Page 124 of Shadow Of Sin

The drive to Rosario’s is eighteen minutes at normal speed. I don’t drive at normal speed. The streets are empty, and I blow through every red light between the house and Eva’s neighborhood.

I call the surveillance team from the road.

“Status,” I say through clenched teeth.

“Both of Dmitri’s men are at the front door. One is working the lock.”

“How long until they’re in?”

“Under a minute.”

I slam my hand on the steering wheel. “I’m still six minutes out. Just stand down unless it goes violent. If someone gets hurt, you go in immediately.”

“Copy.”

Six minutes. I count every one of them because my brain won’t let me not count. My hands lock around the wheel. My thumb hammers against it so hard and fast it doesn’t even feel like tapping anymore.

I park one block south. There’s a handgun in Lochlan’s glove compartment because he always keeps a weapon in every one of his vehicles. I grab it and go through the back alley on foot, my pulse punching a hole in my throat with every step I take. I’ve been in this alley before. The day I fought the Albanian with the knife.

The back door is unlocked. She didn’t get to it after I sent that text. Thank fuck.

I open it and slip into the dark kitchen.

Voices float in from the front room. Male. Low. Russian accent. Definitely not Sal.

They’re here.

I move through the kitchen. My breathing is steady, hands still. My body runs on the training my brothers hammered into me while my brain runs on something else entirely. Something that has nothing to do with training and everything to do with the woman in the next room.

I reach the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room and peer around the side of the wall.

Two men dressed in black. Both massive and tattooed. One stands by the front door; the other one is near the bar with a gun held low at his side.

Sal stands behind the register, his face completely void of color, his hands trembling on the counter.

Eva stands between the man with the gun and her brother, her chin tilted in defiance. She has a knife gripped tight between her fingers. A kitchen knife against a handgun. Her hand shakes but her feet are rooted and she’s not moving. No way will she let them see how rattled she is.

I have Lochlan’s gun in my hand, but Eva is three feet behind the man I’d be shooting at. I can’t risk it. I tuck it in my waistband.

“We came for your brother,” the man with the gun says. “But you’re a much better find.”

“You’re not touching him.” Eva’s voice is steady even though her hand isn’t.

“Put the knife down. Come with us and nobody gets hurt.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.” She adjusts her grip and holds up the knife. “Didn’t work out well for the last guy.”

He raises the gun and points it at Sal. “I’m not going to ask again.”

Her expression shifts. I’ve seen that look before. It’s the one she makes right before she gives up something she doesn’t want to lose. It happens right before she puts the knife down. She’s going to go with them because the gun is aimed at Sal and there is nothing Eva Moreno won’t sacrifice to keep her brother alive and breathing.

I step through the doorway.

I don’t think. I barely breathe. There’s no thought behind my actions. No calculation. No scenario planning. My brain is completely offline, and my body is doing the only thing it knows how to do when Eva is in danger.

I put myself between her and the gun.

“Wolfe—” Her voice cracks on my name.