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His words hang heavily in the air, a weighty reminder of the dangers that lurk in the shadows. But there's also a determination in Theo's voice, a steely resolve that fills me with a sense of purpose.
Eva's gaze flickers between us, her expression a blend of concern and uncertainty. She knows as well as we do the risks that come with challenging Declan, but she's also seen firsthand the damage he's capable of.
“We realized that he’s closing in on us,” Ryder explains. “He knows that we know about what he did, and he’s out to take us down before we can get to him. So, we can’t just approach him. We don’t know who he’s got on his side, who’s loyal to him and who isn’t.”
“How will you get to him, then?” Eva asks, drawing her hand to her mouth as she takes it all in.
“Ryder came up with an idea,” I say, glancing at my older brother. He nods, a pleased look on his face. He’s grown a lot since his days of partying and getting into trouble.
“If we send someone in to see Declan, someone who can get him talking, he might reveal what his plans are, what he’s going to do. It has to be someone he wouldn’t suspect, someone he’d let his guard down around.”
“We aren’t sure who to use, though,” I admit. “Since we don’t know who we can trust for sure. He’d suspect anyone we sent to him in a heartbeat.”
“What about me?” Eva suggests, her voice soft despite the noise of the club.
“Fuck no,” Theo says, immediately shooting the idea down.
“You’re not bait,” I agree, my tone gentle. “I know you want to help, but?—”
“Don’t count me out,” Eva protests, determination in her tone. “Declan would never suspect me for the simple reason that he would never think you guys would even consider sending me. If I go in there, he might say something that we can use against him.”
“I’m not willing to risk you,” Ryder says, his tone brokering no room for argument. “You’re ours now, and Declan knows that. Even if you think he’d be dumb enough not to suspect that we’d use you, there’s no way I’m willing to leave you alone with him.”
Eva bites her lip, considering what we’ve said. “But who else would you use?” she asks. “There’s no one you can trust, no one you know without a doubt would be on your side except me.”
Even if that was true, the thought of sending her to Declan alone fills me with a sense of terror that I’ve never felt before. “Anything could happen,” I snap, agitation rolling off me in waves. “You could get hurt. He could threaten you. He could do something bad to you…”
“Maybe I could wear a wire,” she offers. “Like in those detective movies we watched. Remember, Oliver?”
“A wire would give us a level of insurance,” Ryder says, tapping his finger against the table. “If we listen in, we can jump in when something goes wrong.”
“And remember that you taught me how to protect myself if something bad happens,” Eva says to him. “If something goes wrong, I’ll use the code you taught me.”
Ryder exhales, considering it.
“This is absurd,” Theo protests. “I don’t like this one bit. Eva, you’re not doing it and that’s final. You’re not bait, and we’re not deliberately putting you back in danger.”
Theo’s glare is enough to set off an awkward silence around the table, settling over us like a thick fog, suffocating any attempts at casual banter.
I can feel Eva's disappointment like a physical weight beside me, her shoulders slumping ever so slightly as she stares down at her drink. It's clear that she had hoped for a different reaction from Theo, a glimmer of support or understanding, but instead, she's met with nothing but resistance.
Across the table, Theo sits with his jaw clenched, his expression tight and guarded. He's always been fiercely protective of Eva, but now that protectiveness has turned into stubborn refusal, an unyielding wall between her and the dangerous world we inhabit.
I glance between them, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. It's as if we're all tiptoeing around the elephant in the room, pretending that everything is fine when clearly, it's anything but.
Desperate to break the suffocating silence, I open my mouth to speak, but the words die on my tongue before I can even form them. What can I say that hasn't already been said? How can I ease the tension between Theo and Eva when their differences run so deep?
Instead, I settle for a forced smile, attempting to inject some semblance of normalcy into our strained atmosphere. But even as I laugh at a passing joke, I can't shake the feeling that we're teetering on the edge of a precipice, one wrong move away from plunging into the unknown.
“Do you want to go dance?” Ryder asks Eva, finally offering a lifeline in the stilted silence that’s stretched too long between us. She accepts, leaving Theo and me alone at the table together.
“I’m not letting her do this,” Theo mutters, a tic in his jaw from how tightly clenched it is. “We’ve hurt her enough to last a lifetime. I’m not letting her get hurt because of us anymore.”
“We might not have a choice,” I offer, trying to be pragmatic about this. “Eva is right. Declan would assume we’d be too smart to send her to talk to him alone. If we played it careful enough, we could get him talking and use what he says against him, finally take him down once and for all.”
Theo shakes his head. “I don’t like this.”
I don’t either, but I don’t see any other immediate options. Everyone we know and trust would be instantly suspected by Declan as being there to spy on him. Eva is the only one who might be able to get away with it.
