Page 47

FORTY-SIX

willa

Boston crushed Buffalo in the first round of playoffs. They took them down four games to zero. Because it went so fast, Declan has a full ten days off before he plays whatever team wins in the other division.

Harrison and Theo have been exchanging information. We’re all finally meeting up tonight at Theo’s wife’s coffee shop. We didn’t want to risk Theo coming here and getting him mixed up in all this just by sight. Harrison said to assume our movements are being watched. Logan had the idea to stage a label party at the coffee shop so it doesn’t look weird we’re there.

It’s May, but the nights are still cold. I’m bundled in Dec’s hoodie, in the back of Cal’s massive SUV. I’m in the middle of Harlow and Belle in the third row since the guys couldn’t fit back here. Kai, Jo, and Mav are in the row in front of us, with Cal and Declan in the front. Cal refused the idea of two cars, so we’re all squished in here. Cora is home with Cal’s dad and a small army of security guards.

“Cora’s really been into cars recently, so I was thinking of a two fast theme for her party,” Harlow says.

“I like bad two the bone better!” Cal yells from the front.

“He hears that, but not me asking him to take out the trash,” Harlow mutters.

“Cora’s birthday is in August,” Kai points out, unhelpfully. Harlow glares at him, and he turns around quickly.

“Even I know you have to plan these things early,” Maverick says. “What if they need to book a caterer or like a racecar driver or something?”

“You can hire a real racecar driver for a party?” Cal asks. “If that’s the case, I’m back on board with the car theme.”

Harlow sighs and rubs her temples.

“I like it. Does she still love pink? I bet we can mix all the car decorations with some pink. It’ll be easy if we do solids for the plates and tablecloths,” I say.

Harlow smiles at me and pulls up what she was thinking. It’s pretty close to what I just said except she found an Etsy shop that will make custom car decorations that will already have some pink in them.

“I think it’s perfect, and Cora will absolutely love it,” I tell her and bump my shoulder into hers. Harlow smiles in relief. Not being Cora’s biological mom gets to Harlow sometimes. She thinks she needs to try extra hard to be her mom because of that. She doesn’t. But telling her that doesn’t help.

“This place is adorable,” Jo says. I look out of the window and see a brick storefront with a large picture window that has “Sweet Buns” in a curvy font. There are flowers and butterflies painted on the window to go with the spring season.

“Sweet Buns,” Cal snorts.

Harrison’s car is already here, along with another black SUV that I’m guessing is Theo’s. We all pile out of the car and into the bakery. It’s cozy and very pink in here. There are pink overstuffed couches that look comfortable in front of the window, but Declan pulls me away from them when I go to sit.

“We’re meeting in the kitchen,” he tells me. I follow him but turn with the little bell on the door chimes. A bunch of people file in and take the couches and other small tables around the bakery.

“Logan hired actors to pretend to be at a party. He’s really covering all the bases,” Belle says.

We all pile into the kitchen in the back. It’s all stainless steel and squeaky clean. A real contrast to the vibe out front. Logan is standing and talking to two men dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts, but they’re huge. They nod and walk out the doors we just came through.

“They’re security. No one will be getting in here while we are,” Logan explains. “This is my brother, Theo.” He gestures to a man leaning over the large metal table in the middle of the kitchen talking to Harrison. Theo is tall with brown hair pulled into a bun at the back of his head and dark-rimmed glasses around his green eyes. He lifts his head when he hears his name and comes around to introduce himself to everyone individually.

“Alright, let me fill you all in on where Harrison and I are,” Theo says, wasting no time. “Patrick Gibson, thirty-eight. As far as I can tell from his text and email exchanges, he’s Eva’s second. She assigned him to you when Maverick wasn’t bending.”

“If I do what she wants, will this stop?” Maverick asks, sounding defeated.

“Honestly?” Theo says. “It’s unlikely. Now that she knows Ezra is alive, she’s been sparing no expense trying to find him. Even if you do what she wants, she won’t stop looking for him. I’m sure that includes using his twin, at the very least.”

Maverick bangs his head down on the table, covering it with his hands. Jo takes the spot next to him, murmuring something in his ear.

“Patrick has gone off-grid. I’ve been monitoring Eva’s communications and the last one from Patrick was from the night you spoke to him. He called her right after and then his phone disconnected.”

“Theo was able to find his address, and the police raided it. He was long gone. Likely fled after he killed Nate,” Harrison adds.

“What’s the plan?” I ask, knowing they wouldn’t ask us here if there wasn’t one.

“We have enough information to put Eva away forever. Once I send this to the authorities, they’ll arrest her, and she won’t have time to run,” Theo says.

“But…?” Declan says. Theo looks at him and nods.

“But we think it will draw Patrick out, and he’s clearly unstable. There’s a good chance he’ll go straight for Maverick or any of you.” Theo turns to Maverick. “I’ve been reading all Patrick’s communications along with anything else I could find on him. I’m not qualified to analyze his behavior, but I can tell you he likes revenge, and he likes it bloody. And that’s just from reading the file the FBI has on him.”

Cal looks at all of us and then back at Harrison. “What do we do?”

Harrison pulls out a folder. “Do you know who your boss is, Declan?”

Declan frowns. “Anderson Sinclair.”

“The Sinclairs are old money earned through some very questionable avenues,” Harrison says.

“Great,” Declan mumbles.

“They’ve been running the underworld along the East Coast for too long to let Eva take over,” Harrison says. “I think if you approached him, he might help.”

“At what cost?” I ask.

“I think the Sinclair family is who Eva is afraid of. I think whatever Ezra knows is something they’d want,” Theo says. “I’m still working through years of Eva’s emails, but that’s the idea I’m getting from them.”

“But that means calling him back here. Which means his death if we do it wrong,” Maverick says, pain lacing every one of his features.

“If you can get Sinclair’s protection, we can do it with a high probability of success,” Theo says.

“We think we should wait until after the Stanley Cup Finals,” Harrison says. “Sinclair will probably be more likely to help if you win it for him, but it also gives authorities the time to verify the evidence we’ve gathered. They won’t make an arrest until they’re able to do that.”

“No fucking pressure,” Declan says, running his fingers through his hair.

I turn to Cal. “Get your family out of here.” He stares at me for a moment and nods.

“I’ll find you somewhere hard to find and completely off the gird,” Theo offers.

“Anyone else?” Harrison asks.

“Princess,” Declan says, but I shake my head and grab his hand.

“I’m not leaving you, so don’t even ask.” He sighs but squeezes my hand. I look away from him to see Belle shaking her head at Kai, and Jo doing the same with Maverick.

“Go home and pack, Cal. I’ll have everything you need by morning. If we get you out now, there won’t be a reason to look for you when everything goes down,” Theo says.

“I can stay and just send Harlow with Cora,” Cal says, but I can see in his eyes that leaving his wife and daughter right now would kill him.

“We’re good, Cal. This is just a precaution for Cora’s sake,” I tell him.

“I have phones I can give you to communicate with each other. I’ve developed a software that makes them untraceable and unhackable,” Theo says, handing each of us a bulky, simple phone. It’s just a rectangle with numbers and a small screen. It’s like the phone my dad had when I was a kid.

“It’s basic and only for phone calls. Makes it easier to make it untraceable,” Theo explains.

We thank him and agree to meet again when it comes time to approach Sinclair and hope he’ll help us with Eva and Patrick.

Cal and Harlow hug all of us outside of their house, promising to keep in touch. They’re leaving first thing in the morning to wherever Theo sends them.

It feels like the beginning of the end.