Page 44 of The Eagle's Vault

Edoardo was still talking, desperation leaking from every pore. “The tape… I’ve destroyed it. And the guard… he didn’t see you, did he?”

“No faces,” Scarlett said.

Edoardo’s sigh of relief was more visible in his shoulders than audible. It didn’t feel like a trap anymore. It felt like he’d been broken.

It dulled the rage simmering inside me more than it should have.

Rav cut in over the earpiece again. “Shadowy figure is no threat. Just a lovesick guy trying to propose at dawn. She said yes, by the way.”

The absurd normalcy of it all brought an involuntary smirk to my face.

“You can expect a call from my mother.” Scarlett’s words were sharp. “She won’t take kindly to this, Edoardo. You know that.”

A new pallor washed over his face. Even I shivered at the thought of Evelyn’s reaction.

“Per favore.” Edoardo clutched his hands together, as if in prayer. “Let me make the call. I want to do it myself. It’s better to seek forgiveness than to hide.”

“I’ll give you one day. No more.”

As Edoardo nodded, the severity of his betrayal sank in deeper. His choice to face Evelyn’s wrath was as much a testament to his regret as the desperation in his eyes was.

“We’re done here.” Scarlett turned and left.

I should have been in lockstep with her. Instead, my foolish words tumbled out. “When are you meeting the kidnappers?”

He waved his hand dismissively, stuffing the notebook into his jacket pocket.

“I said, when, Edoardo?”

His eyes fluttered closed. “Midnight. By the bridge to Isola Tiberina.”

“I’m sorry it came to this.” I meant it, even if a part of me was still reeling from his betrayal. “I hope Martina’s all right.”

His tears reflected the sun rising over the columns. “Grazie. So do I.”

I caught up to Scarlett, almost back in the shadows at Rav’s side already. “Are we going tonight? Find out who’s behind the blackmail?”

Rav grunted in agreement. The next step in keeping Scarlett safe was knowing who we were up against.

“Good plan.” Scarlett’s shoulders raised with a deep breath, her face unreadable. “We return to the hotel, get some rest, and at midnight, we’ll be at the exchange.”

Chapter 17

Leigh

NotonlywasIa thief, but I was now sleeping in the same room as another thief.

IfI could sleep.

“I can hear you breathing.” Jayce was motionless under the blankets of her bed, a sleep mask secured over her eyes. “I thought I showed you how to control that?”

Daylight streamed in around the pale curtains. Their meet had been at dawn. “Do you think everything went okay with Edoardo?”

She snorted a laugh. “Declan’s fine.”

“I meant all of them.” I definitely wasn’t worried about Declan. And I wasn’t thinking about the way he’d ogled my books. Or how he’d held me with those big, strong hands, and told me to keep it together. Or the way he’d looked at me in the van. The same heat flared between my thighs that did every time I imagined his hazel eyes, twinkling with an unshakable amount of confidence.

The room sank back into silence. But sleep continued to elude me. “What if—”

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