy.”

“He’s keeping tabs.”

“He’s always keeping tabs. That’s the whole point. Sal is the leash and Dmitri likes to give it a little tug every time I see him. Just so I keep focus.”

Wolfe is quiet for a minute as he works. Then he pulls up something on the second monitor.

“One-forty Federal,” he says, pointing to it. “That building is connected to one of the two organizations Dmitri is going after. He’s not just collecting information anymore. He’s doing surveillance on specific targets.”

My blood chills. “He’s getting ready to make a move.”

“Yeah. He is.”

That rolls around in my head for a minute. Every job I’ve done has been building toward something, and now the something is taking shape. He’s not just collecting leverage. He’s preparing to use it.

“The tenant list,” Wolfe says. “Look at it next to the Meridian Capital data from last week.”

I pull it up and see it right away—the same company name buried in both sets of records. Different job, different week, same thread.

“Son of a bitch,” I say. “It’s the same people again.”

“Every job connects. Every single one.”

I press my palms flat on the desk and let out a breath. I knew it. I goddamn knew it. I’ve been seeing these connections for months and deliberately not following them because the last time I followed a thread, I ended up behind bars.

“This is bigger than I thought,” I say.

“It’s bigger than both of us thought.”

“What do we do?”

“We keep going. Every job he gives you is another piece. When I have enough, I’ll know what he’s planning and how to stop it.”

“Great. So I just keep handing stolen data to the criminal who owns my freaking life, and then I walk over here and hand over the same data to you…and if said criminal finds out, he will burn me to the ground.”

“That’s the job.”

“That’s a shitty job.”

“Yeah,” he says. “It is.” His blue eyes are steady behind his glasses. And he looks at me like he actually gives a damn about the fact that a man put his hands on me today to make a point.

A shiver whispers against my skin.

Because despite my best efforts to keep him out, he keeps doing these little things that let him creep in.

“Come on,” he says, closing the laptop. “Your brother’s expecting me.”

“What?”

“I told Sal I’d come by tonight. He’s testing a new dish and needs someone to try it.”

“Since when do you make dinner plans with my brother?”

“He asked. I said yes. That’s how it works.”

“That’s how normal people work. You’re not normal.”

“And yet here I am. Making plans.”