‘Not only is Stirling here again, but now I think another one of them has come in,’ Casey said, her face ashen as she joined Ember in the kitchen. ‘Table six.’
Ember lost her grip on her pan for a moment, her attempt to catch it again nearly causing her to burn her hand in the flames.
‘Shit,’ Ember hissed, Casey instantly turning on the cold water tap in time for Ember to run her hand under it.
She was never that clumsy – ever. Her concentration was shot.
‘I’m so sorry!’ Casey said, dampening a towel to wrap around it.
‘I’m fine,’ Ember said, taking her hand from under the flow of the tap to prove it. ‘No damage done. I must have missed the flames.’
‘If all this blows your chances of leaving…’
‘It won’t,’ Ember reassured her, drying her hand off. She squeezed Casey’s hand. ‘Finish these eggs for me and I’ll see to table six.’
The café had been sombre all morning. The customers were already picking up on it.
It had been bad enough that Stirling had been back, his full attention on Casey again. Now there was the prospect of an additional one too.
Taking a calming breath, she headed back out behind the counter. She glanced over at table six to see the guy sat looking out of the window. His hands were interlaced on the table, his back straight, his long face tight and stern. Tall and thin, he was in a smart shirt and trousers, making him seem almost alien in that place. His glasses were small and round and perched high on the bridge of his nose.
But he wasn’t sat with Stirling.
And then it clicked: they said they could check up on her at any point.
As his eyes immediately met hers, it was as if he’d been waiting for her attention specifically, further confirming her suspicion. She sent him a polite smile of acknowledgement before removing her order pad from her apron on her way over.
She tried to stop her hand from trembling as she took his order, her wary attention equally on Stirling as he summoned Casey again.
Stirling on one side and now someone from the authorities on the other. It couldn’t get any worse.
She registered the breeze from the door opening, but it took her a couple of seconds to finish with the spectacled guy before she glanced over her shoulder.
Her stomach somersaulted.
Avoiding her gaze as if she wasn’t even there, her stranger instead looked immediately to the table where Casey had since been tugged onto Stirling’s lap.
He’d come. That was all she could keep telling herself in the passing seconds: he’d changed his mind and he’d come. He’d thought better of her offer. For the first time since she’d received her news, she felt a glimmer of hope.
But rather than veering to an empty booth as he always did, he headed straight over to Stirling.
Her pulse picked up a notch. She wanted to tell him now was not the time – not with someone from the authorities sat right there.
He slipped into the same booth as Stirling, taking the seat opposite. And did what she rarely saw him do: her stranger smiled at him.
It was fleeting, a greeting, but the message behind it was clear: her stranger already knew Stirling. Not only did he know him but, from the way they ploughed straight into conversation, he was on friendly terms with him.
Her world closed in on her, faded black for a moment. Only when her chest ached did she realise she had stopped breathing.
‘Miss?’ she heard a distant voice say.
That’s why he’d been visiting there all that time: he’d been the one scouting the place. He’d been working for them. It might have been the very reason he’d gone to her apartment that night. Until she’d thrown him a curveball by saving him.
And now they were even – something he’d made abundantly clear more than once now. He owed her nothing. Owed nothing to the woman whose plan he now knew. Knew she wanted to put a contract out on his employers. Had gone against the Hordas clan’s instructions.
Bile formed at the back of her throat.
He had said nothing. He hadn’t even given her the slightest indication when she’d gone to him.
But he had warned her to drop it. He’d instructed her to forget she’d even asked.
‘Miss, a tea, please? Milk. No sugar.’
She glanced back down at the customer who now felt secondary to everything.
‘Sure,’ she managed to somehow say.
She headed over to the hot water machine. She started to fill the teapot.
Her throat constricted, she couldn’t consume enough oxygen. Her thighs turned weak and heavy. Perspiration coated her palms and the back of her neck. She pulled away. She used both hands against the wall to prevent her from falling over as she headed down the corridor to the toilets.
She shoved open the cubicle door and fell to her knees over the bowl. She vomited what little food she had consumed those last couple of days, until a hand on her back made her flinch.
‘Ember?’
She flushed the toilet as she struggled to her feet.
Not yet ready to meet Casey’s concerned gaze, she stepped over to the sink. She washed her hands and her face. She thoroughly rinsed her mouth out.
‘Yvonne said you went as white as a sheet. Are you OK?’
Ember raked her hands down her face as she fell back against the wall. ‘I think I’ve fucked up, Casey. I think I’ve fucked up really bad.’
‘What’s happened? What have you done?’ Her friend’s eyes were wide with worry. ‘Is it because of him? That guy who comes in here? He’s sat with Stirling. He knows him. Is that why he’s been coming here all this time? Has he been watching us for them?’
‘What were they saying?’
‘I don’t know. Stirling sent me away. All I know is that his name is Nate. That’s what Stirling called him.’
Nate.
‘I spoke to him last night. To Nate,’ Ember said. ‘I asked him to help with the Hordas clan.’
Casey frowned. ‘Help how?’
‘I tried to put a contract on their heads. I tried to pay him to do it.’
Casey’s eyes flared. Her jaw dropped. ‘You tried to pay him to kill them?’
‘I had no idea he’s involved with them.’
Casey cupped her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, fuck.’
‘I know.’
‘And he didn’t tell you?’
‘No. But why would he? He’s got me over a barrel. I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid, Case. I can’t believe I went to him.’
Casey grabbed hold of her upper arms. ‘We have to warn Harry.’
‘No. No, I need to talk to Nate first. I need to know what he’s planning. Harry’s got enough to worry about. And you mustn’t say anything, Casey. Promise me. Not until I know more. I’ll see if I can get him alone. I’ll see if I can find out what he’s playing at.’
‘I’m not sure, Ember. This is not good.’
‘I got us into this. I’ll get us out of it.’
But by the time she’d made it out to the counter again, Stirling and Nate had gone.
And so had her spectacled visitor.