"But that doesn't mean I can trust you."
"I know." She wiped her face with shaking hands. "I know you can't. I know I destroyed that. But Quentin—" Her voice dropped to barely a whisper. "We have one week. Seven days to find out who really killed my father. If we don't—"
"Silvio kills me."
"Silvio kills both of us," she corrected. "I think he tried to kill me that night on the highway. The bullet through my windshield? That was real. If he's been ordered to eliminate anyone who's compromised, then that includes me."
The pieces clicked together. "So your family thinks you're a liability now."
"Carlo's protecting me. For now. He believes my explanation that you're innocent. But the rest of the family—" She shook her head. "Filomena wants you dead. My grandfather wants you dead. Half my cousins want you dead. And if I can't prove you're innocent in seven days, Carlo won't be able to hold them back anymore."
I processed this. "So, we either find the real killer—"
"Or we both die."
"That's not much of a choice."
"No." A bitter laugh escaped her. "It's really not."
I looked at her. Really looked at her. At the woman who'd lied to me about everything. Who'd been sent to assassinate me. Who'd chosen to spare me instead.
Who might be the only person who could save me now.
Or who might be playing the longest con I'd ever seen.
"If I agree to work with you," I said slowly, "I need complete honesty. No more lies. No more omissions. Everything."
"Yes. Anything."
"And Stone stays involved. He doesn't trust you, and frankly, I'm not sure I do either. But if we're doing this, he's part of it."
"Okay."
"And if I find out you're lying to me—if I find out this is all some elaborate setup—" I let the threat hang unfinished.
"You'll kill me." She said it matter-of-factly. "I know. I'd expect nothing less."
The casual acceptance of her own potential execution should have chilled me. Instead, it made me believe her a little more.
Because someone running a con wouldn't be that calm about the consequences.
"One week," I said. "Seven days to find your father's real killer."
"Seven days," she agreed.
"Then we'd better get started."
Relief flooded her face. "You'll help me?"
"I'll help us," I corrected. "Because if Silvio's coming for you too, then we're both targets now. This isn't about helping you anymore. It's about survival."
"Right. Yes. Of course." She wiped her face again, pulling herself together. "Where do we start?"
"We start with suspects." I pulled out my phone. "I'm calling Stone. We're doing this at my place, with my security, with my team. If someone's trying to kill us both, I'm not doing it in an apartment that could be compromised."
"Makes sense."
I hit Stone's number. He answered on the first ring.
