Chapter 167: Allergy

For one clean second, Elias seriously considered murdering Naomi Vale.

What was she yelling for?

If the woman he had practically set on the plate slipped away because Naomi could not keep her mouth shut, was she going to take responsibility for that?

Elias pretended he had not heard her.

There were plenty of people named Elias in the world. No one could prove Naomi meant him. As long as he did not answer, Yvonne Quinn would not find him.

That was basic survival logic.

"Elias?"

The voice came from the doorway, smooth and low, like the first sip of coffee in the morning. There was a clean chill inside it too, the kind that made a person wake up before they were ready. Magnetic, restrained, and unfairly intimate.

Elias’s body betrayed him with a faint shiver.

Damn it.

Was this the first time Yvonne had called him by name? It had to be. The effect was a full level above her normal speaking voice. A perfectly ordinary name sounded obscene in her mouth, not because she tried to make it that way, but because her voice seemed built to lean close to someone’s ear in the dark.

Elias shook his head once, hard.

He was losing focus.

That was exactly why he could not let her catch him like this. If he wanted to hear Yvonne say his name in bed later, he needed to keep his bright, harmless college-boy act intact now.

Maybe, if the mission went beautifully, he could push her a little further.

Maybe he could get her to call him something even more dangerous.

Husband, for example.

Naomi glanced toward the doorway, then back at him. "What, Dr. Quinn knows my friend?"

"Friend?" Yvonne’s voice held the faintest suggestion of a smile. "I do know someone by that name."

Elias’s steps stopped.

She remembered him.

So the work he had put in had not been wasted. She remembered him clearly enough to react to his name. Then why had she shut him out afterward? Why had she stopped even letting him see her?

No. Wrong time.

He needed to hide before the whole act collapsed.

Naomi crossed the room before he could retreat properly and caught his sleeve. "Come on. I’ll introduce you to Dr. Quinn."

Elias turned his head slowly and stared at her.

Was she sick?

Was there something wrong with her brain?

He wanted to snap at her, loudly and with feeling, but Yvonne was too close. If he opened his mouth now, the damage might be permanent. He could only widen his eyes at Naomi and glare as hard as humanly possible.

The problem was that his face did not have the killing power he wanted it to have.

Naomi looked at him for two seconds, then laughed. "What, are you shy? She’s a famous doctor. If you know her, then the next time your mom, dad, relatives, friends, or whoever needs help, you’ll have a real miracle worker on speed dial."

Elias’s glare sharpened.

Let go, or even Yvonne Quinn will not be able to put you back together.

Naomi, naturally, understood none of it.

In her mind, dragging Elias out had two purposes. First, she wanted to see whether this Elias really was the one Dr. Quinn knew. Second, whether she admitted it or not, she wanted to show him off a little.

With that face, Elias would be the center of attention anywhere.

Bringing him out in front of a friend was the kind of thing that made a person look good.

They wrestled in near silence for a few seconds, Naomi pulling, Elias resisting without making enough noise to expose himself.

Then Yvonne spoke again.

"It’s all right. If he doesn’t want to come out, there’s no need to force him."

Her tone was calm, almost indifferent. It sounded as if she had no interest in whoever Naomi had called Elias.

But Elias heard the problem immediately.

She knew.

Yvonne had realized it was him. And because she had realized it was him, she could also understand why he was hiding.

Several curses crossed Elias’s mind in rapid succession. None of them helped.

Now he had to go out.

If he stayed hidden after that, he would look guilty.

Elias shook Naomi’s hand off his sleeve and lowered his voice. "Fine. I’ll go. Happy?"

All he could do was hope Yvonne failed to recognize him properly.

With glasses and without glasses, he was practically two different people. That had worked before. It could work again.

Naomi’s eyes brightened with the obvious pleasure of someone who had just successfully created drama.

Elias followed her to the front of the apartment.

At the doorway, he kept his head lowered for a moment before slowly lifting his face.

Yvonne Quinn stood outside in loose clothes that had no business looking that composed. Without her white coat, she should have seemed more ordinary, more approachable. Instead, the absence of clinical armor only made the contrast worse. Her gold-rimmed glasses rested neatly on her nose. Her lips were faintly pink, her expression cool, and her features carried a clean, controlled beauty that did not need makeup or a hospital corridor to feel dangerous.

She looked like the kind neighbor who would ask whether you had eaten.

She also looked like the kind of neighbor who knew exactly where to press a needle.

Elias drew his gaze back before it lingered too long.

Do not look impressed. Do not look weak. Do not look like you have been thinking about her voice for the past thirty seconds.

Please, please, please do not recognize me.

"Mr. Kane."

Elias’s expression froze.

Then, with heroic effort, he produced his brightest, most harmless smile. "Dr. Quinn. What a coincidence."

[System Theta: ...]

For once, System Theta seemed to run out of useful commentary.

Behind Elias, Naomi looked left, then right, then left again. Her face shifted from surprise into open fascination. "You two really do know each other?"

"Yes," Yvonne said.

Her gaze remained on Elias. Her expression did not change, which somehow made it worse.

Elias, on the other hand, knew exactly how different he looked right now compared with the image he had built in front of her before. Naomi noticed too. Her interest sharpened.

So this was how Elias stepped across several boats at once?

Different woman, different face.

Naomi wondered whether the version he showed her was fake too.

If Elias had known what she was thinking, he would have told her to stop flattering herself.

He already wanted to bury her under the kitchen floor. She still thought she had made it to the strategy board?

Dream on.

Yvonne did not ask why Elias was here. She did not glance around Naomi’s apartment in a way that made the situation worse. She only lifted her chin slightly and said, "Go eat breakfast."

The sentence was too natural. Too calm.

Naomi raised her brows.

The way Yvonne said it almost made it sound like she had cooked the breakfast herself and Elias was the one delaying.

Yvonne turned and left.

Only after the door closed did Elias let out a breath he had not realized he was holding. Then he slowly turned toward Naomi.

Naomi had already noticed something else.

Her eyes drifted to his throat. Her expression became spectacular.

She pointed at her own neck.

Elias frowned. "What?"

Naomi’s mouth twitched as if she was trying very hard not to laugh.

A bad feeling moved through him.

He went straight back to the bathroom, stood in front of the mirror, and pulled his collar aside.

There they were.

Red marks scattered across the pale skin of his neck. Some faint, some darker. All of them deeply, viciously visible.

Serena Blackwood’s work.

And Yvonne had seen them.

Elias’s face slowly settled into perfect blankness.

Wonderful.

Absolutely wonderful.

How was he supposed to keep playing the sunny, clean, innocent college boy in front of Yvonne now?

He came out of the bathroom and headed straight for the kitchen.

Naomi followed him, still entertained. "What are you looking for now?"

A knife.

Elias did not say that out loud.

Naomi leaned against the counter, then seemed to remember something. "Oh, right. Don’t use the faucet in here. The pipe’s messed up, and water leaked into Dr. Quinn’s place downstairs. That’s why she came up."

Elias paused.

Yvonne lived downstairs?

Then if Yvonne lived downstairs, did that mean Sera lived here too? She was Yvonne’s neighbor, which meant she should be right across from her.

What kind of ridiculous luck was this?

For a moment, Elias felt both delighted and deeply annoyed.

Delighted, because two rotten women living near each other made future work much easier. He could visit one door, cross the hall, and visit the other. Efficient. Beautiful. Practically a gift from the Bureau for once.

Annoyed, because his persona had just crashed in front of Yvonne before he had even started. He had no idea whether it could still be saved.

Then he thought of something. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Yvonne was probably like Giselle. Untouched. Inexperienced. Clinically brilliant, yes, but maybe not the kind of woman who would immediately recognize what the marks on his neck meant.

Maybe she thought it was a rash.

Maybe she thought he had an allergic reaction.

Elias straightened.

No. He had to go see her.

He could tell her he was allergic to something and ask her to take a look.