He rubs the back of his neck. “Look, man. When you walked out this morning I was gonna wait till you got back before moving forward, but we all know you’ve been distracted lately. And Raife had other ideas. Your little show didn’t help.” He waves a hand between me and Emmy, and a breath of dry amusement leaves my lips.
Convenient. Raife the puppeteer. If Emmy doesn’t break me down enough to lose any sense of boundaries, at least she distracts me. Either way, she works to his advantage.
“The files we sent him are encrypted, all right? He’s the only one who will be able to figure out who we are based on the clues I’ve left him. As far as the duplicates we’re releasing—”
“What fucking duplicates?”
“The ones I set up to automatically release to all major news platforms tomorrow morning, once we’ve got Murphy in our hands. Those are anonymous. There’s no way to trace them back to any of us.”
“So that’s the plan? Get Murphy here by the end of the day, then take Misha public?”
“Fuck yeah. Raife still wants to see his reaction while he watches everything fall apart.”
Shutting my eyes, I press my fingers to the bridge of my nose.
“What’s the problem?” Felix steps closer. “You get Murphy, Raife gets his publicity stunt. Everyone wins.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, shaking my head. “I’ve been trying to convince him to bring Murphy in for weeks, and he suddenly decides he agrees? For no fucking reason?”
He shrugs. “Maybe he’s sick of waiting, like the rest of us, and figured he’d compromise so you both get what you want.”
“We’re talking about Raife, brother.” Setting down the glass, I shove my hands in my pockets. “Nothing is ever that straightforward.”
Emmy shifts beside me. “Adam ...”
Felix glances away, his face twisted in thought. “Maybe. But this shit seems sound enough to me.”
Still fixed on Felix, I grumble, “Raife. Fucking polar opposite ofsound. How exactly does he expect to pull off a quiet pickup with a man like Murphy? An operation like this takes extensive planning, more than usual, unless you want his disappearance to lead back to us.”
He shrugs. “We fucking know that, man. I’ve still got everything tapped, so we can watch and listen to every move Murphy makes. And besides, this plan might be new, but it’s not far from my original idea.”
“I believe youroriginalidea was more in line with mine. Pick him up quietly, pull any loose ends out of him, peel his fucking skin, and close this shit down.”
Emmy flinches from beside me, and my gaze finds hers. She’s staring straight at me, her eyes wide.Fuck.I rub my chin. Since I’m chained to her anyway, I figure she’ll be discovering more than she’d bargained for soon enough. But, yeah, maybe this is too much information for her to soak in at one time.
Looking back at Felix, I work my jaw. “It’s your fucking shit show. Lemme know when he’s ready for me. If we get that far.”
Delicate fingers brush my arm. “Adam.”
My gaze snaps to hers.
“What’s going on?” she asks, her lips turned down.
I take a slow step toward her. Slipping my fingers below her chin, I lift her head and rake my eyes along her face. Light freckles. Velvety lips. The gentle strokes of her voice, like a softly played instrument. So easy to presume she’s innocent. Her eyes, however, are on fire. There’s nothing quiet about them. Even after flinching at the mention of peeling someone’s skin, she’s determined to know more. Perhaps now more than ever.
I don’t know what I was thinking.
She doesn’t resemble Katerina at all.
I stroke the pad of my thumb along her plump bottom lip. “You’ll know soon enough.”
She watches me curiously as I turn toward the exit, but that’s all she’s going to get right now. Some things can’t be explained.
