Great.
I typed back:Fine.
The next hour passed in a blur of emails and reports. I was acutely aware of Julia twenty feet away, focused on her computer, professional and composed.
Every few minutes, she'd glance up. Our eyes would meet. She'd look away first.
The tension was going to kill me.
At 8:50, I headed to the conference room. Stone was already there, laptop open, expression grim.
"Morning," I said, closing the door.
"We need to talk about Julia."
"I figured." After Julia had left last night, I’d told Stone about her explanation. He didn’t believe a word of it.
Stone pulled up files on his screen. "Forrest dug deeper into Silvio Russo's background."
My stomach tightened. "What did you find?"
"Silvio Russo is Filomena Russo's son. Filomena is—was—Big Sal's older sister."
"Okay. So?"
"So Silvio has a reputation. He's known as 'Silk' on the street. Signature kill involves plastic dry-cleaning bags." Stone's expression was dark. "He's a stone-cold killer, Quentin. And he's been in Salt Lake for two weeks."
"Following Julia."
"Or working with her."
"You don't know that."
"Don't I?" Stone pulled up some of the same surveillance photos, along with a few more. Silvio at a restaurant. Silvio at a hotel. Silvio watching Vitality Ventures from across the street. "He's not here on vacation."
I stared at the photos. "Could be just what she said. He’s stalking her."
"There's no such thing as coincidence in our world." Stone leaned forward. "Reid said the Russos sent someone. Silvio's here. The timing is too perfect."
"I agree. Silvio's the one we should be worried about."
"And if Julia's working with him?"
"Then we deal with it."
"Before or after she gets you killed?"
I didn't have an answer for that.
Stone closed the laptop. "I'm not saying fire her. Not yet. But I am saying you need to be careful. Especially after you invited her to your house last night."
"Noted."
"That's it? Noted?"
"What do you want me to say? That you're right? That I should fire her, cut all ties, protect myself?" I met his gaze. "You are right. I should do all those things. But I'm not going to."
"Why?"
