Six days before Silvio came back to finish what I couldn't.
Six days to save both our lives.
Please let us be right about this. Please let us find the truth.
Because if we were wrong—if Filomena wasn't the killer, if we were chasing shadows while the real murderer laughed—
Then everything I'd sacrificed, everything I'd risked, would be for nothing.
And Quentin and I would both die knowing we'd failed.
I closed my eyes, but sleep wouldn't come.
Just the ticking clock in my head, counting down.
Six days.
Five days and twenty-three hours.
Five days and twenty-two hours.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Chapter 31
Quentin
Monday morning, I arrived early and tried to catch up on my work, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Julia. The look on her face when I told her Stone would take her home had haunted me all night.
I’d picked up my phone several times to call her, just so I could hear her voice and know she didn’t hate me. But my pride held me back. I was still smarting that she’d lied to me, even though she’d come clean and apologized.
The bottom line? Did I trust her?
I shook my head. My heart wanted to. But my head told me it was a bad idea.
If we found proof, that would be great. But what if we didn’t? I needed a plan. One that didn’t involve proof, but would raise the odds of both of us staying alive. An idea popped into my mind. Isobel. No one was better at strategic planning than my lawyer.
I put the call through and she said she’d be here this afternoon.
A knock sounded at my door and Julia poked her head inside. “Hey.”
My heart jumped. “Hey yourself. Get any sleep?” I wanted to pull her into my arms.
“Some. You?”
“Not really.”
“Yeah… tell me about it.” She licked her lips. “I brought the beads.”
“Good. Serenity should be here soon.”
Her gaze met mine. “Is there anything urgent you need me to do?”
“Not at the moment. Forrest told me he found a few leads, so once he’s got it compiled, we’ll check it out in the conference room.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll get back to work then.”
I nodded and glanced back at the papers on my desk.
