Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Emmett looked to the rest of the group. “Then the question is, what does Silas’s disappearance have to do with Emily Shaw?”
At Emmett’s blunt question, all the missing puzzle pieces fell into place.
Eli’s team wasn’t investigating Emily Shaw’s death for a mysterious client. This was about Silas Creed—their missing mentor. And he wasn’t just off the radar. He’d disappeared.
A stab of empathy for Eli warred with my newly bruised heart.
Eli glared at Emmett.
“When were you going to tell me?” I asked, shifting to stand in front of Eli, staring up at him until he met my eyes.
“It’s not a big deal,” Eli said, his eyes barely touching mine before snapping back to Emmett.
“What,” I said, “that you lied about having a client and this is really about Silas Creed?”
“Sylvie, that’s not what’s happening.” His glare narrowed on Emmett. If his anger could have fueled laser beams shooting from those eyes, Emmett would be toast.
I took a step back, horror spiraling through me as I realized what this could mean. “Are you trying to find out who killed Emily and blew up my van, or are you trying to find Silas?”
Because it had just occurred to me that the missing Silas might have been the last person to see Emily Shaw alive. They’d been in communication. Silas’s team was here. Emily had been coming here.
“What if Emily wasn’t coming to see Sinclair Security?” I asked, directing my question to Emmett, the only person here who wasn’t part of Creed Global. “What if she was coming to see Silas?”
“Silas was already gone by then,” Ryder said.
“As far as you know,” I shot back. “But he’s not dead, right?”
“Not that we can tell,” Wren said quietly.
“So how do you know she wasn’t coming here to see him?” I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to brace as the ramifications of this hit me. “It makes sense. You’ve got records of her communicating with Silas, right?”
Maddox gave an abrupt nod.
“And none of her communicating with Sinclair Security,” I went on.
“Correct,” Maddox said, rubbing his big palm over his shaved head.
“So, you’ve just been using me as a shield to investigate Emily?” I stabbed a glare at Eli. “When really, you don’t give a shit who killed Emily Shaw or who tried to kill me. You just want to find Silas.” This time, the anger showed. I couldn’t believe I’d been so naïve.
“Sylvie, it’s not like that,” Eli said. “It’s not—”
“It isn’t,” Wren added. She looked at Eli and then at me. “We do want to find Silas. But we also want to find out what happened to Emily Shaw—partly to get answers for her, and partly so you’ll be safe. It’s not just about Silas. Not anymore.”
I looked to Eli. “I wish I could believe that.”
He reached for my hand, and I stepped to the side, dodging him. I needed to think, to take a breath, to get my hurt and anger under control so I could work through the logic of what I’d figured out when all I wanted to do was punch Eli and then run off bawling.
I turned my back on him, shutting him out. Emmett had said something before he gave us the address to the office park. I crossed to face him. “You said there was something else you were working on, but it wasn’t solid enough yet. Is it solid now?”
“Not yet,” Emmett said, but I caught the slight drift of his brown eyes down to the surface of the desk behind him. They landed on a bright pink sticky note with an address written on the front.
86 Ren Pkw NE
Emmett followed the track of my eyes and slid his hand over the sticky note.
“I pinpointed the address of the person who got into your socials,” he said. “I still have to do some follow-up, but we’re closer.”
I was suddenly very glad that I had an excellent memory—and that I’d gotten a glimpse of that sticky note before Emmett covered it up.
I had some planning to do. I didn’t care about Silas Creed, but if I wanted my life back, I had to find the man who’d killed Emily Shaw, even if I was the only one looking.
Chapter Twenty-One
ELI
Everything was spinning out of control faster than I could manage to hold on.
Fucking Emmett.
Sylvie stood there, inching away from me. And after the way Emmett had thrown Silas’s name out there, I couldn’t explain, because now I looked like a liar. How did I make her understand? I hadn’t been lying. I just…
“Sylvie,” I said, flinching at the ragged pain in her eyes when they met mine. “I can explain.”
Her hands came up, waving, palms out as if warding me off. “It’s fine. I don’t need an explanation.”
What she meant was that she didn’t want to hear it.
But I wasn’t backing off. I could make her understand. She had to understand. My gut clenched, feeling her slipping away, her pain drawing her further from me—but it was only because she didn’t get it.