Page 95 of Sixth Sin

Hilda stares at me with an unreadable expression. “So, you do know her.”

“Unfortunately.” I have half a mind to send her back to Chula Vista with a boot print on her ass, but she has a stubborn streak that rivals Angel’s. If I turn her away, I wouldn’t put it past her to show up at Silverline. Checking my watch, I groan. Screw it, I’m already late. “Send her up,” I say.

Pulling up Milly’s last text, I hit reply.

Something’s come up. I’ll be there in an hour, maybe two.

Her only response is a line of middle finger emojis.

By the time I pocket my phone and look up, Hilda is gone, and I’m left with my own thoughts, which isn’t a good thing. Things have been stable since taking Angel to Moss Valley last week, but still strained. At least she’s out of bed and verbal.

But I see what this house is doing to her. What I’m doing to her. I’ll catch her standing in the middle of a room just staring at nothing, and when I call her name, she turns around with this sad smile, and all I can hear is the counting of that damn clock.

I’m interrupted by the discreet clearing of a throat. Turning around, my eyes go straight to bright purple hair and Sharpie rimmed eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”

Hilda shifts a cautious gaze between the two of us, waiting until I give a quick nod before straightening her uniform. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, Mr. McCallum.”

As soon as she’s out of earshot, I turn my attention back to the problem at hand. “Miss DeLuca. Long time no see.” I make my way toward the bar because if I have to deal with this shit this early, I’m doing it with a drink in my hand. “Alexandra isn’t here, I’m afraid,” I say, opening a bottle of whiskey.

“Alexandra,” she says, drawing out the word. “Right. Well, that’s fine. I’m here to see you.” She wrinkles her nose. “Isn’t it a little early for all that?”

I glance over my shoulder and lift my glass. “Isn’t it a little late for all this?” She doesn’t answer because she knows I’m right. I may have brought the ball to the park, but she kicked it into play. I’ll be damned if I’ll let her climb up on her moral mountain now.

“Tell me I didn’t make a mistake, McCallum.”

“It’s Dominic, and what mistake would that be?”

Her fists tighten by her side as she crosses the parlor and plants her worn Doc Martens against the toe of my boots. “I gave you Angel’s address so you could help her have a better life. Not help yourself to one as well.”

Jesus Christ.

Slamming my glass back down onto the bar, I grab her arm, ignoring the string of curses flying out of her mouth as I drag her up two flights of stairs and into the cinema room.

“Let me go!”

Slamming the door, I shove her aside as I snatch the remote control off the couch and press every button I can find until the screen comes to life with, of course, some shitty Katerina Romanov film. With Violet still chirping threats in my ear, I jack the volume up, then toss the remote across the room.

“Are you insane?” I yell, stalking toward her. “Every wall in this house has ears. Are you trying to get her busted?”

Understanding dawns across her face, and she crosses her arms in a huff. “Maybe I should. Maybe living dirt poor in Chula Vista is better than”—scowling, she waves a hand around the pretentious room, then toward me—“whatever this is.”

“What are you trying to say, Miss DeLuca?”

“I knew your reputation, and I still served my friend to you on a silver platter. But I didn’t think even you would sink as low as to take advantage of a woman with no memory of her past.”

I stiffen. “I don’t like what you’re insinuating, Violet.”

“And I don’t like what I’m seeing on my television, Dominic. I see the way she looks at you. She cares about you—more than she should. Funny,” she says, those heavily lined eyes narrowing to barely-there slits, “I see something very different in your eyes.”

Impossible. She’s just pissed she didn’t negotiate a finder’s fee, so she’s setting as many traps as she can, hoping I’ll fall into one.

“And what’s that, Miss DeLuca?”

“Dollar signs.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Is that right?”

Violet’s eyes flick toward the movie screen. “Angel is a wealthy woman now. Quite the cash cow for a man such as yourself.”

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