“I know what I saw. You were in his hotel room, and he didn’t have a bullet through his skull. That’s all I needed to see.”
Fuck.
“I was biding my time.”
She belted a harsh, unamused laugh. “You must think I’m stupid.” The girl knew me well. “I asked reception how long the room had been occupied, and all I had to do was flash a flirty grin, show my tits, and he sang. Two days, Leni.”
I made a mental note to have a very interesting conversation with the staff. Her heels suddenly clicked loudly against a cement surface, as if she’d come to an abrupt stop. What sounded like small laps of water also reached my ears as I tried to focus on her surroundings and match them to mine.
“His room, not mine.”
“Right. The same night, you escaped from your captors. That’s quite the coincidence.”
“I’d never risk my life for—”
“For Silas,” she finished, a rasp of malice to her voice. “Silas and I have a history, Leni. I know the kind of charisma he possesses, how he feels over, under, and behind me.”
Her tone was taunting as she punctuated each word. It was meant to sting and evoke jealousy, and as irrational as it was, it worked. Twinges of something ugly twisted in my belly at the thought of Silas and Melina.
But it all suddenly clicked.
Her obsession with his death went beyond that of her brother. It was so clear now. Melina was a woman scorned.
“Let’s talk, Mel. We can exchange cock anecdotes.”
“Fuck you.”
I chuckled darkly into the phone. “Who ordered the hit on Silas? Was it even an order of The Six? Or just a personal vendetta?” I hadn’t realized I was squeezing my phone to the point of pain.
“You know what Silas did. My brother was untouchable. But you go dig around, search for your answers… just don’t end up like yourpapa.”
Melina ended the call before I could unleash my rage. “She’s dead.” Tears sprung to my eyes as I leaned against the brick of a storefront.
I needed answers. Was Silas official Six business or Cillian Clark’s revenge? My trust was shattered, and my father was gone. There was no one else I trusted besides Kai and Eva.
I punched in a call to Philadelphia. Fuck Santino’s phone bill.
Nineteen
SILAS
Melina Clark.
The name would always leave a sour taste in my mouth. I hadn’t seen her in well over a month. My visceral reaction to her was the same today as it had been that last day when she had unknowingly helped her brother’s murderer escape. There was a time when Melina would have done anything for me, even if it meant risking her life and the relationship with her father. Of course, I was a son of a bitch who’d used her connections and, regrettably, her body to my advantage. While exasperating at the time, part of me was grateful for that obsession.
Goosebumps broke out over my skin as I walked across the pier. The walkway was dimly lit, primarily due to a burnt-out lamp post. There wasn’t a single soul on this side of the path except for a vendor across the waterway, closing up for the night. It had been a good fifteen minutes since we’d exited the hotel, and enough time had elapsed for her to have jumped inside a cab and be miles away. Melina wouldn’t have stuck around waiting to get caught. She’d gone from shock to fear once her eyes found mine, then settled on Leni.
“Don’t move.”
Or maybe I’d underestimated her stupidity.
Hard steel pushed at the back of my neck just enough to get my attention before she shuffled backward, putting a safe distance between us.
“Silas, if you move, turn around, or reach anywhere, I’m emptying this clip in your back.”
It’s a bloody magazine.
“You could have been far from here by now.”
