Page 106 of Sinner's Secret

“She’s understandably upset. This could still blow up in our faces and make us visible to too many normals. She’s worried that you’ll do something rash...again.” Yvgeny’s expression told Baz his cousin was holding his breath to see if he was going to freak out again as well.

Baz shook his head. “If I were going to lose my shit again, I would have already done it.”

“That is a relief.” Yvgeny put the clothes on the bed and made for the door.

“What did she say about Joe?”

Joe had been freaked out by the Ruiz family. They’d told him they were going to give him eternal life, but only after he’d survived the Sweating Sickness. He’d been terrified and convinced that a bunch of crazy people had abducted him. Unfortunately, they’d held him in a warehouse full of extra-large dog kennels with people in them. Some of those people had been sick, and the rest dead.

“We’re testing him to see if he’s been infected with our favorite Hantavirus, but we won’t know until tomorrow. If he’s negative, he goes back to the world as he knows it. If he’s infected...we’ll have to wait and see. But she does have a request.”

“Request? My mother doesn’t request, she issues orders and expects them to be carried out.”

Yvgeny gave him a look. “Tell me, how is she different from every other woman in the world?”

Baz snorted. “What’s the request?”

Yvgeny plastered on his fakest of smiles. “She wants you to work with the cops.”

Baz waited, but Yvgeny didn’t add anything. “What?” he asked.

“She wants you to work with the NYPD. As an informant on the seedy underground of the city.”

“I’m already doing that.”

Yvgeny snapped his fingers. “How incredibly convenient.”

“Why does she want me to do this?”

“She’d like you to feed them specific information and cause them to doubt other intelligence.”

“Huh, that does sound more like my mom.”

“Yes.” Yvgeny shook his head. “Those stupid Ruiz’s. They had no idea that vampires mostly already run the world, just out of sight.”

“I don’t know Yvgeny. My helping the police might mean I become too visible, and what about Nika? She knows what we are. She’s just seen the worst of us.”

“She’s a potential,” Yvgeny said. “If she keeps her mouth shut, your mother won’t harm a hair on her head. I’ll bet my esteemed aunt is already watching Nika closely.”

“How? Through you?”

“Oh no, I’m staying out of that. You’re going to be reporting to her directly.”

“I haven’t spoken to her in more than a decade, not since I left Slovenia.”

“You’ve had the same job for two years. You work every day, and you make your payments. She believes you’ve finally become responsible again.”

“That’s a terrifying prospect.”

The shower shut off.

Yvgeny moved to the door and opened it. “I told her you’d call tomorrow.”

“Yeah, fine. Don’t forget to send up that paramedic.”

“I will.” He went out the door and closed it behind him.

Baz went through the pile of clothes and found another soft pair of pajamas for Nika. He took them to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “I’ve got some clean clothes for you.”

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