My muscles tensed at the change of subject. “I said I’d deal with her.”
“Bastian, she’s tried to kill you four times. You can’t just ignore her.”
My mouth flattened.
Nash sighed. “Look, I get it. You’re connected through Ed. She was practically his daughter, and he treated you like a son.”
Ed Galloway.
A gallon of conflicting emotions surged up inside me. Once, I’d believed he was the greatest man I’d ever known. A top CIAagent. A patriot. He’d been the one to recruit a cocky, homeless teenager. He was the one person who’d seen potential in me.
I’d been an abandoned baby, then a foster kid, then a runaway surviving on the street when Ed had changed my life.
And a few years later, he’d taken in a grieving, orphaned girl whose family had been massacred. He’d raised Lark as his own.
Nash was right. I’d considered Ed a father figure, like Lark did. Not that I’d ever felt anything brotherly toward her. My feelings for Lark were as complex as my ones for Ed.
But then everything had changed when I’d learned that the man I’d known all my life was a lie.
I blew out a breath. “I said I’ll deal with her. When you’ve made the security adjustments for opening night, let me know.” I swiveled and strode out of the auditorium.
Back on the main floor of the casino, the jaunty songs of the slot machines and the familiar hubbub of gamblers at the tables filled my ears. The casino decor was black and bronze. The black carpet was shot through with geometric bronze designs. The servers and dealers all wore unforms consisting of black pants and shirts, topped with bronze vests.
“I’mnotgoing to let you ignore this,” Nash said.
I spun to face him.
“You’re my friend,” he said. “You’ve saved my ass plenty of times. Had my back. I’m not keen to see her put a bullet in your brain.”
“She won’t.”
He made an annoyed sound. “You sound so sure of that.”
“She’d slit my throat, not shoot me.”
His mouth flattened. “Bastian?—”
That’s when I felt it. The familiar prickle on the back of my neck. My finely-tuned senses detected someone watching me. I had really good instincts from growing up on the streets, but the CIA had sharpened them to a honed blade.
Lark was here.
I glanced up, not doing anything to give away that I knew she was present. I just lazily scanned the casino like I was going about my normal business.
There was no sign of the pint-sized assassin. I wasn’t surprised. She was a master of disguise, and could blend in anywhere.
She’d attacked me right here on the casino floor last week. I resisted the urge to reach up and rub the healing stab wound on my shoulder.
“Bastian?”
I met Nash’s gaze. “I’ll deal with her.”
My friend nodded. Then his rugged face looked over my shoulder and changed. His lips moved into a smile.
I knew exactly what I’d see when I looked behind me. Or rather, who.
I turned. Yes, Georgie Linden—the newest member of the Avernus Events team—was walking toward us. She’d put on a little weight since she’d hooked up with Nash. Her gentle curves filled out her smart gray pantsuit and her blonde hair was up in a stylish twist.
She was the little sister of Nash’s best friend from his childhood, and the love of his life.
