Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Rush
We get Emma to bed and then we retreat to Gigi’s room. I lay down on the bed, every muscle aching.
Gigi comes into the room, carrying a glass of water and more ibuprofen. She sets them on the side table next to me and then brushes the hair back from my face.
I smile up at her. “I want you to sleep tonight, sweetheart. Like you haven’t got a care in the world because you don’t. I’m going to take care of everything.”
Her brow crinkles. “Don’t be silly.”
“Silly?” This was not the reaction I was expecting.
“I want to be your partner, Rush. Personally. You know, it’s probably good you fired me.”
“I’m not firing you,” I answer back, scowling.
“Oh. I see.” But she’s still stroking my hair back from my face. “It’s just that at work, it’s my job to do what you say, nod and smile…”
Ah, now I understand what we’re discussing. “Trust me, sweetheart. I might like to tell you what to do in the bedroom. And in the office, it’s my way. But in the rest of life…”
“Oh good. In that case, take your ibuprofen.”
I chuckle as I prop myself up on an elbow, grabbing the pills and swallowing them down. Truthfully, I could use all the help I can get.
I chug the water and then pat the bed next to me. She climbs in, laying on her side, and I curl around her, cradling her body into mine.
Just being this close to her makes me feel better.
Our fingers lace together, tucked against her belly. I feel like I could lay like this for a week. Recover.
But there is no rest for the weary.
I’m not going to tell Gigi what I plan to do. Gigi says she wants to be my partner. I love that. But when it comes to her safety, I will take all the hits, and I will keep all the secrets.
I don’t begrudge her the ones she kept from me. Now that I know, I can see what she was doing. Protecting her daughter.
That’s a mother’s job, even if it was at my expense.
I kiss the top her head even as she sighs, sounding like she’s already asleep.
That makes me smile and my body relaxes deeper into hers. I should go. If all goes to plan, Killian will be texting, and I don’t want Gigi to hear it.
But I can’t quite make myself leave.
I drift off, falling asleep with her tucked against me.
I wake to the sound of the ding. Fuck. I try to turn, but every muscle screams. The downside of letting Vigo kick my ass.
“Who is it?” Gigi slurs, lifting her head.
“No one, baby, go back to sleep.”
She lays her head back down as I slip from the bed, pocketing my phone. I already know what the message says.
Killian keeps a wealth of burner phones on hand. I’ve got one in my apartment. The message he sent to my regular phone will be something completely mundane. It doesn’t matter.
It’s the signal to check the other phone.
I leave Gigi’s apartment, locking the door behind me, just as Gris opens my apartment door. He got the text too.
“I thought you were coming back hours ago,” he says as he rubs his eyes. Had he fallen asleep on my couch?
We can’t move about most of the building, even the stairwells, without tripping cameras or signaling alarms.
“Fell asleep with Gigi,” I say as I walk in, closing and locking the door behind me. “That woman is too damned comfortable.”
Gris gives me a one-sided grin. “Right.”
Moving to my large bedroom with sweeping views of the city, I open my nightstand and pull out the other phone.
Sure enough, there is a single text message with an address.
I know the area, it’s deep in Sinclair territory.
“We doing this?” Gris asks from behind me.
“Yeah. We’re doing it.” I shake out my arms and pocket the phone. In my home office is a bookshelf that disguises a door. It leads to a set of back stairs that is not armed with cameras and runs on its own private alarms.
I turn that alarm off now, swinging the bookshelf open, that disguises the doorway, and unlock the door. “You’ve thought of everything,” Gris mutters.
The truth is, when I added this staircase, I didn’t know if I’d need it to get in or out of the building. But I knew I needed a secret entrance.
Gris and I start down the stairs. It’s a long way, but it gives me a chance to shake out my muscles.
When we reach the basement, I exit into the alley where a black sedan awaits. It’s not fancy, a reimagined Toyota Camry, actually. The point is that it’s meant to be unmemorable. Blend.
Gris climbs into the driver’s seat, starting the car. I use the burner to map the route. “Take a right up here.”
He nods, following my directions, otherwise, we’re both silent.
We stop at the address, we’re in an alley next to a vacant building as far as I can tell, when Gris cuts the engine.
From the shadows, Killian appears, his jacket flapping in the night.
“Fuck, he’s my brother, and sometimes he still scares the shit out me,” Gris mutters before he pops open the driver’s door.
He’s joking. I think.
I am not afraid of Killian and I never have been. It’s not that my brother isn’t a killer, but he’s always killed for all the right reasons.
This is not something most of society wants to face, but death is part of life, and it’s a man’s job to deliver it in order to provide for his family.
From hunting to war, we protect with our violence, to keep those we love safe and cared for.
He stops in front of the car, his stare unbroken as I climb from the car. “Brother.”
“Brother,” he replies. There is no softness in Killian now. No anger either. He is a machine.
I take a breath. That’s what I need to be too. A machine with one purpose. The destruction of Vigo Sinclair.
“Come,” he commands, turning to lead the way.
I don’t hesitate as I follow, shaking out my stiff legs.
Gris falls in behind me, as we weave our way through the dark streets, deftly avoiding any light.
I take note of the way Killian moves, how he chooses his path.
Killian is a man of shadow, for the most part, the rest of us live within the light. But he’s about to be a father…hell, so am I. Emma will be mine.
But what that means is that we must all take some of the dark for Killian’s sake and for that of our families.
“I can hear your thoughts from here,” Killian rumbles as he stops in a dark corner of an alley.
Ahead of us is a door with a single light above.
I softly snort. “Shut up.”
“You’re thinking that it’s your job to kill Vigo and that it’s time I wasn’t the only assassin in the family.”
I turn to him, my eyes wide. “How the fuck?”
“Your thoughts were loud,” he murmurs, like that explains anything. This is how he creeps people out. “You step up there. You make your point. But just know, brother, when it comes to men like Vigo, I was born for the dark.”
Killian talks cryptic. For a long time, we thought it might mean he was crazy. But now, I think I understand that Killian just sees the world differently and sometimes, his view is far more insightful. “I will be the man that protects my family.”
He dips his chin in acknowledgment of my words. “And I will be the man who makes sure you’re still protecting them tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.”
I open my mouth to argue, but it’s foolish. And…the door swings open.
I see two men I don’t recognize file out, moving through the alley with the assurance of men who are either drunk, or certain they are safe.
Probably both.
A few more men step into the light and I recognize them. Knox Sinclair and his brother Gunner. Knox is a huge man, muscled and broad, where Gunner is far leaner but just as tall.
I wouldn’t like my odds against either of them in a fist fight.
They move with care, alert, as they make their way to two of the parked cars.
A third Sinclair exits, Axel. Axel is the smallest of the brothers, not to say he’s small, but cars are his game, and he’s been known to street race, and even stunt drive in some movies.
He folds himself into a low-slung Maserati, a GranTurismo, and fires up the engine.
Just behind me, I feel Killian tense.
Axel pulls out, Knox and Gunner just behind him, as three more men come through into the alley.
I recognize Rock and Angel, Vigo stumbling between them.
Fuck.
He’s so drunk, the real challenge will be his nephews. I don’t care to hurt either of them, if I’m honest.
It’s not that I like them, it’s that I don’t know them. Are they the assets that have kept Vigo propped up in his seat of power, or are they more of the same?
It’s time to find out. Taking a breath, I step from the shadows…