Chapter 29
ROOK
That night, I arrived home to a quiet apartment. Finn sat on the sofa scrolling through his phone, but no sign of Asha.
“Heya, Boss.” Finn stood and straightened his clothes.
I nodded. “Where is she?”
“Still workin’.” He hooked a thumb toward Asha’s office. “Dedicated, that one.”
More like she was motivated to be done with me. “Any trouble?”
“From her? Nah. She’s a good lass. You’ve done well to put a ring on her.”
I tossed my jacket over a barstool. “Thanks for staying late. I can take it from here.”
“No problem. See you in the mornin’.”
Finn left, so I went down the hallway to find Asha. She wasn’t at her desk, but noises came from behind the recording studio door, which stood ajar.
“Hello,” I called out so as not to startle her.
“In here.”
I followed Asha’s voice and pushed the door open the rest of the way.
“Just rearranging a few things,” she said.
“Need a hand?”
“No thanks. I’m almost finished.” She plugged a cable into the back of her laptop. “There. Done.”
“Have you eaten?”
“No.” She checked her phone and made a surprised face. “I didn’t realize it was so late.”
“Come on. I’ll fix us something.”
“You don’t have to keep feeding me.”
“I’ll keep feeding you until you start looking after yourself.”
Asha rolled her eyes but followed me to the kitchen, where I directed her to sit at a barstool behind the island. I pulled out two of the chef-prepared meals stocked in my refrigerator for when I was too tired to cook.
I read the labels. “Herb-crusted rack of lamb with parsnip puree and glazed baby carrots, or grilled salmon with lemon-basil butter, roasted potatoes, and charred asparagus?”
“Those sound great, but would you mind grabbing the take-out bag on the middle shelf? I’ll have leftover Chinese from lunch. There’s plenty for you, too, if you want to share.”
I froze. “I’ll pass.”
The thought of even touching the bag made my gut churn.
I knew the smell would hit me the second I peeled it open—sweet soy, greasy sesame—and I’d be back there.
Belfast. A shitty plastic chair in a red-lantern dive, chopsticks in one hand and my phone clenched in the other while Aidan delivered news that shattered my world. I couldn’t do it. Not tonight.
“Can you plate your own?” I asked. “I’ll heat mine up after.”
“Sure.” She rose from her seat and grabbed the containers from the fridge, scooped portions onto a plate, then popped it into the convection microwave.
While it reheated, I moved to the buffet unit that housed my whiskeys and grabbed the closest one. I needed it tonight.
“Drink?” I held up a cut-crystal tumbler.
“I’ll just have water.” She grabbed a cold bottle from the refrigerator.
I poured myself a Glenmorangie. “Slainte,” I said before I downed it in one gulp. I brought the decanter with me to the kitchen and poured myself another. It disappeared as fast as the first.
“Rough day?”
“Something like that.”
Knowing that the bastard who’d had Niall killed was still breathing made me look at the world differently. Every person I passed on the street could be the one we searched for. I kept racking my brain—who was the Soul Collector? Someone Niall had crossed? A rival?
Christ, it could even be one of the Beasts.
The thought sickened me, but we couldn’t rule out any possibilities.
Then there’d been the tense phone call from Torin after he’d found out how I’d gotten Asha to work for us. The words lapse of judgment and terrible optics were thrown around, but when he ended the call with Don’t fuck this up, I figured that was as close to a blessing as I’d ever get.
Asha’s eyes darted to the scrapes on my knuckles.
I’d taken my frustrations out on a guy in my crew who’d been five minutes late and another who’d told me to calm down.
I really needed to hit Aidan’s gym to blow off some steam.
My cousin would understand, and he was one of the few people who could put me on my arse if I sparred too aggressively.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Asha asked.
I arched a brow. “Aren’t you being the good wife?”
“I’m being a good human being. You should try it sometime.”
And that was the kicker. Asha was a good person.
She’d dedicated her life to solving the unsolvable, the forgotten cases that’d been thrown in the too-hard basket by the cops.
She sought to bring peace to families who were living their worst nightmare and to take down the monsters who’d caused that pain.
Monsters who weren’t so different from me.
I took two sets of cutlery from the kitchen drawer and laid them on the counter. “I don’t want to talk about my day, but I’d like to hear about yours.”
When the microwave chimed, I took Asha’s dinner out and placed it in front of her, working hard not to gag at the smell.
I must’ve made a face, because Asha eyed me strangely. “What is it? You don’t like Chinese food?”
“It’s not that. It’s just…I can’t eat it.”
One side of her mouth tilted up. “Tough guy got a sensitive stomach?”
I pressed my lips together but didn’t answer. Instead, I turned to put my meal in the microwave, not sure if I even had an appetite anymore.
“What’s wrong with my food, Rook?” Her tone turned serious.
“It’s nothing.”
“Is it drugged?”
I spun fast to face her. “No. Christ. Why would I do that?”
“Excuse me for being suspicious when I’m still pissed at you for slipping me a Xanny the other night.”
“Your food isn’t drugged.”
She dropped her fork, folded her arms across those perfect tits, and leaned back in the seat. “I’m not touching it until you tell me why your face looks like you served me dumpster sludge.”
I hesitated. The truth ached behind my clenched teeth, but I knew I’d have to tell her someday. Maybe not the whole story, not all at once. But this part? This part she deserved.
I let out an exasperated sigh. “It reminds me of the night Niall was murdered.”
She stared at me with the look of confusion I’d expected.
I didn’t want to explain myself, but I did it anyway.
“I was at a Chinese restaurant in Belfast when I learned he’d been killed.
That was the night everything changed.” That was the night I’d changed.
“One minute, I was laughing and drinking with friends; the next, my world imploded.” I drained the next shot of whiskey, eager for its effects to spread through my veins.
Asha’s gaze softened. Her posture changed, shoulders losing their tension, as if she suddenly saw me differently. Not as a captor, but as something a little more human.
She pushed her plate to the side. “The smell makes you feel sick, doesn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Why did you order it for me, then?”
“It’s your favorite.”
“Rook, you should’ve said something.”
“I need to get over this nonsense. It’s weak. Pathetic.”
“It’s none of those things; it’s trauma. And having feelings isn’t weak or pathetic.” Asha rose from her seat, went to the trash, and scraped the food from her plate. Then she removed my salmon from the microwave and put in the lamb.
After setting the timer and hitting Start, she met me at the island, resting her hip against the counter.
“I was in a nasty car accident when I was a kid. The sedan lay in a ditch on its roof. Mom was unconscious. I remember the smell of gas, and being terrified we’d burst into flames before help arrived.
Still can’t fill up a car without wanting to vomit.
” She sighed and reached for my glass of whiskey.
She took a small sip and returned it to the counter with an appreciative moan.
“That’s good. I almost feel bad about smashing that decanter. ”
“I deserved it.”
“You did.” Asha slid the whiskey back to me. “I spent today going through the records you gave me and didn’t find anything suspicious. Is it all right if I ask you some questions about Niall now?”
I nodded. “Shoot.”
“What makes you think the Albanians didn’t order his hit?”
“One of their crew, Besnik Shehu, fled to Mexico and was interrogated recently by some associates. That’s when the Soul Collector came up.”
“So whoever had your brother killed must’ve known it’d trigger a war between the Beasts and the Albanians. Do you think that was their end goal?” Asha voiced the very question that’d been plaguing my mind.
“I don’t know.” I took a sip of whiskey, turning the glass so my lips met the spot where Asha’s had been.
“If they wanted to pick a fight with the Beasts, why target Niall? Why not Torin or Aidan?”
“Security is tight on Torin, so he’s hard to get at.
And Aidan would be tough to bring down because he’s a wily bastard and can fight better than anyone I know.
I’m guessing Niall was chosen since he was the easiest target and his loss would hurt us.
Maybe even more than if Torin were assassinated. ”
“How so?”
The microwave beeped, but we both ignored it.
“Niall made money for the Beasts hand over fist. He saw opportunities where others didn’t and found ways to make our income sources legitimate.
The power that came with the financial position Niall put us in is what got us to the top.
Aidan and I, we’re the muscle—a necessary part of our business—but none of us can do what Niall did. ”
I took Asha’s food from the microwave and handed it to her, along with fresh cutlery.
“Thanks,” she said. “Did your brother have any grudges? Anyone he’d upset?”
“He never mentioned anything. He was rarely involved in the messy side of business, so there was no reason for anyone to have a personal vendetta against him.”
Asha held my stare. “The way he was killed feels pretty personal.”
I gritted my teeth. “Aye.”
“Would it be all right to look over Niall’s finances?”
“To look for what?”
Asha shrugged. “Anything unusual. I’d also like details of his vehicle registrations, any assets he owned, phone records, previous relationships.
Anything that might give me insight into his day-to-day dealings and movements.
It’s part of my process. Sometimes I learn more from the victim than the crime.
Then, it’s a matter of piecing it all together. ”
Digging up the past might get uncomfortable, but if it helped Asha with the case, I’d face those ghosts. “I can get you everything you need.”
We ate in a heavy silence for a while until Asha swallowed and asked, “Can you tell me about Niall?”
“What do you want to know?”
She shrugged. “Anything, really.”
“He was never supposed to join a gang; that’s for damn sure.
He was smart. Like proper genius-level smart with numbers.
One year, he came home from college for the holidays.
I’d gotten involved with the Beasts, and he begged to tag along with me to a meeting.
The crazy bastard was half nerd, half adrenaline junkie.
He got off on the thrill of danger. Fearless, same as me.
“I thought it would be harmless. He’d go back to college and forget all about that shite.
But one of the senior Beasts clocked how clever Niall was and asked him to run their books, find new ways to launder their cash and the like.
That turned into helping them grow their finances and make business decisions.
Soon, he was making them more money than they’d ever seen.
The Beasts’ golden boy. I tried to convince him to return to college, but he wouldn’t hear it.
Not that Conor, the boss back in Ireland, would’ve let him go. He’d become too valuable.”
Asha nodded and shifted food around with her fork.
“Fast forward a few years,” I continued.
“The Wolf Street Mafia collapsed and Philly became a free-for-all. The Beasts already had a crew here—Torin and Aidan had been running guns and other business—so Conor saw his shot. He sent Niall and a few others from Belfast to shore up Torin’s crew.
That’s how Philly became the Beasts’ stronghold in the States.
With Torin’s power, Aidan’s connections, and Niall’s brains, they were unstoppable.
Until we were all blindsided by Niall’s murder. ”
She poked at her food. “And you blame yourself.”
I shrugged. “Niall wouldn’t have joined if it weren’t for me.
He was destined for better things, you know?
A different life. He was the first person in our family to go to college.
Got a free ride with a fancy scholarship and all.
Niall was more at ease in front of a computer than holding a weapon.
Which is why I should’ve been here to protect him.
Instead, I was halfway across the world when he needed me.
Now, I’ve brought you into this world, too.
You belong here as much as Niall did. That’s why I’m keeping you close.
I can’t have another soul on my conscience. ”
She looked up then, and a flash of something like pity crossed her features. Not sympathy, exactly, but recognition that the man opposite her was stitched from a thousand messy mistakes and more losses than one person ought to endure.
Asha sighed and dropped her fork. “Rook.”
“No.” I held up a palm. “I’ve done a shitty thing to you. I know that. I don’t expect you to feel bad for me, and I don’t expect you to make my life easier. But I need you, Asha. There’s no other way to get to the bottom of this. No one else I can trust.”
She stared at me, weighing me up, as if every answer to tonight’s questions had been some kind of test.
Her fingers curled into loose fists on the table. “Goddammit, gangster. All right, I’ll help you. Don’t make me regret it.”
It sounded like a warning, but I heard the promise hidden beneath.
Asha would try to find the Soul Collector. Willingly.
And after everything I’d done, that was more than I deserved.