Page 66 of Shadow Of Sin

“Doesn’t matter.”

She looks at me. The smile softens into something else, and my heart does a funny flippy thing in my chest.

We wrap up around five. Lochlan and Adriana head to Ronan’s office for a final check-in. Eva grabs her jacket. I grab my keys.

We walk to the car. It’s been our normal routine since our work here started. We don’t talk for the first few minutes of the ride, the silence finally shattered by my “Enter Sandman” ringtone. I furrow my brow when I see Unknown Number flash on the screen.

I pull over to the side of the road and answer because unknown numbers are part of my job. I also don’t want to answer this call on speaker.

“Mr. Molloy.” The accented voice is smooth and pleasant when it hits my ear…familiar in a way that makes my skin crawl even though I’ve never heard it before.

Eva turns her head, a curious look on her face.

“Who is this?” I say.

“A mutual friend of the woman sitting next to you.”

My blood goes cold. Eva’s eyes widen. She heard that.

“You’re surprised I have your number,” he says. “You shouldn’t be. I’ve had it for months. I just didn’t have a reason to use it until now.” A beat. “So she’s told you about me. Good. That saves time.”

“Dmitri,” I say.

Eva’s whole body goes rigid, her fingers balling into tight fists.

“To express my gratitude, actually. Eva’s been doing beautiful work. She’s thorough and professional. The data she’s collected over the past three months has been extremely useful.”

“What do you want?”

“To let you know that her work is done. She finished the last piece two weeks ago and didn’t even know it. Everything I needed, I already have.” A pause. “I thought it would be good to tell someone who might care.”

“If you touch her⁠—”

“Ah.” He sounds amused. “There it is. The thing I was calling to confirm.” Another pause. “Take care of her, Mr. Molloy. People who matter to us make us vulnerable. And vulnerability, in our line of work, is very expensive.”

The line clicks.

I squeeze the phone, my hand shaking. That son of a bitch.

Eva stares at me. She heard enough. Her face is white.

“Your work is done,” I say. “He has everything he needs. Which means⁠—”

“I’m expendable,” she finishes. “And Sal is a loose end.”

I pull back into traffic. My hands grip the steering wheel hard enough to turn my knuckles white.

He didn’t call to threaten me. He called to let me know he already won.

And the proof is sitting right next to me.

CHAPTER 15

EVA

Wolfe stares straight ahead as he drives the rest of the way home. He doesn’t speak, but I don’t need him to fill in the blanks. I heard enough through the phone. Dmitri’s voice, his fake ass oily bullshit voice. The same voice that asks about Sal over coffee he doesn’t drink as if he gives a good goddamn.

I caught what I needed to from that one-sided conversation.