Page 95 of Sinner's Secret

“I might be like him,” Baz said. “But I’m not him. I try to help people when I can, and mind my own damn business the rest of the time. I have no interest in telling anyone else what to do or have a fancy office somewhere.” He leaned toward Joe a fraction and forced himself not to react when the other man flinched away from him. “I just want to drive my cab, smell the beer and wings at your bar, and the coffee at the diner.”

Joe watched him like only prey could, then blinked and frowned. “The diner? Nika? He mentioned Nika, asked me what I knew about her.”

Baz’s body stilled. “What did you tell him?”

“Only that her father was an old friend and that he worked for the NYPD for forty years before he died of cancer.” Joe swallowed hard. “He said he was going to change her into one of you, and that he was going to change me too. Said we had a war to fight with normal people.” Joe’s hands shook so much the napkin slid off the gun, revealing the weapon. “He showed me a bunch of other people he tried to change, but almost all of them were dead.”

“That was dumb,” Yvgeny said with a long suffering sigh. “How did he think you’d cooperate after seeing that?”

“He...he said I was of your line,” Joe said to Baz. “He said you were strong...once.”

“Huh, did this idiot give you a name?”

“Yeah, Ruiz, I think.” Joe swallowed hard, making his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “Are you my great-grandfather or something?”

“Or something,” Baz said. The man had been shown that life wasn’t quite what he thought it was. He was owed the complete truth. “I think you’re my nephew some fifteen or twenty generations back.”

“You have the family eyes,” Yvgeny added. “That shade of blue is distinctive.”

Joe looked from Baz to Yvgeny and back. “So, you’re going to ki...kill me?”

“No,” Baz said firmly. “No, we’re not, but we are going to find this Ruiz fellow and teach him to keep his nose out of our family’s business.”

“That means kill him,” Yvgeny added.

Baz glared at his cousin. “Don’t say that, what’s wrong with you?”

“I’m just being honest,” Yvgeny said with a shrug.

“It’s not helping.” Baz shook his head, then turned back to Joe. “How did you get here, to this bar?”

“That guy dropped me off and told me to give you a message.”

“Why didn’t you say so before?” Yvgeny asked, no longer lounging in his chair, but sitting forward, his gaze sharp on Joe’s face.

“He killed a guy right after he gave me the message,” Joe shouted. “Bit into his neck and tore his throat out. The blood was everywhere and I sort of forgot about the message until now.”

“What was the message?” Baz asked, cold and calm.

Joe cleared his throat. “Every king needs a queen.”

Baz stared at Joe as his blood froze solid in his veins. Nika, they meant Nika. The Ruiz brothers were going to take her, infect her, and turn her into something other than human.

They would destroy her.

And Joe was the distraction they needed so they could get to her.

He ran for the elevator.

The whole lobby was deserted, not a person, guest, or staff, in sight.

There was, however, a substantial puddle of blood on the floor in front of the elevator doors. A thick red smear ended at the closed elevator.

The number above the doors indicated that the elevator was currently at the penthouse. Where Nika was. So much for keeping her safe.

Yvgeny joined him, talking to someone on his phone.

The elevator began to move down, the numbers blinking on and off as the car moved past each floor.

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