29. Finn
Chapter 29
Finn
Alone with myself, I force out a heavy breath.
I’ve been conscious for less than ninety minutes. And in that time, I’ve heard a full account of the past three days, starting from what I can remember, all the way to the present. The doctor said I’m due to be discharged today, pending the results of a few tests, which nurses have already conducted. The pain in my abdomen is still well under the control of the painkillers in my bloodstream.
Wish I could keep this numbness.
What I’ve resolved to do is going to hurt.
Take the fight to Enzo. Destroy him. End him so brutally that no one with the last name De Luca will ever dare come after us again.
Nothing about my plan will be easy. Especially since I intend to go after him on my own. This is between us, after all. I beheaded the De Luca clan by killing Matteo. Murdering me is his brother’s best vengeance and not something he’ll leave to one of his foot soldiers.
As an enforcer, I know exactly what Enzo wants. Me, alive and well, so that he can take his sweet time torturing me to death. That’s what I’d want if he’d brutally slaughtered someone close to me.
My chest folds in on itself when I remember the stark and utter horror of the moment I thought Riley had perished. The reality set in for only a second, like the enormous, fanged mouth of a beast closing around my skull and ripping my head clean off.
The grotesque, excruciating pain of the bite—believing that Riley had died and that I was at fault—killed every single cell in my body at once, and I blacked out after that.
I saw red.
Riley told me what I was doing before I got stabbed. Choking the life out of some guy with my bare hands. I can’t even remember that. All I remember is thinking she was dead, and later, glimpsing her against an alley wall as the effects of my wound dragged me beneath the surface of consciousness.
In my hospital room, glass windows make up half of the wall. Through them, the blinding midday light shines and haloes the floating dust particles. My personal effects are neatly set on the end table next to this hospital bed, no doubt thanks to Riley. They’re arranged too thoughtfully to be the work of a nurse.
I imagine Riley sitting there while I slept, rearranging my phone, wallet, a change of clothes, cigarettes, a lighter Brianne gave me, and my butterfly knife. Even with tired, drooping eyes, messy hair, and dirty, rumpled clothes, Riley was still the most stunning woman I’d ever seen.
I get a sudden urge to kiss her. So strong, a riot starts in my chest. The thought of her inspires me to pick up my phone.
I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to do this for her. To keep her safe. To ensure the De Lucas will never be able to come after her again.
Get home safe?
I’m typing the message to Riley when my phone buzzes between my fingertips. An incoming call with the caller ID blocked.
This oughta be good.
Clay hardens at the base of my spine as I answer.
“Let me guess.” I rupture the silence on the line. “ Bone Breaker .”
The silence continues for a beat, followed by a dark, rumbling laugh I’ve never heard before. “So, you’ve heard of me.”
Not exactly. “I do my research.”
“You’re thorough. Impressive.”
Back when Dad and I were investigating the logistics of Matteo’s assassination, intel on the De Luca family was paramount. I researched all the key members of the family and their administration.
Enzo De Luca was on the list.
Just…at the bottom.
“Tell me, how’s life outside your big brother’s shadow?” I soak my voice with sarcastic condescension. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
Not because I give a single fuck about the man trying to kill me, but because I need to conduct a test.
Every theory needs to be tested. Mine is that Enzo De Luca is nothing more than a power-hungry second son with an inferiority complex the size of Jupiter. I also suspect that Enzo’s “revenge” against me is actually an audition.
He’s out to prove to the scattered De Luca factions that he’s the right leader to unite them all. That he can restore their clan to prosperity. Enzo likely wants everyone to forget all about that human-trafficking fuckup he calls a nephew.
If my theory is correct, he’ll bite.
“I’m going to break your jaw in three places.” His words quiver with a grim giddiness. “And after you’re dead, I’ll keep a piece on my desk and remember how you never spoke again.”
My mouth twitches. “Will that be before or after your nephew becomes your boss?”
A slow, hard breath shakes the silence.
Got him.
“How about…after I put your pretty sister-in-law’s head on a spike?”
His words hit me like a water balloon to the face thrown by a petulant child. Cold blank surprise, followed by unalloyed ire.
“Though I suppose she’s not your sister-in-law yet .” There’s a smile in his ugly words. “Not technically.”
Riley. Harper.
Rage tightens the muscles in my neck. I open my mouth to demand he disclose Harper’s whereabouts. What he knows. I come this close , but I keep my cool.
He’s baiting me. Has to be.
I remain silent.
“I must admit, you had us confused.” Enzo’s voice rounds, as though a cigar sits between his teeth. “Marrying one, whoring with the other.”
I squeeze my phone so hard, the screen cracks.
“But in these modern times, we adapt.” Enzo sighs deep, pleased with himself. “Right now, Riley Brennan and Cian Mahoney are driving an Audi R8, license plate JZP13, uptown on 42nd Street. Rory O’Conner is standing in front of a vending machine on the first floor of Saint Christopher’s Hospital. And you’re all alone two floors up in Room 2460.”
Fuck. He knows everything about us.
Assassins. Foot soldiers.
Tailing Riley and Cian.
Shadowing Rory downstairs.
Ready to kill them if I don’t submit to Enzo’s terms.
The heart monitor beeps increase tempo as venom spills through me. “Settle this with me , you goddamn coward.”
Enzo cackles. “What did you say? You want Riley and Cian to have a fender bender?” His rough voice drops low and becomes deadly serious, his threat cutting me like a blade. “Go to the address I send you within the hour, or your friends get the morgue .”
The call disconnects.
A second later, my phone pings. The meeting location.
But I can’t move. Eyes fixed on the pastel, trellis-patterned walls, I recede into myself. Into that dark place where only the truest, most important thoughts slip through. And there, I see Riley.
Her kisses, like fresh rain falling on the drought-ravaged desert wasteland of my heart. Her bright, open, curious, fathomless blue eyes, gazing at me as though she wants to see me, know me, in a way that no one before her ever has. She’s not afraid of me.
For her, I could do anything. For her, I would do anything.
Even…play right into Enzo’s hands.
“Who are you talking to?” Rory mouths to me as he reenters my room, a bag of barbecue potato chips in his hand.
I’m still sitting here, holding the phone to my ear, even though the call ended several minutes ago.
“No one.” I drop my arm. “Listening to messages.”
Resolve drips through my chest like wet cement, hardening me on the inside and steeling me against what I’m about to do.
I give Rory a long look.
He blinks at me. “What?”
“Where’s my discharge paperwork?”
He waves the folder in his other hand. “Right here.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” I wince as I swing my leg over the edge of the bed.
After being stabbed multiple times in my lower abdomen, my whole right side is a little sore. Stretching an arm or a leg causes my torso to extend the smallest bit, which makes the stitches in my side ache.
I can feel that, even through the haze of the drugs…which means once the painkillers wear off, these stitches are going to be screaming. Can’t say I’m looking forward to that. I’m sure I’ll like it even less once the De Lucas have me where they want me.
Rory helps me change into the spare clothes he and Cian brought from home. In case this gamble doesn’t pay off, I want to tell him to protect Riley. But if I arouse Rory’s suspicions, I won’t be able to trick him, and I need to in order to escape. I consider telling him about the call with Enzo and how, even now, we’re being watched.
But the fact that Rory, with his razor-sharp awareness, hasn’t detected the assassin following him around the hospital means that whoever Enzo sent to tail him is good. Maybe even good enough to kill Rory before I can explain the situation.
My best chance of survival is keeping Rory in the dark. If I keep him safe, he’ll report my absence to the Gallaghers the moment he realizes I’m gone. And if I can stay alive long enough to buy them some time…
Well, there might be a future for me after all. A future possibly not as bleak as I used to think.
Rory glances back at me from the open doorway. “Ready?”
Discreetly, I hide my phone in the thin hospital covers and follow him out into the hall bustling with nurses and doctors in turquoise scrubs and rubber sneakers. Green and white tiles checker the floor beneath our feet. I scan the corridor for the plant, the assassin Enzo sent to deal with Rory in the event of my defiance.
Haven’t identified anyone by the time Rory clears his throat.
“So…you and Riley Brennan, huh?” Though I feel his gaze on me, I don’t meet it. “I know you two were thrown together, but I have to say, I think she’s good for you.”
My heart squeezes at the thought of Riley. “How so?”
“Well, for starters, you’ve been way less of a grumpy asshole than normal.”
I shoot him a wry grin but don’t reply.
We step into the second floor elevator and turn around to face the doors. Standing by a countertop twenty paces away, a male nurse loiters. I recognize him. Neat eyebrows, well-coiffed hair, clean shaven. Pleasant smile. Dead eyes.
His biceps give him away. The toned tendons in his arm are the kind only achieved by lots of stabbing.
A faraway bell rings in the back of my mind.
Stiletto.
Famous freelance assassin.
He works almost exclusively in Italy, which explains why Rory didn’t clock him. Matteo kept him as a bodyguard for a while after his son went to jail. So long as Stiletto flanked him, Dad and I knew getting close to Matteo would be impossible. It wasn’t until their contract ended and Stiletto returned to the motherland that I had a shot at murdering his boss.
As the elevator doors slide closed, Stiletto’s eyes lock on mine.
A vengeful smile plays at his lips.
Bile spurts up inside me, but I clench my fists.
These fuckers think they have me. They can think again.
When the elevator doors open on the first floor, my chest is wound tight with resolve. We step out.
“Here we are.”
“Fuck, I left my phone in the room.” I season my tone with surprise. “I’ll go?—”
“I got it.” Rory pivots back into the elevator. “You wait here.”
I’m gone the moment my friend disappears.