Page 99 of Stealing Blinds

“He visited your father in prison a few times over the years.”

“You think he’s E?” I offer, studying the face of this guy and wondering if I can get his voice off anything. That’s how I’d identify him.

“I do.”

“Okay.” I look up, a modicum of relief flooding me. “That’s leverage. I’ve always been at a disadvantage because I don’t know who he is. This might be enough to free me from anything more than this job.”

“There’s more.” Axel’s face sobers. “His last visit was the week before your father died. They also spoke on the phone a few days prior to his death.”

“Well,” I start, heeding Zara’s glossy eyes and her hand on her sternum, which makes me question my conclusion, “that makes sense. They were friends.”

“Another thing to note is that Agent Glines from the FBI had stopped by to chat with your father a few days before that, and—”

“You think my father was turning?” I cut him off, unable to believe it, though he was desperate to come home.

“The agent straddled fences, so the subject matter might not have been about your father turning on anyone.” Axel exhales. “Glines died a few years ago, so I can’t dig into that. But … Nigel—or E—also spoke with another prisoner that week.” He takes another photo from his file, leaning to pass it to Ryker, then Cash, then me, and as recognition hits me, he corroborates it. “That’s the guy who murdered your father.”

“Oh my God.” I look at the mug shot of the prisoner who has haunted me because he ended my father’s life with a shiv to his throat, claiming it was self-defense, when my dad hadn’t had a violent cell in his body. Tears cascade down my cheeks. “You think I’m working for the man who ordered the hit on my father?”

Cash’s arm flies out in front of me, physically shielding me as his words do the same. “She is absolutely not finishing this job then.”

SYLVIE

“I respect that vantage point,” Axel says while I glare at the evil in front of me and Jax wanders over to examine the picture too. “But there are other options.”

“There are no other fucking options.” Cash pounds his fist on the table. “She will not be anywhere near this asshole or have anything to do with him ever again.”

Guilt coils around me. I don’t want to cause friction between Cash and his family. But when I lift my chin, Maddox shakes his head—a silent petition to let it play out between them.

Axel breezes right past Cash’s outburst. “This is what we’ve been looking for.”

“Wait, please.” I grip Cash’s arm, urging him not to keep fighting this battle on my behalf. “I need to understand.” Then I give Axel my attention. “Do you know what I’m stealing?”

He removes his glasses and peers at me with appreciation. “I don’t. I’ve researched all three of the keyholders. They’re all our members, so I have a lot on each of them, but I can’t figure out what common group they’d be linked to.” He grunts in frustration, evidently not a fan of missing pieces, which I get. “But E has had you working on this for a year. Whatever it is, Kratos wants it badly. So, if we have it, then we have something to fight them with. It could give us the upper hand and a route to freeing Rena’s family from this mess.”

“So,” I begin, clicking together the lunacy of my situation, a breath away from chucking any speck of sanity I have left, “I am currently working for the man who murdered my father, who is part of Kratos, which is a cabal that wants to steal something from an unidentified source and is at war with KORT, a cabal you are aligned with. So, on behalf of KORT, you’d like to intercept the stolen goods.”

“That’s a simplistic take,” Ryker quips from the bar, pouring himself a hefty dose of whiskey.

Simple, yeah. I’m not the only one flattened by this.

“It’s a decent summary,” Jax says on his way back to his seat. He meets my eyes when he sits, and his torment is palpable.

Panic rips through me, my pulse ratcheting higher. “I don’t know what to do with that information. E is already pissed because I’ve been vague, and now, I don’t want to …”

“We have ideas for how to navigate that.” Axel’s deep baritone sounds like it’s inside a tunnel. “Keep in mind that he probably knows you’re connected to us now.”

Even with the far-off, echoey nature of his voice, that message reaches me.

“Shit,” I hiss. “He probably does because he mentioned the power outage at Peter’s party. I didn’t think of it like him spying on me at the time. I assumed it was more about him keeping a pulse on how things were going. But now …”

“Look at me,” Cash demands, gripping my chin, his sparkling blues never veering from mine. “You’re safe. We will figure this out.” He pecks my forehead. “You and me.”

It’s enough to restore me for now. I flick my gaze to Axel so he can continue.

“We suspect the note—and the reference to getting rid of him—could have been about Cash or the security tail he had on you.”

“I considered that too,” I admit, not bothering to express irritation about Cash having me followed since I already suspected. “Do you think it was from E? Trying to scare me away from you guys?”