Page 16 of Duality

Evelyn’s spine stiffened, and her fingers paused. What about that news made her worried?

“A break-in to the pool?” Marcus frowned. “Do you think they were after the cars?”

“It’s possible,” I admitted. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like an amateur job. These guys were prepared with tracking devices like they were going to tag the vehicles. We scan for that regularly, though, so the devices would have been discovered quickly. Whatever they were after, they aren’t talking. We’re going to have to turn them over to the police. We can’t hold them.”

Alexander frowned but nodded. “Evelyn, let’s make a note to follow up with Captain Patel in a few days and see if he had any luck.”

Evelyn nodded, but her muscles were still rigid, like she was trying to force them to stay in a neutral position. Her breaths were slow and measured, like she was trying to keep them even. Something about this news really rattled her. Were the Archers involved in the break-in? That didn’t seem likely. If Evelyn wanted to know where the vehicles were going, she could just login to the system. So maybe the guys weren’t from the Archers, but she clearly knew something about it.

I waited until the meeting was over and the brothers left before making my move. She was packing up with obvious slowness, trying to wait for me to leave.

“Miss Harper.” My voice came out huskier than I intended. “Anything I need to know?”

She looked up at me. Up close, I could see the gold flecks in her hazel eyes. “About the meeting?” She played dumb.

“About the Archers and SDS?”

At my words, her eyes darted over my shoulder, making sure the door was closed and no one could overhear.

She worried her bottom lip before shaking her head. There was clearly something, but she wasn’t ready to tell me yet.

“You’ll tell me if I need to know.” I didn’t phrase it as a question but a statement. She nodded.

“Will you also keep an ear to the ground about last night’s incident?”

She nodded again, her hazel eyes steely. That confirmed my hunch that the Archers weren’t involved. She was pissed someone had broken in here, but I knew she wasn’t going to tell me why.

“Thank you, Miss Harper,” I said softly. “You know you can come to me for anything, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “You sound like Marcus.”

I grinned. “Good. You need more people in your corner.”

Her eyes widened, a flicker of genuine surprise breaking through her practiced cool.

A throat cleared at the doorway, and Evelyn jumped.

“Sorry, Miss Harper, can you sit in on my next call to take notes?” Alexander asked her, his eyes traveling between us, his brow slightly furrowed. “We also need to talk about the Mayor’s annual benefit gala next month and the site visit tomorrow.”

“Of course, sir,” she said, gathering her laptop. “I’ll be right there.”

I watched her go, and Alexander looked at me as she passed him. I shook my head. Nothing he needed to know about. But he wasn’t dumb. None of them were. Eventually Evelyn’s secret would come out, and I would have a choice to make. Evelyn or Marcus? The Archers or Stone Dynamic Security? The organization who had saved my mother’s life or the man who saved my own?

CHAPTER 9

EVELYN

My hand cramped around the stylus of the tablet I was holding, and I winced as the sharp pain shot through my palm. I flexed my fingers before finishing writing down the last thing Alexander said. The late afternoon sun beat down on my face, and the tablet screen momentarily blinded me before I shifted positions. We were talking through a property that was for sale at the edge of the city. The area was mostly warehouses and industrial buildings, but it was close to the train tracks, so it had promise. There was talk around the city that the tracks were going to be revitalized soon.

“Let’s double check the occupancy capacity for this building when we get back to the office,” Alexander said, pointing at one of the outbuildings on the property.

I scribbled the note quickly, my eyes flicking from my tablet to our surroundings. Half of the buildings around us were empty due to businesses closing during the pandemic. It was the perfect place for an ambush. Adrian paused at my side, his own eyes scanning our surroundings.

SDS had properties all over the city. Some were office buildings, and some were safe houses or training centers. Theywere currently looking at adding this property to the list. It was usually just Alexander, Sebastian, and me who made these trips to evaluate properties, but with the pool break-in, Adrian and Marcus had insisted on coming as well. Looking around at the abandoned property, I felt better having them here, especially since they still didn’t know about the other threat.

Ever since I learned of the hit, I had started carrying extra weapons on my person, switching from dresses to pantsuits, so I had more flexibility in case of an emergency. Nothing was going to happen to them on my watch.

Unfortunately, Liam hadn’t been having any luck in figuring out why Citadel ordered the hit. He was attempting to monitor any interested parties, but between that, still trying to figure out where the leak had come from, and our current load for the Archers, he was being stretched thin. It was only a matter of time before someone took the hit, and I was determined to be ready.