Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Sofia waited for a stab of jealousy. But it seemed she’d managed to ultimately stifle her emotions.
Huh.
Well, that was probably for the best.
“What were you thinking? Why did you leave the house?” Rogan asked her.
“I got a call. The person said Sofia would die unless I came with them. And that if I told anyone, they’d kill her. So I quickly wrote the note, hoping they weren’t able to see me. I’m sorry.”
“Do you think Callahan had anything to do with this?” Colm asked.
“They never mentioned him,” Miller said.
Sofia shook her head.
Step Callahan.
Leader of the Seven Sinners.
She swallowed heavily. Thankfully, he’d never been on her radar until recently. He was the last person she wanted to see.
Well, other than Oleg, she guessed. Oleg had recently arranged for Miller to talk to Step Callahan at Solynshko.
Well, forced might be a better word for it.
Sofia didn’t like that. She was in charge of keeping her staff safe, and that bastard had just waltzed in and done what he wanted.
Typical.
Wait. Calm. Don’t let your anger slip through.
“I think Arnie acted on his own with Oleg,” Miller said. “Arnie didn’t care about the ransom money. That was Oleg’s thing. Arnie just really wanted you dead. He was driving the car that tried to run you off the road,” she told him.
Rogan rubbed his hand over his face. “Thank God you left a note. If we hadn’t had that time advantage . . .”
“Did you see the tattoo on his arm?” Sofia asked quietly. It was playing over and over in her mind.
The tattoo.
That damn image.
“On Arnie’s arm?” Miller asked. “You looked like you’d seen a ghost when you saw it.”
“I’ve seen something similar before,” Sofia told her.
“What did it look like?” Rogan asked.
“Three concentric circles, one white, one black, and one red. Inside the circles was a sword dripping with blood,” Sofia described it.
Rogan nodded. “His gang tattoo. The Seven Sinners each choose a sin as their tattoo. The three more common ones are greed, pride, and wrath, which is the most popular choice and the one you saw.”
“So a lot of people have that tattoo?” Sofia asked.
Crap. How had she not known that?
Maybe because you have nothing to do with the Seven Sinners. Because you avoid Step Callahan.
Although she didn’t think he knew her secret.
If he did, surely he would have used it against her. She knew that. And her world would have collapsed.
But she didn’t believe in tempting fate.
Sacha would never have allowed the Seven Sinners to get close to her. Although he couldn’t have factored in Oleg’s betrayal.
Perhaps if she had seen that tattoo before now, she might have . . .
Might have what? Pieced things together?
“I suppose. Why?” Rogan asked curiously.
Should she tell him?
Well, what did it matter now?
“Because I’ve been dreaming about it for months now. I even started drawing it. I’m obsessed with it. I’ve been having these dreams that I’m in a forest looking for someone. Then I hear this loud noise. I’m scared, terrified. Sometimes, the dream ends there, and I wake up. But lately, they’ve kept going. I see this man. He falls to the ground in front of me, but his face is blurry. The only thing I can really see is the tattoo. Then I take off running. I’m trying to find someone when I run into this woman.” Sofia stared at Miller. She’d always thought she looked familiar. But she hadn’t dreamed of the other woman’s face until today in the hospital. Why hadn’t it been clear until now?
Frustration bit at her. But then why would someone who looked like Miller be involved? That made no sense.
Ugh, you are completely losing it, Sofia.
“She kind of reminds me of you.”
Miller frowned. “Did the woman appear in your dreams before or after you met me?”
Huh.
That was a good point. Now that she thought about it, Sofia realized that when Miller showed up, it wasn’t the first time the woman had been in her dreams. Just that she’d never been so clear before.
“Before.”
Miller stood and Rogan reached up for her hand. “Where are you going?”
“To get something. I’ll be back in a minute.”
When she returned, she held an old-looking silver locket, which she handed to Sofia. “Is this the woman?”
Sofia stared down at the picture. It was faded and tiny. “It’s hard to tell. The picture’s so small, and my memory is kind of fuzzy. But, yeah, it looks like her. This was your mother?”
“Yes. She was murdered fifteen years ago. They never caught her killer.”
“Around the same time that Gerard Callahan disappeared,” Rogan said.
Sofia glanced at them both. What were they trying to say? Who was Gerard Callahan? Maybe a relative of Step Callahan?
And his disappearance was somehow tied to Miller’s mother?
“Gerard was the former leader of the Seven Sinners and Step Callahan’s father,” Miller explained, obviously seeing her confusion. “I’m surprised you don’t know this already.”