Page 27 of A Rhapsody of Ravens and Revenge

“Except your trust, or lack thereof, won’t send you to prison for the rest of your life,” she said. “I don’t have that luxury.”

“You know as well as I do that you’ve eliminated all traces of the Black Lily. As far as the governments of the world are concerned, she never existed. Sounds familiar to me. My past disappeared too. If we’d both stayed on the crooked path maybe we could have shared a prison cell.”

She smiled for the first time. “Just two legends whispered about in the underground. A legacy that will eventually die out altogether. Sounds like a fresh start to me. A way to knock off the rust.”

“The work I saw you do today didn’t look rusty at all,” he said, arching a brow. “It looked like you’d never left the game.”

“It’s like riding a bike,” she said, smirking. “Now if you’re done playing in the water maybe we can go back to sleep. We’ve got work to do tomorrow.”

“I like the sound of we,” he said. “What changed?”

“I came to the realization that my life is in somewhat of a predicament.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t look like prison is on my Bingo card any longer. But dying by Taber’s hands is still there, and that’s not a square I’m looking to win.”

“What else is on your Bingo card?” he asked curiously. The tension in the room skyrocketed and he moved closer, as if there were an invisible thread being tugged between them.

“Endless sexual tension and unsatisfied desire,” she said cheekily.

He choked out a laugh. “You’re something else, Evie.”

Chapter Ten

The storm was still going strong two days later and Cal was going stir crazy. Or maybe it was just Evangeline who was driving him crazy. She hadn’t been wrong about the endless sexual tension and unsatisfied desire. But their relationship was complicated. They had a history. Some good. Some not so good. But it was the future that was plaguing his dreams.

He was finding he very much wanted a future with Evie. The kind of future where they’d be lifelong partners—on the job and at home. They’d wasted too much time, though the years had given both of them the chance to grow up.

He was just now wrapping his own mind around the thought of marriage. It had been a disaster the first time, but it wasn’t fair to even compare. He’d have given anything for Julie to listen to her parents and run the other direction from him. She’d still be alive if she’d listened. But Julie had been looking for a bad boy like in one of the romance novels she liked to read, and he’d been hell bent on destruction, looking for a way to keep the memories of Evangeline from creeping into his dreams. The marriage had been a disaster from the start.

He’d woken early and dressed for a workout. Sleeping next to Evangeline every night was unraveling his sanity and he needed to punch something. And just like the last three mornings, Evie had gotten out of bed and put her own workout gear on. And like clockwork she made her way to the kitchen because she didn’t function without caffeine hitting her system.

By the time she was alert enough for them to make their way up to the gym, Cal was gritting his teeth and cursing himself for telling her that she was to stick to him like glue. The fumes from that glue were making him want to self-combust.

“Master of Puppets” blared from his phone, and he gave a sigh of relief, glad to have a distraction other than his own thoughts.

“Hold up a sec,” he told Evie.

“Good,” she said. “I’d rather have breakfast anyway. I didn’t get enough sleep last night. You’re a restless sleeper.”

He refrained from rolling his eyes. “Cruz,” he said into the phone.

“We tapped into the FBI hotline and a tip came in early this morning,” Atticus said. “A witness recognized Taber at a gas station in Atlanta and called it in.”

“Uh-huh,” Cal said. “Last I checked the reward is twenty-five thousand dollars. Witnesses start coming out of the woodwork. Everyone’s grandpa becomes an assassin for the right price.”

“Family loyalty is hard to come by,” Atticus said dryly. “The only difference is this witness took a picture with his phone. Guess what Taber was driving?”

“A silver Mercedes?”

“Close enough,” Atticus said. “A silver BMW rental from Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Rented under the name Victor Timms.”

Evie got out eggs from the fridge and a loaf of bread from the box. And then she gathered everything she needed to make French toast. It didn’t look like they were making it to the gym anytime soon, so he made himself comfortable on one of the sleek barstools that lined the white marble island.

“I’m assuming his trip to Atlanta was successful?” Cal asked.

“We’re not sure yet,” Atticus said.

“Why do you sound worried about that?” Cal asked.

“Because Taber has never been one to hide his light under a bushel. We were expecting him to come to Atlanta since it’s where Boulder Corp. is located. The FBI has had agents on Jenson Walker. His security has been briefed and beefed up.”

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