“I didn’t realize you were coming tonight, Luke.”
Evelyn smiled over at Luke. “Funny. I thought this had been on your schedule for ages.”
“Not the one I keep.” Cali glanced between the two of them.
“The one in my head,” he bit out.
“Whatever you say.” Cali smiled. “Easson just ran to the restroom. He should be out any minute if you want to meet him.”
Evelyn stiffened and reached down for her purse. “Easson is here?”
“Yes. He invited me.” Cali studied Evelyn for a moment and her face fell. “Why—is that a bad thing?”
“Why is that a bad thing?” asked Luke.
Evelyn looked around the room again and Luke realized her anxiety was increasing by the second.
“Because your boyfriend tried to kill me," admitted Evelyn.
“What?” shouted Cali.
“Evelyn...”
“Easson is very dangerous and he’s working for the people who are after Luke.”
Luke stared in disbelief at Evelyn, and she refused to meet his gaze. How long had she known? Why the hell hadn’t she told him?
“And you decided to let me carry on with him...why exactly? So you could keep tabs on him? Have a way to track him?”
Luke shook his head. “Cali—”
She backed away. “No. I’m leaving before I get pulled into any more of your shit. And if you see my ex-boyfriend, please tell him that I don’t appreciate being used by anyone.” She turned and cut across the room, making a beeline for the door.
Luke started to follow when Evelyn grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side of the room. “What the hell is going on here?”
“You’re asking me? You’re the one who’s been letting my assistant date a serial killer.”
“That was a calculated risk after much consideration. He was dating her to get close to you and if we want to catch him, I needed him close. I only found out how dangerous he was today and I would’ve told you if I weren’t convinced you were hiding something from me. Now spill. What are we doing here?”
Luke clenched his jaw as the anger coursed through him. Evelyn had used him. Used Cali to get what she wanted. “I thought we were partners,” he hissed.
“We were never partners!” she snapped. “You’re good at what you do, but you’re not a cop or FBI agent or anything. You’re not investigating this with me. I’m here to protect you, which is damn hard when you bring me to parties with killers, and I have a sinking feeling you knew he would be here.”
“Hey, I didn’t know apartment guy was here.” Easson. He knew he didn’t like the sound of that name. “I’m here because Longineu is here tonight and I’m going to bring him, and the entire Thirteen Stars organization, down.”
“And you were going to tell me this when?”
“When you became a fucking human being and stopped putting your investigation in front of people’s lives.”
Rage burned behind Evelyn’s brown eyes and for half a second, Luke thought she would scream at him right then and there.
But she contained herself and took two deep breaths. “Let’s go talk about this before Easson, or worse, Longineu, spots us.” She turned and made her way for the nearest exit into a long hallway. She glanced at the first few doors they passed before she opened a door to a janitor’s closet and pulled Luke inside.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked as the door closed behind him.
“I’m talking some sense into you. You can’t go up against Longineu on your own.”
“That’s no worse than you using one of my friends as bait.”
“She had an FBI tail all day. As soon as I confirmed that her boyfriend was the one who attacked me, I made sure she was under protection until I had enough backup to take him in. I wasn’t leaving her in the dust, Luke. I promise.”
He stared her down, trying to decide how much of what she was saying was sincere and how much was just to save her own ass. “What would you do if Easson was in her apartment with her? Alone. What would your FBI tail have done then?”
“Cali had already been alone with him multiple times. There was no reason for me to believe she was in immediate harm.”
“A calculated risk. That’s all it was to you.”
“Yes, it was a calculated risk! After everything these people have done to me. To you. To your family! I took a risk.”
“Anything to get this over with and back to your precious Texas and the job that almost killed you, right?”
She shook her head and tears started to well behind her eyes, but she blinked them away. “You idiot. Maybe I did this because I want to protect you. Maybe I—”