Chapter Forty-Seven Tiernan
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
TIERNAN
“The fuck you think you’re doing?”
Luca’s voice impaled my rage-fueled brain from behind my back.
I didn’t bother turning to face him. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Buying yourself a one-way ticket to prison. Five to seven years, I believe,” Luca said flatly.
“Pointing a gun to the pilot’s head and telling him to ‘go faster’ like it’s a roundabout ride at a zoo,” Achilles sighed. “Cunt move, even by your standards.”
I looked down to see the pilot trembling, his forehead slick with sweat. His crotch had a dark piss stain. Fucking amateur. I tucked my gun into my holster and kicked the pilot off his seat with the tip of my boot, taking his place.
Achilles popped his head into the cockpit. “What in the shit are you doing now?”
“He’s too slow. We’re not constrained by operational logistics of commercial airplanes. I don’t care if I burn through the fuel. We’re going at 700 mph.”
“The limit is 600 mph,” Luca pointed out.
“If the fucking sky police fines us, I’ll foot the bill.”
My hand flew to the overhead switch panel, increased the power, and gradually lowered the pitch attitude to maintain the altitude.
“Tell me you know what you’re doing.” Luca scrubbed his face tiredly.
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you mean it?”
“No.”
I took an aviation course, but never put in the flight time. My memory was a bit rusty on the ins and outs of it. But hey, we were still in the air, weren’t we?
“Are you going to kill all of us?” Achilles inquired indifferently. “If so, I’ll go ream the flight attendant’s ass, so at least I can die doing something I love.”
“Here.” I stood up and grabbed the pilot by the collar, dumping him back into his seat. “That’s better. Now that we’re at maximum speed, how about I’ll dig my gun into your temple to make sure you don’t decrease it, and you won’t bitch and moan to me about health and safety?”
He nodded, gulping.
_______
When we arrived at the private airport, I rushed into the Ferrantes’ Escalade and leaped out as soon as we hit the Manhattan traffic.
I stalked my way between the vehicles waiting at a red light to the front of the line and yanked a biker off his Ducati.
I wasn’t gonna wank around sitting at a standstill while Lila’s life was hanging by a thread.
I floored it to the hospital. As I pulled into a double park, a GMC truck zipped past, grazing my left side and slamming me against a lamppost. My right knee smashed into the concrete.
I limped my way into the hospital, dragging the leg as I did, ignoring horrified looks and Good Samaritans wanting to help.
I pushed a few nurses out of the lobby elevator to make room, both for myself and my psychotic meltdown.
By the time the elevator pinged open, my knee was the size of a fucking basketball.
I crawled the length of the corridor the rest of the way, bypassing Enzo and his little minions.
He was standing outside her door, yelling in Italian into his phone and ignoring his slithering, bleeding brother-in-law.
Was it my best look? No.
Did I give a shit? Also no.
Two of my soldiers were waiting by her door. I swung myself upright and stumbled inside.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
And there was Lila. My Lila.
So beautiful. So pale. So angelic I sometimes second-guessed she belonged to this ugly world.
Her eyes were closed. Her face was bruised. Her stomach was…intact?
I knew jack shit about pregnancies. The baby still seemed to be in there. But that didn’t mean he had a heartbeat or that he survived.
The sound of a toilet flushing came from an adjacent toilet, and Fintan got out, zipping his trousers. “Brother.”
We collapsed into a hug. It took everything inside me not to sob like a little bitch. Fintan was the first to disconnect.
“I’ll go call the doctor, yeah? He said he’s got some news.”
I nodded, advancing to Lila’s bed and taking her hand in mine. Cold. Frail. Hooked to so many tubes and strings.
I needed to find out who did this to her. Who drove the truck that hit them. I was going to kill that person in a way so painful it had yet to be invented.
“Darlin’.” I crouched down, pressing her hand to my lips. “This is the last time I’m leaving you for more than ten minutes. Whose stupid idea was that?”
The door swung open again. Fintan lumbered in with Dr. Delgwhatever. An overweight, bald man with the grace and poise of an elderly water buffalo.
“Mr. Callaghan. How do you do?”
“Take a wild fucking guess, Einstein.” I held my wife’s hand in mine like it was a grenade I didn’t want popping. “You’ve got news for me?”
“She came to earlier. She’s asleep now. We ran some cognitive tests and she seems alert and coherent. The operation, as you know, was successful.”
“And the baby?”
He cleared his throat, taking a step back just to be on the safe side. “He’s well. Strong heartbeat. We’re monitoring both of them.”
There wasn’t a word in the English dictionary for how I felt in that moment.
Relief. Joy. Unimaginable peace.
Escaping Igor’s hell was just another Tuesday in comparison to this.
“That’s good,” I said. “We want everyone in this room to make it out of this ordeal alive.”
Fintan shot me an alarmed glare. Yes, I did, in fact, just threaten a doctor in uniform.
“O-of course,” the doctor mumbled. “Please let me know if you have any further questions.”
“Will she be up soon?”
“She fell asleep an hour ago, so I think you have some time,” the doctor said.
“I’ll go see my sister, then.”
“She’s awake in the next room,” Fin said, his smile a little wobbly.
_______
“Your priorities have changed,” Tierney croaked.
She looked like shit.
Face swollen, lip busted, every inch of her flesh painted purple and blue.
I sat next to her bed, holding her hand. I didn’t deny it.
I came to Lila first.
And I would do it all over again if I had to.
She smiled sadly at my silent admission. “I heard the baby will be fine.”
“Physically, yes,” I drawled. “I’m going to be his father, so not too much hope for him in the other departments.”
“Will you?” she asked sleepily, her eyelids fluttering like keeping them open took a Herculean effort. “Be his father, I mean. The plan was to…what were your exact words? Unhand her as soon as she gave birth.”
“Plans change.”
Apparently, so do fucking I.
Tierney nodded silently, a tear escaping her black eye.
“What is it?” I leaned forward, thumbing the tear away. “You need more morphine? Food? Something to drink?”
She shook her head, her lower lip trembling. “Lila is your number one now, not me.”
I didn’t say anything, because her assessment was correct. She waited for the denial, and when one didn’t come, she continued. “As she should be. But I need someone to put me first.”
“I’m sure you’ll find—”
“That someone is myself.”
For the longest time, I protected Tierney like she was my own daughter. Now, I had a wife to think of. A son on the way. And if Tierney went to the feds, if she put Lila at risk and made me choose between them, I knew where I’d land. So did she.
“Tier.” I pressed her hand to the steady thrum of my heart. “It’s not too late to turn this ship around. Stop fighting. Settle down. Marry a powerful man. Let him take care of you, darlin’. You’ve fought your whole life. Isn’t it time you let go?”
I would let Achilles marry her. I could count on one hand the number of men who were able to handle this banshee, and he was one of them.
He’d take good care of her. Keep her safe.
And, in time, she might even show him all the broken pieces in her.
They could put them back together. Like a fucking 5,000-piece puzzle.
She shook her head.
“I’m tired of un-accidental car crashes. Of the smell of gunpowder and the taste of blood. Of striking alliances based on who can help me survive, not who I truly care for. Let me fight my way out of this world the way I see fit. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
Survive. I detested the word. It implied luck and a degree of victimhood.
“You survived nothing, sweetheart; everything you faced, you fought and overcame. You’ll brave this storm, too.”
“I can’t.” Tears streamed down her face, fast and steady now. “I have no more fight in me. I’m exhausted.”
“Tierney…”
“Please,” she breathed out. “Trust that I’ll keep you, Lila, and my nephew safe. Because I always will. I love you all to death. Let me sacrifice the Ferrantes to save myself. That’s all I ask.”
I squeezed her hand in mine.
A silent yes.
Then I let her go.