Page 117 of Shadow Of Sin

She read the case file. She knows I found evidence that could have freed her from prison and that I closed the file to protect my family.

She read the relocation plan. She thinks I’m planning to remove her from my life on Friday.

She read the messages I exchanged with Ronan. She saw “she won’t be a problem” and “I’ll handle it” and three weeks of messages where I know I sound like a guy who already agreed to let her go.

And so she ran.

I pick up the phone and call her one more time. Voicemail. My heart hammers when I hear her voice. Leave a message. I don’t leave one because nothing I can say in thirty seconds will fix this. It’s not enough time to explain what she found. That conversation needs to happen face to face, when I’m standing in front of her so she can read my face and see that it tracks with the words I say.

But I can’t go to her. Not yet. The operation is tonight. If I leave, the whole thing falls apart. It’s bigger than both of us, and as much as I want to set things straight with her, there’s too much at risk if I go to her. Every piece of this plan depends on me running the digital takedown while Lochlan’s team handles the Revere attack. Without me, the timing collapses, the law enforcement tips go out wrong, and Dmitri’s network survives.

And if Dmitri’s network survives, Sal is still a target. Both of them are.

Eva’s been in Boston for hours. She went to Sal. I’m sure of it. Which means she’s out in the open in a city where Dmitri’s people could be watching. And the only way to make sure nobody touches her, or her brother, is to finish what we started.

I can’t chase her. The best thing I can do for Eva right now is destroy every threat to her life in the next twelve hours.

And I hate it. Because it looks like the same choice I made eighteen months ago when I found a case file with her name on it and closed it to protect my family. I didn’t know her then. She was a stranger with a conviction that connected to our business.

This time it’s different. Closing that file was choosing my family over Eva. Running this operation is choosing Eva. Every threat I take out tonight is one that can never touch her or Sal again.

But she’ll never see it that way. All she’ll see is a man who picked the mission over her. Again.

Gritting my teeth, I put the first part of the plan into action. Spoofing the number Eva gave me takes about thirty seconds. I type the message, route it through Anderson’s number, and hit send.

Mr. Moreno, this is James Andersen, Red Sky Capital Partners. Apologies for the early text. I need to reschedule our meeting due to a conflict on my end. I’ll follow up next week with a new date. Looking forward to connecting.

I collapse back on the mattress, letting out a deep sigh. Sal will see it when he wakes up. He’ll be disappointed, but he won’t be suspicious. And he won’t be waiting around at Rosario’s tomorrow night for whoever Dmitri sends.

Eva knew this was part of the plan. She helped build it. But now she probably thinks the plan was my cover for getting rid of her. She has no reason to believe I’ll follow through on any of it. But I do, because I won’t backpedal on facts.

And the real fact is, I want to keep her and Sal safe and protected.

Even if she thinks I’m full of shit.

Twenty minutes later, I drag myself into the kitchen. My eyes latch onto the Cheerios box Eva moved then put back over a week ago.

Cillian wanders in and leans against the doorway.

“You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

My brows furrow, the box still rooting my gaze. “Eva left the cabin last night. My car’s parked near Sal’s place. She’s been there since around three.”

“How do you know?”

“I have a tracker on my car.” I take a step back from the counter, take off my glasses, and rub my stinging eyes.

“Of course you do. Do you know why she left?”

“Yes.” I slowly turn my head toward Cillian. “I checked the access logs on my network. She got past my password encryption and found some files I had locked down. One was the case file I pulled on her almost two years ago, the one that had all the details of the evidence presented in court. I did some digging and found out that she was innocent. Someone else committed the crime she went to prison for.”

“Fuuuuuck. Did you send it to anyone to try to help her?”

“No. I closed it. Her case had a thread that connected back to one of our family’s businesses. If I spoke up and presented my evidence to anyone, the Feds would have ended up on our doorstep. I had to let it go.”

Cillian is quiet for a second. “You chose us over her.”

“But she was a stranger. I didn’t know who she was back then. All I knew was that helping her could bring down everything our family built.”