Page 97 of Wilde and Deadly

Sabin flipped his coin, caught it, and flicked it into the air again. “You don’t like anything.”

She shot him a glare. “I mean it. Something feels wrong.”

Sabin sighed. “Rowan. Davey’s not stupid.”

“You sure about that?”

He smirked. “Okay, fine, he’s stupid, but not the suicidal kind. And if Cade was going to put a bullet in him, he’d have done it years ago.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” she muttered.

Sabin arched a brow. “Then what?”

She hesitated, half afraid that if she put it into words, and it would become reality.

She exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand down her face. “He’s out in the open. In a public place. With people watching.”

Sabin flipped his coin lazily. “Yeah, that was kind of the point. Neutral ground, witnesses. Harder for Cade to try anything.”

Rowan’s jaw tightened. “And easier for someone else to take a shot.”

Now she had his attention.

Sabin caught the coin mid-flip, his long fingers closing around the metal. “You think this is a setup?”

“I think Davey’s has more enemies than friends right now. So, yeah, I think if someone wanted to take him out, this would be a damn good opportunity.”

Sabin considered that. “So why let him go?”

Rowan exhaled sharply, forcing herself to unclench her fists. “Because we’re all working off scraps right now. We don’t know who’s pulling the strings. We don’t even know if we’re playing the same game. Talking to Cade was our only option.”

Sabin’s eyes narrowed. “So what do you want to do about it?”

She wanted to call Davey, but if something had already gone sideways, she didn’t want to distract him. She wanted to run straight to him, but if she was wrong, she’d just make herself a target.

She turned back toward the window, gaze flicking down to the street again. The light was different now. Time had passed.

More time than she’d realized.

She’d spent the last hour pacing this fucking apartment like a caged cat, obsessing over Davey’s meeting, and she hadn’t even noticed how long it had been since Liam walked out that door.

A sharp prickle of unease ran down her spine. She glanced over at the door, frown deepening. “How long ago did Liam leave?”

Sabin didn’t answer immediately. He was still watching her, reading her, and that only made the unease in her stomach twist tighter.

Finally, he shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe an hour? Hour and a half?”

Too long.

WSW wasn’t far. Neither was a damn burger joint.

So where the hell was he?

Her pulse kicked up.

Had something already happened at the meeting? Was that why Liam hadn’t come back?

But no—Sabin would know if something had gone wrong. Wouldn’t he?

---