Lorenzo
Quinn is watching me as I cross to the bed, she doesn't say anything, but she knows what’s about to happen. She's been reading me long enough now to know what I’m thinking and feeling. I think she could see right through me from the very first moment, or at least see some part of me.
When I reach her, I put my hand on her face, and I look at her for a moment.
God, I fucking love this woman. I never thought I could love anyone, but Quinn came into my life and knocked me on my ass.
She’s in this hospital bed, and I could have lost her.
That’ll never happen again. Today, I’m going to ensure the biggest threat to her ends.
"I'll come back," I promise her.
"I know," she says.
I press a kiss to her forehead and my lips linger there, reveling in the touch of her. Then I straighten, nod once to my father, and walk out. Ciro falls into step beside me in the corridor without being asked.
The phone call I received wasn’t one that I had been expecting. It was from Danil Morozov. He had information for me. His brother, Rurik, has Daire’s location. He gave me a meeting point, letting me know we won’t be alone, that he’s called Daithí Delaney and Prior King also.
The meeting point is in an abandoned library and I glance around as I walk toward the men. I can’t help but think that both Quinn and Valentina would be in absolute heaven at the sheer amount of books that are still in here.
Everyone is here already, Danil, Rurik, Prior, and Daithí. They’re all seated at a table, I sink down onto a seat and Ciro takes the chair to my right.
I don't waste time. I want to get back to Quinn as soon as possible, but I need my wife safe, which means I need to be here. "Tell me," I demand.
Rurik's gaze meets mine. "You were right."
I don't react. "About what?"
"Daire," he says as he drags a hand across his jaw. "The baby wasn't mine."
I had a meeting with Danil about a month ago and laid everything out on the table of what we uncovered about Daire and her plans, along with the way she’d whore herself out for any scrap of information.
Danil was beyond pissed, especially as the bitch is pregnant with what everyone believed was Rurik’s baby.
I cautioned Danil to get a paternity test.
“No wonder she’s gone to ground,” Daithí comments. “She’s got no one to fall back on.” He shakes his head and sighs. “How did you find out?” He asks Rurik.
Rurik’s jaw tightens, and he glances down at his closed fists on the table. “After the warning Danil got about Daire’s activities, we weren’t waiting around,” he turns to Daithí. “She didn’t want the test, but after what we were told, she didn’t have a choice. The results came in this morning.”
Nobody says anything, and I'm wondering if there’s anything that Daire hasn’t lied about. Christ, she’s a fucking bitch, and I’m so fucking glad that our engagement was broken. I’ve got everything I could have ever dreamed of in Quinn, and Daire’s life lies in tatters.
"She swore it was mine," Rurik says bitterly.
I feel a twinge of guilt for the man. He was played like a fucking fiddle by her, but that guilt doesn’t extend further than that. He tried to fuck me over, she was my fiancée, but fuck, I should be fucking glad that he did what he did.
"She swore a lot of things," Prior says dryly.
Rurik nods. "Yeah, don’t I fucking know it." He glances around the table and sighs. “We think she’s got someone else in our ranks that she’s been getting information from.”
That’s news to me and yet not surprising. “How did you come to that conclusion?”
“Our father and I discovered there was a leak,” Danil says, looking at his brother. “We didn’t suspect Rurik, so we planted some false leads to see what would be leaked. A group of about five of our men are on our list.”
I nod. “One of your false leads was leaked?”
“Yeah, and before we could plant more, Rurik came to me about his and Daire’s relationship and what she was trying to extract from him. Of all the things that were leaked, only two came from Rurik, which means there’s at least one leak in our ranks.”
Fuck.
That's not what any of us need.
Frederick and Gregory disappearing is bad enough. Knowing there's still a leak somewhere inside the Morozov organization just makes everything worse.
I look across the table at Prior. He's leaned back in his chair, one ankle resting on his opposite knee, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.
The bored expression is bullshit, though.
Prior misses nothing. The only time he has anything other than a bored look is when guns are involved.
The man is the biggest gun smuggler in the USA.
"How's it going on your side?" I ask. "Any progress?"
Prior's gaze shifts to me. "Nothing concrete." Daithí curses under his breath and Prior shrugs. "I've been running a blackout for three weeks. Restricted communications and limited movement. Nobody gets information they don't need."
"And?"
"Nothing's moved."
I frown. "Meaning?"
"Meaning either the leak is smarter than we thought, or they're sitting tight until they think the heat is gone."
Neither option is particularly appealing. "What about your brothers?" I ask.
Prior's expression hardens slightly. "I trust my people, especially my brothers."
Daithí snorts. "We all trust our people. That's how this shit happens."
Prior's mouth twitches. Fair point.
"What about your brothers?" I ask.
Prior glances down at the table before looking back at me. "Scanter and Miller are currently in the Middle East. Scanter’s fighting and Miller’s gone with him. Although, I wouldn’t be shocked if he found a race to get involved in.”
Prior’s brothers aren’t blood brothers. They all lived in foster homes, but the homes were fucking shit, and the boys grew a bond that would rival any blood bond.
Scanter is an underground fighter, one of the best. He’ll take on anyone and win.
I've seen the man fight. I’ve won a lot of money by betting on him.
Miller is a street racer, a damned good one, and like his brother, he’s made me richer when I bet on him.
“And Landon?” I ask, talking about the youngest King brother.
“He’s still in Vegas," Prior says, leaning back into his seat.
"Do they know any of this?"
He shakes his head, hard and fast. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't trust the lines." Prior folds his arms across his chest. "When I know communications are secure, I'll bring them in, not before."
I nod, it makes sense. The King brothers aren't people you drag into a situation blind, especially not one like this. There's more behind Prior's answer than he's saying out loud, but this isn't the meeting for it.
We've got bigger problems sitting in front of us.
I turn my attention back to Rurik.
"Where is she?"
Rurik's expression hardens immediately. "I tracked her phone after she contacted me."
Daithí goes still. "She contacted you?"
Rurik nods. "Last night."
"What did she want?" Prior asks.
"Money, and protection." Rurik's mouth twists into a disgusted snarl. "She wanted me to help her disappear."
A laugh escapes Daithí, but there's no humor in it. "Of course she did."
Rurik reaches into his jacket and pulls out a folded piece of paper.
He slides it across the table, toward me. I unfold it and see that it’s an address in New Hampshire. Exactly the sort of place someone like Daire would think was safe.
"She's there now?" I ask.
Rurik nods once. "Unless she moved in the last two hours."
I look at the address. Then at Rurik. "Why tell us?"
Rurik's jaw tightens and I can see that he’s had enough of the bullshit. "Because she almost killed an innocent woman."
“How do you know that?" I ask, my grip tightens on the paper.
“That was another reason she called. To gloat about what she had done to Quinn.”
Daithí shoots to his feet. “What the fuck did she do to Quinn?”
Rurik holds my gaze. “I’ll let you be the bearer of bad news,” he says as he gets to his feet. “I’ll be glad to see the back of that bitch,” he spits as he stalks away from the table.
“Call me if you need me,” Danil says, giving us all a nod before he follows his brother.
“Same,” Prior rumbles as he gets to his feet. “This shit is coming to an end.” He glances at the exit where the Morozov brothers have just exited. “I don’t trust them. They’re too fucking slick. If they’re involved in this, I won’t hesitate to take them out.”
I nod. “You won’t be alone,” I assure him. “We’ll take out everyone who’s involved in this shit. No one lives to tell the tale.”
The grin he gives is sinister. This is the shit he gets off on.
"Fucking tell me what happened to Quinn," Daithí snaps. "Is she hurt?"
The door closes behind Prior and silence settles over the library.
I look at Daithí, and see that he's already pacing. He’s agitated and worried.
I know exactly how he feels. "Daire poisoned her."
Daithí stops moving. "What?"
"She had Bruno put peanuts in Quinn's food."
His face drains of color. "No."
I nod, swallowing hard to push the memories back. "She went into anaphylaxis."
"Jesus Christ." His hand drags through his hair. "Daire did that?"
The disbelief lasts all of two seconds, then reality catches up. Because we all know Daire, we all know exactly what she's capable of.
"She stopped breathing." My words come out wretched.
Daithí drops into a chair, hard. He looks like he might be sick.
"How close?"
I don't answer immediately, because I don't want to think about it, because every time I do, I see Quinn on the floor. I hear her struggling for air, and I remember the panic that nearly swallowed me whole.
"The first EpiPen didn't work."
"Fuck," he sucks in a deep breath, his eyes wide and glassy.
"Yeah."
Daithí closes his eyes. I watch him pull in a few deep breaths before he turns back to me. "Is she okay?"
I nod. "She's okay," I assure him. "She's pregnant."
Daithí freezes. "What?"
"Eight weeks."
For a second he just stares at me, then he laughs. It’s a short, disbelieving sound. "Quinn's pregnant?"
I nod.