Page 30 of While You Sleep

Fiona frowned at me. “But at the bar, you never said…so you knew him?”

“I didn’t recognize him at first, with the beard, then I was trying to work through my feelings. Like I said, it’s been kind of crazy.”

“I saw my opening and I took it,” Cillian said and grinned, like an actual human being.

I watched as the suspicion slipped from Fiona’s eyes, as the charm he could switch on with the click of his fingers started working on my best friend. She looked between us.

“I was telling Fi to stay away from Brian and Steven,” I said to Cillian.

He didn’t even blink. “Brian was using Soph to get to her father. A business thing. He’s not a good guy, Fi, and neither is his buddy. If you see them, if they ask after Sophia, or you’re worried, please call. It’s important.”

She was already nodding, her lip trembling because she’d fallen for Steve pretty hard and this had to hurt. “I will. I promise.”

Cillian looked down at me. “We need to get going.”

“Will you be okay?” I said to Fiona. “I know you really liked Steve—”

Her lip quivered, but she shook her head. “I’ll be okay. I just…I thought he was different, you know?”

“I know. I’m sorry, Fi. I thought he was a good guy as well.”

She bit her lip, forcing a smile. “At least now I know the truth.”

Truth? I had the sudden inappropriate urge to laugh. I swallowed it down.

Cillian’s hand slid across my shoulder and curled around the back of my neck, not tight, but his grip was hot, firm.

“It was nice meeting you, Fiona,” Cillian said. “But I’m going to steal my wife away now so we can get back to our honeymoon.”

Fi held my eyes, still unsure. “Text me okay?”

“I will, promise.” Then Cillian was guiding me away. Conor, the guy who had driven us to Cillian’s house after the wedding, sat in a car beside the one I’d commandeered. He nodded when he saw us and drove away.

Cillian held out his hand. “Keys.”

Tugging them from my pocket, I handed them over. He unlocked the car, and I quickly got in.

Cillian did as well, the engine roaring to life a moment later and he peeled out onto the street. He darted glances in the rearview mirror, his fingers tight around the steering wheel. “That wasn’t very smart for you,” he said in a deceptively calm voice.

Every instinct in me screamed that I should sit quietly and not poke the bear, but I couldn’t stay silent. “Would you have let me go if I’d asked?”

“No,” he said.

“They pretended that they met through me and Fiona, but Paolo was obviously lying about that as well. I was worried about my friend—”

He glanced my way. “You have good instincts. Steve’s real name is Walter Mazza, and Paolo brought him in to occupy your friend so he could get in your pants, get intel on you, make you fall for him, then use you as a way to seal an alliance between your family and his.”

My stomach sank and humiliation at my mistake burned my cheeks. “What if Walter—”

“Walter won’t get anywhere near you.”

“And Fiona?”

He shifted gears and sped past the car in front of us. “She’s no longer of use to him. His focus has shifted.”

“How do you know?”

Cillian glanced at me again. “Because he tried to follow you from my place earlier, and we intercepted.” His jaw hardened. “He got away, but he had zip ties and duct tape in his trunk.”

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