Page 16 of The Irish Redemption

This is my chance.

I should tell her the truth.

My lips part, and I expect Cormac to come crashing in through the window, as if he can tell what I’m about to say.

I need to tell her about him. About what happened to me last night and the threats on my life. But for some reason, the words don’t come. They linger in my throat like hands, clawing their way back down into my gut instead of out into the open air where they belong.

“Evelyn?” Sarah prompts. Scrunching up the paper cup, she tosses it into a wastebasket that’s out of sight under her desk. “Is everything alright?”

I want to tell her and yet I can’t. Cormac’s face bursts into my mind, mostly his look from earlier when he seemed so openly surprised that I would offer my sympathies. All he wants is to find out who killed his brother, and he’s going to extreme lengths to do just that.

I can’t imagine anyone loving me that deeply.

“Yes,” I say weakly, and a sickly warmth flushes down the back of my neck. “I’m just very… tired. Actually, is there a chance I could get some water?” I pat my throat. “I’m so hot.”

“Of course.” Sarah stands quickly. “I’ll be right back.”

She hurries from the office, and I gasp desperately as if I’d been holding my breath the entire time. Sweat breaks out across my forehead and the floor sways slightly. I’m tired, thirsty, and haven’t eaten since yesterday’s breakfast.

Can you die from stress? My heart hasn’t stopped pounding since I found the body and even now, it races up a gear when a light buzzing me alerts me to the fact that Sarah left her phone on the desk.

Exactly where Cian wants me to plant the other bug.

On the drive over, he explained that the smaller bug had to be placed next to the SIM card in her phone and that it was small enough to be undetectable.

I can’t do it.

Fuck.

Come on, Evelyn. Do this, then go home. Do it.

Glancing over my shoulder to make sure the door is still closed, I snatch her phone up from the desk and pop the cute corgi phone cover off. Popping out the SIM card, my trembling fingers fuck up slipping the bug into place. My vision begins to blur from the strain of focusing on something so small, but eventually, it slides into place and I shove the SIM card back into her phone. As I pop the case back over, sweat drips from my forehead and lands on the screen so I have to wipe it away quickly. Then I set her phone back on the desk.

Or I try to.

I’d snatched it up quickly, and now can’t remember exactly where it was sitting. She’s sure to notice that it’s moved, right? Everything about her office is so pristine. I bet she can tell when one of the keyboard keys has an extra layer of dust.

Tension snaps behind my eyes and a powerful ache spreads through my skull. It throbs in time to my pounding heart, and I set her phone back down where I roughly estimate it to have been. Once again, I’ve only just sat down when Sarah returns with a clear plastic cup of water. Her eyes widen as she hands it to me.

“Evelyn, what’s the matter? Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes I’m fine, I just—” My hands tremble violently as I accept the cup and it slips from my grasp, bouncing on my knee and sending water over me and the wiry gray carpet below. “Shit, I’m so sorry!”

“Evelyn—”

“I’m sorry!” Lurching forward, I try my best to catch the cup, but by the time I do, the contents are soaked into me and the carpet. “I’m so, so sorry!” Flustered, I set the cup on the desk, knock it over, and then try to set it upright. On my third attempt, Sarah catches my hand and forces me still with her other hand on my shoulder.

“Evelyn. Take a breath for me, okay? It’s just water.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, unable to look her in the eye. “Is there a bathroom nearby?”

“Down the hall and the third on the left,” she says, squeezing my hand. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, fine. I just need to…” Without finishing my sentence, I lurch from the seat and sprint from her office, not stopping until I make it to the bathroom. Inside, the cool air against my skin is like the first bite of frost on a winter’s morning, and it’s as soothing as the sharp, cold water I splash on my face to try to calm myself down.

I almost fucked that up. What I’ve just done is surely illegal, and I don’t know how much jail time you get for bugging a police station, but it’s bound to be insane. And I did it for a strange man I don’t even know.

Fuck.

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