Chapter 15 – Evelyn
EVELYN
The key weighed heavily against my palm, and my focus narrowed to the small object as I smoothly slid it into my pocket.
“Mr. Cross.” Dominic nodded at Adrian, who nodded back at him. I wasn’t sure if Adrian saw the handoff, but I didn’t call attention to it just yet. We had to get out of the station first.
“Evelyn.” Dominic nodded at me, his deep brown eyes searching mine.
Why had he given me the key? The key to their offices, I was assuming, from his subtle messaging earlier.
What did he want us to find? Or was it a trap?
He seemed as shocked as I was to see the director of the FIA, Thomas Keller, there earlier.
And his admission that he didn’t know what the evidence was was also telling.
Was the FIA under someone else’s thumb? I wasn’t na?ve to think the FIA wasn’t without corruption, but for it to go all the way up to the director level…
Well, that was a whole new level of complicated.
“What did he hand you?” Adrian murmured as he placed a hand on my lower back and guided me out of the station and down the steps. So he had seen the handoff.
“Not here,” I murmured. I groaned when I saw who was leaning against the SUV idling on the curb. “Really?”
Alexander, Marcus, and Sebastian straightened as I approached, and I smiled tightly at them. “Mr. Stones, what are you doing here?”
Showing up here was a terrible idea. It was already suspicious enough that SDS’s head of security escorted me to the police station, but for the three owners to show up? We had too many eyes on us for all three of them to be waiting on me.
“Just making sure that our employee makes it to work,” Alexander said, buttoning his suit jacket.
“And that requires all three of you?” I snarked.
“We’re carpooling, my darling Evie,” Sebastian said, stepping closer. His smile was wide as he scanned my body, as if the agents had physically harmed me.
“What did they want?” Marcus asked gruffly.
“Not here,” Adrian said, ushering me towards the SUV we’d arrived in. “We’ll meet you back at the office.”
Adrian opened my door and ushered me inside while the brothers got into their own car.
We drove in silence to the office as thoughts raced in my head.
If I had been reading Dominic right, he was shocked FIA Director Keller had been at the meeting.
Agent Holden hadn’t been surprised to see Director Keller, though, and that was suspicious.
But Dominic and Agent Holden were partners.
Recent partners, it seemed like, but still…
Dominic had all but blatantly invited me to break into their office tonight. But why?
“You okay?” Adrian asked as we pulled into the parking lot.
I bit my lip. “I am. Just wondering where this is all going to lead.”
He squeezed my hand before he let go to open the door. “We’ll figure it out together.”
We gathered in Alexander’s office. Marcus closed the door behind us, while Sebastian typed on Alexander’s computer.
“Hey, Liam,” Sebastian greeted. “Is everyone there?”
Liam?
“Hey, Boss Lady.” Liam’s face popped on the TV used for conference calls mounted on Alexander’s office wall. “You’ve got us all here.”
It looked like all of my lieutenants were gathered at HQ behind Liam.
Danny stood next to Grace, who was sitting on the conference table.
Izzy was sitting at the same table, paperwork spread out in front of her.
Maya sat at the computer station with Liam.
They looked up from their laptop and waved.
God, it was good to see them all. Even if it was through a screen.
I still messaged them almost daily from the app, but I hadn’t gotten to see them in almost two weeks.
It was the longest I had ever gone without seeing them, Danny, especially.
It was weird, and a wave of homesickness churned through my gut.
We had to get this figured out so life could get back to normal.
“Hey, Eve,” Danny greeted.
“Hey, Danny,” I said as I settled into one of the chairs at the small table in Alexander’s office. “How’s the Jefferson case?” Yet another rich frat guy we had to put the fear of God into.
“Eh, we’ll need to follow up eventually but not a priority right now,” he answered.
“So what’s going on?” Grace asked. “All we heard from your guys is you got called into the station by the FIA?”
I quickly outlined what had happened that morning.
From Dominic’s call and his admission about not knowing what the evidence was, to the director’s presence, to the recorded audio and my defense.
I pulled the key out of my pocket as I described my conversation with Dominic as he walked us out of the station.
Everyone stayed silent until I was finished. Marcus scowled, but he scowled at most things. Alexander looked thoughtful, and he leaned forward in his seat.
“Liam, have you managed to dig up anything else on Agent Hayes?”
“Can we really trust an FIA agent?” Grace was skeptical, and rightly so. This was a huge risk we were taking here.
Marcus looked at Adrian. “What’s your read on the guy?”
Adrian shrugged. “He seems like he’s by the book, but he also seems like he cares about the truth more than anything else.”
“Wouldn’t that be bad, though, because the truth is Evelyn does lead the Archers,” Sebastian pointed out.
Adrian tilted his head. “It could, but I think he cares about justice too. You said his dad was a cop?” he asked Liam, who nodded. “I’m sure his dad saw some shit. Maybe he’s not as against the Archers’ mission as we think.”
“It’s still a huge risk to take,” Alexander said. “Evelyn, what’s your read?”
I leaned back in my chair as I thought. “I’m not sure. I think he was genuinely shocked to see Director Keller there. Agent Holden, on the other hand…” I trailed off.
“What does your gut say?” Marcus asked.
“My gut says the offer is genuine. He could have just told me about not being at the office tonight, but he gave me a key too. If it was a trap, I think he wouldn’t have given me a key to just walk in. There would be more evidence against me if I had to break in.”
“And we think that key is for the FIA’s office here? An actual key and not a key card?” Izzy questioned. Her messy bun was the only indication she was feeling the pressure without me there.
“It checks out,” Liam said. “We know where the office is, and I checked the building’s schematics. It’s one of the few in the area that haven’t updated to electronic locks yet, so it likely is.”
“There will still be cameras.” Marcus said.
“Please, what do you take me for?” Liam said, offended. “I hacked those as soon as we knew where the office was last week.”
Marcus rolled his eyes, but there was a smile playing on my grumpy boyfriend’s lips. I couldn’t help my grin.
“Okay, so we go in tonight,” I said, getting us back on track.
“Who’s we?” Grace said. “Because you can’t go.”
“With the FIA agents at the bar, why not?” I argued. “The risk is minimal.”
“Unless it’s a trap,” Izzy pointed out. “And then we played right into it. Danny and Grace should go.”
“I can go,” Sebastian said.
Izzy shook her head. “No, you shouldn’t go either. For the same reasons Eve can’t go. The five of you are too visible right now.”
“I don’t like this.” I frowned at Izzy.
“I know. But you’re still not going,” Izzy shot back. “We can’t lose you, boss.”
“I can’t lose any of you,” I fired right back.
“Okay, how about this…” Adrian cut in. “Danny and Grace go to the office. Maya and Izzy go to the bar to keep eyes on the FIA agents. They won’t be out of place there. Sebastian, Liam, and Evelyn can stay in the van and be eyes and ears, while Marcus, Alexander, and I patrol the perimeter?”
I stared at him as I thought that through. “That’s not a bad plan, actually,” I said slowly.
He smiled. “Well, I did do this for a living for Uncle Sam for a decade or so.”
I wrinkled my nose at him, and he laughed.
“Okay, so we have a plan,” Alexander said.
“We don’t have a ton of time to prepare,” Marcus pointed out.
Alexander nodded. “We’ll have to clear our afternoon as much as we can. Evelyn, can you get started on that? I can help.”
Danny straightened. “Grace and I will scope out the place and report back.”
Adrian nodded. “I can join you. We can take separate cars and then share what we see.”
“Sounds good. We can leave in an hour, if that works for you?”
Adrian nodded. He crossed the room and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I sucked in a breath at the intimate gesture, my cheeks on fire even as warmth spread through my stomach.
“See you later,” he murmured.
I avoided looking at the TV screen after he left, but Danny didn’t let it go. “Glad to see things are going well,” he teased.
I glared at him, but there was no heat in it. “Don’t you have a job to do?”
“You got it, boss.” He saluted me, and Grace rolled her eyes.
“Don’t worry, Eve. I’ll keep him in line.”
“You wish,” he fired back. The sound of their bickering faded as they left the room.
“I’m going to hack the sports bar security cameras,” Liam said. “So we’ll have eyes inside too.”
“I’ll help you put together a surveillance package,” Sebastian said, rising from his seat behind Alexander’s desk.
Unlike Adrian, when Sebastian crossed the room, he kissed me on my lips.
The kiss was hard and sweet. He dragged his teeth across my bottom lip as he leaned back.
“See you soon, my darling. Try not to miss me too much.”
“Come on.” Marcus dragged him out of the room. He looked back at me, and I held in a shiver at the heat in his eyes.
Marcus hadn’t initiated intimacy since our conversation a few weeks ago.
Sometimes I wondered if he had changed his mind, but I had a feeling he was waiting for me to come to him.
Shoving that thought away for another day, I looked back up at my team.
I rolled my eyes when they were all grinning at me.
“Goodbye,” I said pointedly.
Liam chuckled. “We’ll check in after lunch, Boss Lady.”
“They seem happy,” Alexander said softly, his eyes twinkling. He took my hand and helped me out of my seat, drawing me into his arms.
“They’re nosy,” I complained. They were my family. My over-the-top, overbearing family. But I didn’t mind that much.
“Come on.” Alexander guided me to his desk, then pulled me down onto his lap. “We can rearrange our calendars in here.”
I nestled into Alexander’s arms as he wrapped them around me. The mission tonight loomed over us, and my to-do list had just doubled, but at least now I had someone—multiple someones—to share the burden with.