“You can’t be serious. I’m surrounded by people vying for my death, you included, yet you’re sitting beside me. If I can trust you not to shove a pen through my eye socket while I drive, you can trust me when I tell you that Santino is a loyal friend.”
She huffed and drew her attention back to the windshield. “To you, maybe. But I don’t know him. And he was the only person who knew you’d be on that train. Let that sink in.”
I said nothing, mulling over her words and their unnerving logic.
Had Santino sold me out? No…he would never. We were brothers.
But something about what she’d said made sense, despite how badly I wanted to deny it.
“You don’t know him the way I do. You wouldn’t be saying those things if you did. He’s the only person I can trust and the only one able to help us at the moment.”
“Once we get to where we’re going, I’m out.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Do as you please. Find another unsuspecting man to knock unconscious and take what you need.”
“It’s a good thing I know a guy coming into some money and connections.”
Though her comment had teasing undertones, I wouldn’t put it past her. Sure, we’re in some unspoken temporary truce, but I wouldn’t delude myself into thinking she was trustworthy. Helena was an opportunist, with skills and instinct to kill far superior to many of the men I’d rubbed elbows with during my time as part of The Six.
As I glanced back in her direction, a retort hot on my tongue, I noticed she was staring at the unanswered text messages she’d sent over the last couple of hours. Her brows were creased, jaw tensed, as if willing a response from whoever she’d intended to reach.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” Her voice was sharp, making it clear the subject wasn’t up for debate.
As I pulled into the car lot of the hotel, with my peripheral, I watched her delete the text thread and tuck the phone beneath her thigh.
There was a secret there. Was she somehow plotting against me already?
“Let’s get this over with,” she said, pushing open the door, suddenly in a sour mood.
“He won’t be back here until morning. You can wait here, and I’ll grab some cash for you so you can find a place to stay—”
She scoffed and rounded the trunk of the car. “I need identification to get a room, Silas. And none of my people have gotten back to me…” Her voice trailed off, like she hadn’t meant to make that admission. “Look, I just need to clean up. Okay?”
For the first time since the day she tried to put me in the ground, I saw vulnerability reflected in her eyes and body language. But my thoughts drifted to the last time she and I shared a hotel room. Helena is a master manipulator of emotions. I didn’t buy her fragile woman act for a second, but decided to give her a chance because, frankly, I felt like I owed her one for coming back for me. Though if one counted the times she’d tried to kill me, the two would cancel each other out.
Wearing the shirt and shoes of a man who was probably dead, I headed toward the front desk and picked up my key card while Helena waited by the elevator.
The ride up was a quiet one, each avoiding eye contact. I couldn’t recall why or when we’d become paranoid of each other, but there we were. Suddenly, strangers again, instincts causing our muscles to tense and coil. Her bare shoulders were fraught with it, knuckles whitening against the back railing of the lift. The air between us was charged and heavy, as if a fuse had been lit, the spark crackling and moving toward an explosive outcome.
“You okay?” I asked, eyes on the silver doors in front of me, but my focus was on every one of her movements.
“Of course.” The cockiness in her voice had returned, and she strode out into the corridor and toward the door without looking to me for guidance. She knew the room number, although I hadn’t given it to her, which meant she was on alert, ears perked even as I exchanged information with the desk clerk. Something was up. Every instinct blaring. We exchanged feigned smiles as I opened the door, extending my arm to motion her inside.
“You can shower first,” I offered, running a hand through my hair and wishing I had a damn elastic to tie it back.
She sat casually on the arm of a sofa. “No, no, it’s your room, after all. Go ahead.”
Picking up one of the black pieces of luggage Santino had left, I waved her off, not trusting the innocent act she was putting on. Maybe she’d received a message about following through on her contract, and our truce had ended. She knew just as well as I did what the consequences were of a failed job. You either forked over an insurmountable amount of money or your life. The choice wasn’t always ours to make. The council had final say over the fate of whoever failed to complete a mission. Maybe Helena had some kind of pull, especially so many weeks from the initial contract, but ultimately, she was still just another member.
I’ll always choose me.
The words she’d vowed that day at the cafe echoed in my thoughts. I knew now why she’d come back for me in Barcelona. Helena required proof of her kill, and had I stayed trapped in that room, I would have been lost to her.
“Silas,” she called, her eyes suspiciously narrowed. “I said fine, I’ll go first. Get out of your head, or I’m going to think you’re plotting against me.” With a wink, she disappeared behind the door of the bedroom.
* * *
