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What the fuck?

“It’s you,” he says, the surprise clear in his voice.

“It’s me,” I say, putting on my best smile, no matter how unnatural it feels right now. “Are you going to let me in?”

He frowns. “Why should I?”

“Because I saved your ass from a dangerous guy last night.” I shrug. “And tonight, I knocked.”

“You barely did anything,” he mutters.

I try a different angle. “Tell me about the person who sent you those emails.”

“No,” he says, but he still moves aside to let me into his cozy little apartment filled with plants and pictures and candles. He turns back to face me, arms crossed, a frown on his face. “Why are you really here, Rowan?”

I’m not very good at sincerity, or at least genuine sincerity. I’ve lived my life getting what I want through a smile and a quick compliment. This is uncharted territory, but I press on anyway. “Just, tell me about them. Please?”

He’s quiet for a moment before he shrugs, as if deciding that telling me the truth doesn’t put him at risk. “I think they are probably involved with the police somehow. It’s the only way they would get their hands on Halle’s file or know where the case is.”

Dirty cops.

Nothing new.

We have dozens of them in our pockets constantly feeding us information, which begs the question why none of them flagged the raid at Summit. Something else is going on.

“Whoever is behind those emails, you can’t trust them,” I say.

Alex snorts, defiance flashing in his eyes. “And I can trust you?”

I take a careful step forward. He doesn’t move, his gaze locking with mine. I hate the thrill that suddenly surges up my spine. Why does being close to him make me feel like this?

“Better the devil you know.”

He tilts his head. “I don’t know you, Rowan.”

A laugh escapes me—short, humourless. That’s the furthest thing from the truth because sometimes, I think he’s the onlyone who truly knows me. Well, the version of me before it all went to hell. Young, arrogant, with a severe god complex. He’d studied me well and despite me knowing who he was, I never tried very hard to hide myself from him. At first, it felt like a game I could win until I realised I was losing and there was no way to catch up.

I was falling hard and fast, doing and feeling things I’d never felt before.

“I have a proposal,” I say, ignoring his little swipe. “I want to lure out the person behind The Snake and I think you can help me do it.”

Alex narrows his eyes. “What would you give me in return?”

“Ah, Alex, always after something.” I laugh. “I’ll get you Halle’s file. In fact, I’ll do you one better, I’ll wipe every bit of evidence they have against her and make sure the Arnolds drop the case. That’s a promise.”

His gaze narrows. “What’s the catch?”

“Simple.” I lean closer. “Pretend to be someone else. Meet the supplier.”

Hayden and Xander will kill me, but I can worry about them later. I watch Alex roll his eyes and I kind of wish they were rolling for other reasons instead, but that can come later too. I need him to agree first.

“So, you’ve given up on killing me?” he asks.

“Yes.” It’s the truth.

“I’ll need to think about it,” he says.

“Great, you have twenty-four hours.”