Page 133
“Of her,” he says grimly. “Coming down the stairs. Looking at you. Talking to those two women. Glaring daggers at Alisa. Then you two in the closet.” He tips his head. “This wasn’t some random paparazzo. He came here tonight on a mission.”
“Press?”
I look back across the marble. Through the crack in the closet door, I see Delilah. She’s sitting down on the floor with the pages spread on her knees and one shoe off, rubbing her heel. “Somebody sent him.”
Niko nods in agreement. “Could be Vetrov’s man. Could be that lawyer’s office in the Bronx. Could be the guy from the Ridge who’s still sore about the trucks. But I’d put my money on Vetrov.”
“Find out.”
“Tonight? C’mon, brother, it’s a holid—”
“I wouldn’t give a fuck if it was the day of your wedding and the birth of your firstborn all at once.” I keep my eyes on her. “I also don’t care what it costs or who you have to wake to get some answers. I want a name by the time the sun comes up, and I want to know who paid him, and I want to know how long he’s been on her.”
Niko lowers his glass. “Party-pooper.”
He sighs, but he knows better than to argue. He sets the vodka down on the coat check counter, and when he speaks he’s already halfway to being a different man. My second-in-command, not my brother.
“Alright. Consider it done.”
Niko disappears through the service door.
I go back to Lilah. She is still on the floor, with the settlement spread around her. She looks up as I enter. “Did you really do this?”
“Yes.”
“Before I agreed to your holiday deal?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes narrow. “Then why didn’t you use it to make me say yes?”
“Because that would make it coercion. This is a gift.”
She looks down at Connor’s signature. Her thumb strokes over the page. “My lawyer has to read it.”
“Of course.”
“And I’m not signing anything tonight.”
“You don’t have to.”
“And if there’s one weird clause that gives you my kidneys, Skye will find it.”
“I told my lawyer to leave your kidneys alone.”
That gets a short laugh. Then she presses the papers to her chest and shuts her eyes.
I crouch in front of her. “Happy New Year, Lilah.”
She opens her eyes. “You have a very strange idea of a present.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
I pick up her shoes, then hold out my hand. This time, she takes it without arguing.
The map can stay unfinished tonight.
The bakery can wait.
