Blood rushed through my ears, and I gripped my phone tighter. “They’ll shut down the newspaper? How?”
“By the tone in your voice, I’m guessing you’re familiar with them,” Alana replied with an icy tone in her voice. “So, theyhavetargeted you. Just how involved in this are you, Eva?”
I closed my eyes. This was bad. For far more reasons than I could count. The truth about Charlie’s involvement with the Cult of Lilith had come out in the news. Most of the reports branded him as deranged, dangerous, and a potential murderer. The big boss, Alana, had obviously denounced him to the world. And if she believed I’d been as involved in this as he’d been, I shuddered to imagine how she’d react.
“Alana,” I said in a strained voice. “I’m not a member of the Cult of Lilith, and trust me, it’s the last thing I want to be a part of. I was just looking into some things for Charlie, and I came across some stuff about the cult. They must have found out I have information on them.”
I could practically hear her spine snap straight. “You didn’t mention this before. What kind of information?”
Shit. I didn’t want to give Alana anything on the cult. Knowing her, she’d want to chase it. The cult would lead to the demons. ToInfernal. To the Legion. And I had to protect them from that. The world couldn’t know the truth about them.
But I had to give her something.
“I found out why they’re worshipping demons.”
“Do tell,” she murmured.
I pressed my lips together. At least this was vague enough that it wouldn’t lead her straight toInfernal’sdoors. “They want to find a way to gain immortality.”
I didn’t tell her that they’d likely already found it. Throughme. Because I’d been right there in that dungeon when Charlie had tried to cast the spell. If I told her all that, she would not hesitate to run the story, with or without my permission.
I’d quickly learned that ethics didn’t matter atMetro News.
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Immortality. That’s interesting. How do they think they’re going to manage that?”
“Charlie disappeared before I could find out, but it had something to do with an orb and a witch’s spell.”
“Witches?” she asked sharply. “Sorcery is real?”
“Well, that’s what they think,” I said quickly. “Just like they believe demons are real.”
“Right. Of course.” She paused. “Eva, when do you think you’ll feel up to returning to work?”
Unease prickled the back of my neck. “It shouldn’t be more than a few more days.”
“Good.” Her smile whispered through the phone. “I want you to continue to look into this. See what you can find out about these demon worshippers. There’s a big story here. I can feel it. If we crack this, it won’t matter if they try to shut us down. We’ll be infamous.”
I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth. This was not how I envisioned this conversation going. The last thing I wanted was to go back to “researching” the cult and Caim and everything that went along with it.
“What if there’s nothing there? What if there’s no story after all?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Charlie’s a psychopath. Completely detached from reality. Should we really give him any more attention?”
“You’ve been given your assignment,” she said coolly. “Your first assignment, I might add. Don’t make me regret promoting you, especially when your new enemies are threatening to shut us down if I don’t hand you over to them.”
* * *
The next morning, Caim collected me at nine sharp. Dr. Wilkes had given me the blessing to leave the clinic, even though I was still in an incredible amount of pain. He prescribed me some strong meds and sent me on my way.
A sleek black car waited on the curb, the tinted windows hiding the driver’s face from view. I glanced up at Caim, whose strong jaw was tensed, his chin flickering every time he ground his teeth. Which was a lot.
“No flying this time?” I couldn’t help but ask. I rarely saw the guy take normal transportation.
He chuckled and pulled the door open for me. “It’s the middle of the day. Probably best to avoid making a scene unless absolutely necessary.”
I slid across the leather seat and felt the tension in my body relax at the sudden blast of heat from the car vents. The clinic had been cold. “Thanks for picking me up.”
He shot me a soft smile as he joined me on the backseat, dropping a warm hand on my knee. My body stiffened, chest going tight. And then I flushed. It was more than a little embarrassing that the slightest thing could send my body into a frenzy.
Caim caught the blush, his eyes darkening. “Don’t tempt me, Eva.”
