Page 99 of Broken Promises

Declan frowns. “Anderson Sinclair.”

“The Sinclairs are old money earned through some very questionable avenues,” Harrison says.

“Great,” Declan mumbles.

“They’ve been running the underworld along the East Coast for too long to let Eva take over,” Harrison says. “I think if you approached him, he might help.”

“At what cost?” I ask.

“I think the Sinclair family is who Eva is afraid of. I think whatever Ezra knows is something they’d want,” Theo says. “I’mstill working through years of Eva’s emails, but that’s the idea I’m getting from them.”

“But that means calling him back here. Which means his death if we do it wrong,” Maverick says, pain lacing every one of his features.

“If you can get Sinclair’s protection, we can do it with a high probability of success,” Theo says.

“We think we should wait until after the Stanley Cup Finals,” Harrison says. “Sinclair will probably be more likely to help if you win it for him, but it also gives authorities the time to verify the evidence we’ve gathered. They won’t make an arrest until they’re able to do that.”

“No fucking pressure,” Declan says, running his fingers through his hair.

I turn to Cal. “Get your family out of here.” He stares at me for a moment and nods.

“I’ll find you somewhere hard to find and completely off the gird,” Theo offers.

“Anyone else?” Harrison asks.

“Princess,” Declan says, but I shake my head and grab his hand.

“I’m not leaving you, so don’t even ask.” He sighs but squeezes my hand. I look away from him to see Belle shaking her head at Kai, and Jo doing the same with Maverick.

“Go home and pack, Cal. I’ll have everything you need by morning. If we get you out now, there won’t be a reason to look for you when everything goes down,” Theo says.

“I can stay and just send Harlow with Cora,” Cal says, but I can see in his eyes that leaving his wife and daughter right now would kill him.

“We’re good, Cal. This is just a precaution for Cora’s sake,” I tell him.

“I have phones I can give you to communicate with each other. I’ve developed a software that makes them untraceable and unhackable,” Theo says, handing each of us a bulky, simple phone. It’s just a rectangle with numbers and a small screen. It’s like the phone my dad had when I was a kid.

“It’s basic and only for phone calls. Makes it easier to make it untraceable,” Theo explains.

We thank him and agree to meet again when it comes time to approach Sinclair and hope he’ll help us with Eva and Patrick.

Cal and Harlow hug all of us outside of their house, promising to keep in touch. They’re leaving first thing in the morning to wherever Theo sends them.

It feels like the beginning of the end.

FORTY-SEVEN

declan

“You don’t lookhappy for a guy who’s about to play in the Stanley Cup Finals,” Ben says, looking up from the book he’s reading on his bed. I’ve been sprawled out on mine and staring at the ceiling for the better part of an hour.

“I just have a lot going on at home,” I explain vaguely. I want to tell him everything that’s going on. Ask for his advice, but I can’t. Not because I don’t trust him, but because it would be dragging another person into a deadly mess. And I can’t do that. I’ve thought about calling Finn more than once, but the distance between us and the fact that we’re about to play each other for the cup hasn’t helped our friendship.

“Marital troubles?” he asks, looking disappointed in me.

I frown. “No. Why are you looking at me like you’re assuming it’s me if there were issues?”

Ben laughs. “Because you’re my friend, and I know you.”

---