Page 84 of Bombshell

“For fuck’s sake, you two. Can I just finish?”

“Sorry,” Jack mumbles.

“So sensitive,” trails Luca under his breath, but his sarcasm is lacking its usual sparkle. We’re all worried about Sutton.

“It’s all connected. I didn’t see it before, because I’ve been working with half the information. Adair and I were talking and she made it sound like she tried to reach me after I left. Called Francie, even. But I gave a note for her to my roommate, explaining things. She didn’t get it.”

“Okay,” Jack says, “but what does that have to do with any of this?”

“Everything, and if I’m right, this isn’t going to just be about getting the Bratva off my back. It’s going to nail the bastard responsible for all of this to the wall. My old roommate? His name is Cyrus...Eaton.”

Jack and Luca get there at exactly the same moment, and when they realize how simple the answer is they turn to look at each other in disbelief.

“Eaton hotels. Our meeting with the Bratva was at the Westminster Royal—”

“An Eaton Hotel,” Luca says, humming the jingle used at the end of all the company’s television advertising.

“We didn’t see it because we never thought what happened five years ago—before we even met—could be connected to our trouble with Noah.”

“And why would we?” Jack says, whistling. “Your old roommate is in a lot of trouble.”

“It’ll be done by tomorrow morning,” Luca says, and Jack and I turn to find him screwing a silencer onto the pistol he keeps tucked into his shoulder holster.

“Woah, Luca. Pump the brakes,” says Jack.

“Why? Has anyone ever needed killing more than this guy?” Luca responds like we just told him two plus two is five. “Does he even know how dangerous it is to spy on the Koltsovs? What they’d do to him? It’ll be a mercy.”

“You’re not thinking big enough,” I tell Luca. “I didn’t at first, either. But the recording was made about two years ago, right?”

“So?”

“So it was sent to Noah last month.”

“Which means this Cyrus fucker sat on it for nearly two years—until you showed up in his life again.” Luca’s brow furrows.

“Yeah,” Jack gives me a glance that says I’ll take it from here before continuing, “Which means Eaton Hotels have been gathering information about their guests for years.”

“You got a guest room?” Luca asks me. “I think I’m giving up my Platinum Elite privileges with the Eaton hotel chain.”

“It’s just sitting somewhere, waiting to become useful. Can you imagine how valuable that information is?” Jack asks neither of us in particular.

“It’s not as valuable as it is dangerous.” Six months ago, I would have thought about the dollar value, too. But that’s what I’m figuring out about having things you can’t afford to lose: it changes the math.

“It’s pretty powerful leverage. Enough to get Sutton back, and maybe enough to get the Bratva off our backs,” Jack says.

“We’re going to steal it, aren’t we?” Luca says, the devil’s own grin lighting his dark features, adding quickly, “And get your sister back.”

“No. You’re going to steal it,” I correct him. “I’m going to make sure Cyrus can never hurt anyone I love again.”

“Fine,” growls Luca, beginning to unscrew his silencer. “But shoot him once from me, okay?”

19

Adair

Staying put is no longer an option, no matter what I promised Sterling. He has his enemies to deal with, and I have mine.

I keep replaying the moment Ginny told me my father was dying in my head after Malcolm leaves, no longer able to concentrate on my mother’s manuscript. It worked because Ginny wasn’t lying. Not then. Felix even confirmed it later that night. Cancer had taken root, rotting him from the inside out, despite all the money and all the doctors. And then the cancer spread until it was untreatable, spreading past the confines of his body to infect his business, his household, and, of course, his family. By the time, I realized it had reached me, it was too late.