Page 53 of Shadow Of Sin

Ronan’s jaw tightens. But he doesn’t argue. I file that away. The sister-in-law just overruled the boss, and the boss let her.

Boss bitch vibes to the max.

“Fine,” Ronan grunts. “For now.” He looks back at me. “Everything goes through this room. No more side operations.” That last part is aimed at Wolfe.

“Understood,” I say.

“And Eva.”

“Yeah.”

“If you burn us, there’s no hole deep enough.” His eyes narrow, spitting flames.

And I feel the burn from here. “Understood.”

“Good.” He picks up a folder like the conversation is over. “Wolfe, get her set up. Lochlan, coordinate with Adriana’s team. Gavin⁠—”

“Make a sandwich. I know.” Gavin stands and winks at me on his way out. “Welcome to the family, Eva.”

“I’m not family.”

“Yet,” he says over his shoulder as he leaves.

Cillian pushes off the wall and falls into step beside me once we’re in the hallway. He hasn’t said a word directly to me the entire meeting.

“You handled yourself in there,” he says.

“Thanks.”

“Ronan’s not easy.”

“I noticed.”

“He’ll come around. Takes him longer than the rest of us.” He glances ahead at Wolfe. “Take care of my brother.”

“Excuse me?” My eyes pop open wide.

“You heard me.” He says it in a light voice, but his expression doesn’t match the tone. At all. Then he turns and walks away.

Holy shit. I just sat in a room with four dangerous mafia men and a woman who might be more dangerous than all of them. I told them the truth and they didn’t kill me. One of them winked at me. Another one told me to take care of his brother.

And the one who brought me here…the one with the glasses and the ridiculous pecs and the band shirts and the brain that won’t quit…just told the most powerful man in the room to back off. For me.

I follow Wolfe down the hallway. He doesn’t look back. But his hand brushes mine as we walk. Just barely…his knuckles against my fingers. It might have been an accident or something done to look like one.

I don’t pull my hand away.

And that terrifies me more than anything Ronan said.

CHAPTER 12

WOLFE

I should be working. I should be focused. But my brain doesn’t care about should. It cares about the fact that Eva’s knuckles brushed against mine in the hallway twenty-two minutes ago, and I haven’t had a complete thought since.

Lochlan set her up at the conference table with access to Adriana’s property data. She sat down, cracked her knuckles, and dove in like she’d been craving the challenge. This is the kind of work her brain was built for. I’m good at breaking into systems. Eva is good at reading what’s inside them. Different skillset. And right now mine is tied up with Dmitri, so Adriana’s data needs someone who can see the patterns I don’t have time to look for.

She’s cross-referencing Renaldi’s calendar against the property layouts, looking for which building Dmitri is likely to target. For something we still need to determine. Her fingers move fast, flying over the keys. Her spine is straight, shoulders forward, her sharp eyes focused on the screen. She’s got her hair pulled back and there’s a pen stuck behind her ear that she keeps reaching for and putting back without using.