“Yeah, well, I don’t get that choice.” Revenge was really all he had left, and even if Eve wanted him back, he wasn’t sure he could give up looking for Evans. As long as he was out there, Eve wasn’t really safe. He remembered the way Evans had looked at him when he’d been hauled into the courtroom for his bail hearing. He’d smirked and mouthed the words, “We’re not through.”
No, if Evans was out there, it was only a matter of time before he came after Alex, and the only way to come after Alex was through Eve.
He turned and walked to the lobby door, the music still pounding through the club. He’d thought Ian had some closure. He knew Charlotte was dead, had held her body in his arms. He knew nothing else would come from it, but it seemed he was still haunted. Every year, Alex hoped he wouldn’t hear that fucking song and every year on this day, it was all Ian played until he passed out and showed up to work the next day with red eyes and a closed mouth. They would spend the next three hundred and sixty-four days pretending she had never existed.
But Alex’s ghost stood at the passenger door of his truck, a frown on her gorgeous face. He strode out into the heat of the day and opened the door for her.
“Liam said you wanted to renegotiate our contract.” He had to try.
She settled into the seat. “That doesn’t really matter now, does it?”
“What did you want to negotiate, Eve?” Hell, it might be easier on him if she wanted to cut him off entirely. At least he could focus on the job at hand.
Her eyes shifted toward him. “I want to see the file, Alex.”
“There isn’t a file yet. Warren is going through the proper channels to try to get it to me.” He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side of the truck. He got in and fired up the engine, grateful that the drive wasn’t a long one.
“Fine. I want to know what you’ve discovered. Is he in the States?”
This was the last conversation he wanted to have, but she had to know at some point in time. “I think he’s a regular visitor. He seems to be setting up some kind of business connections here, a series of clubs that he’s using to sell drugs through.”
“He’s probably using the clubs to launder the money, too,” Eve said, her eyes on the road ahead of them. “And he would also see them as another form of the commune he had built up. He very likely has a female in every one.”
She sounded like they were talking about a regular case, but every time he glanced over at her, he could see the scar on her neck. It was the worst of her scars. That cut had been deep and was still thick on her skin, but there were more scars on her back and belly. They were faint now, faded to whispery white lines, but he remembered them fresh and bloody.
“Eve, you don’t have to do this. I’m checking out the source tonight. If she checks out, I’m going to Florida to see this club for myself.”
“She?” The question was coated in ice.
At least she could still feel a little jealous. “Yes. Her name is Kristen, and she’s an investigative reporter. She’s just a source, angel. She’s tied Evans to narcoterrorists in South America.”
“Why doesn’t she call the feds?”
“Because they can’t work as quietly as I can and they don’t have the same stake in this.”
“Oh, so the people with stakes in a case should be the ones working it? Excellent. I’ll be going to Florida with you then,” she explained, her mouth in a stubborn line.
“Absolutely not.” He didn’t want her on the same continent with Evans much less the same city. “Eve, be reasonable. It’s probably nothing. I’ll go to the club, check it out for a couple of days, and report back.”
But something told him this lead wasn’t nothing. Every instinct in his body told him that this was the lead he’d been waiting for and Evans was close. He just needed to get into the right place to lay in wait. Adam could bury faked records so Alex could pass any background checks. He would change his hair color and wear colored contacts. Most of the time, he would hide behind sunglasses. He was older now and his body bigger than it used to be. He spent more time in the weight room now than he used to. He could pass for long enough to get in the same room with Evans and after that, it wouldn’t matter if the fucker recognized him.
“Would it change anything if I asked you not to go?” Eve asked in a perfectly calm voice, as though the outcome didn’t mean a thing to her.
He pulled up to a stoplight. “Why would you do that?”
“Because we can’t move on if you keep bringing Evans in between us.”
“What?”
She smoothed down her skirt even though it didn’t have a wrinkle on it. “He’s always there.”
“Because you can’t forget,” Alex replied, his voice low and sympathetic. “I understand that, angel. You’ll be able to sleep at night if I can take him out.”
She laughed, a deeply bitter sound. “I’m not the one obsessed with Michael Evans.”
He felt his jaw clench, his fists tightening on the steering wheel as he eased the truck forward and turned onto the freeway. Downtown was in front of him, the Omni hotel blinking its symphony of lights as day began to turn to evening. They were surrounded by concrete and facades and lights. He glanced at the sidewalks with their small patches of perfectly kept grass in neat little boxes. The late-afternoon commuters hustled to get to their train stops or parking lots. They were moving, but Alex felt like he was stopped. He and Eve hadn’t really moved in years. They were still having the same old argument. “He’s kept us apart for five years. If that’s not obsession, I don’t know what is.”
“I admit that I was hurt in the beginning,” Eve began. “But he isn’t the one who kept us apart. We both had a hand in it, and until we acknowledge what we’ve both done wrong, we can’t even think about being together again.”
She was dangling the only bait that might be able to lure him away, but he had to be strong. They hadn’t been able to make it with Evans between them. The only way to move forward was to end Evans permanently. “You’re trying to stop me from going after him. That’s the only reason why you’re saying any of this.”
Her fingers tightened on the handles of her purse. “I don’t want you to investigate him. Let it lie, Alex.”