Chapter 14 Cian
CIAN
Watching Faina change from the catering uniforms we used to sneak into this hotel into the sleek black and blue uniforms of the hotel waitstaff reminds me of everything I fell in love with about her.
I love how even as she wriggles out of that suffocating white shirt and into the blue one, she constantly glances at me to check that I’m okay.
I love that when her hair gets in the way, she always tucks it behind her left ear, never her right.
I love how her brow furls while she’s concentrating on doing up the black silk tie, how her lower lip pouts out slightly as she adjusts it in the mirror, and how her biceps bulge as she scoops all of her dark hair away from her face and into a ponytail.
“You’re staring,” she says around the hair tie caught between her teeth.
“You’re worth staring at.”
“Don’t get distracted.”
“Why not?” Adjusting my own tie, I shuffle back and forth to force the stiff clothing to settle against my body. “The only other thing that’s ever on my mind is how we’re about to face the asshole who ordered the death of my entire family. So what if I get distracted by something more beautiful?”
Faina turns toward me and takes the hair tie out of her mouth with one hand, snapping it around her hair while frowning at me.
“What?” I grimace slightly. “Too dark?”
“No.” She sighs. “But when you say sweet things like that, it makes me wonder what we really are. And there’s never time to talk about it.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what we are. Why put pressure on anything else?”
Faina’s head tilts to the side once she secures her hair, and her hands drop to her waist. “Sometimes, I think you’re going into this without any desire to survive.”
“You think I’m suicidal?” My gut twists slightly with how close to the truth she is.
“Not exactly.” Walking forward, she places one hand on my chest and smooths down my tie. “I just worry you won’t fight it if death comes.”
She has me by the balls. How do I tell her that my entire will to live died with my family?
That my only goal is to make Hawk suffer, and then I’ll drift in the wind afterward until the Gifford name is nothing more than a whisper in the mouths of anyone discussing the worst Mafia war to break out across the world?
The only light in my heart exists with Faina, but as soon as she’s out of sight, as soon as she’s gone, that dark shroud comes back and suffocates me.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” she says softly. “Tell me we’re not doing all of this just so you can end it in a bloody shootout with some fake glory.”
“I’m not doing this for that reason,” I assure her and cover her hand with mine. “That I can promise you.”
Her eyes narrow and her mouth twists to the side. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you’re naturally suspicious of everyone.”
“Maybe.” Sighing deeply, she glances over her shoulder at the door we’ve sealed between us and the party that Hawk is throwing to cover up his meeting. Assuming he’s even here.
This is the address given to the general we killed and we’re here at the right time.
After spending the past two days poring over the blueprints to this place, it took every skill and ounce of luck we had left over to sneak in with catering and swipe uniforms for the waitstaff.
Now, we have to find the Hexagon leader in a sea of strange faces.
“Do you want to go over the plan one more time?” Faina steps away from me and picks up the black waistcoat to complete her uniform.
“Sure. Better safe than sorry, right?”
“Exactly.” She has herself mostly turned away from me, but there’s a slight concerning tremble in her fingers as she buttons up the waistcoat.
Should I be worried?
“I have the drugs for the food. It won’t kill anyone but it’ll make people sick enough to seek out a bathroom and thin out the crowd. We need to identify Hawk and as soon as we do, you start the fire and in the chaos, we’ll kidnap him.”
“And you need to make him eat some of the laced food before I hit the alarm.” While I initially disagreed with the plan, Faina is a lot stronger than me, as much as I hate to admit it.
With the tension in my leg, she has the greatest chance of subduing Hawk and that’s more important than any of my masculine ego.
Later, I’ll make up for it by fucking her brains out.
“Identifying him will be the hardest part of this.” She smooths her hands down her waistcoat and turns to me with a smile. “With any luck, he’ll stand out and this will take an hour, tops. Ready?”
Faina plants a sweet, brief kiss on my cheek then slips from the closet and disappears into the party. In the silence she leaves in her wake, doubt creeps up in my mind and my hands shake.
This could be it. I might finally be getting my hands around the neck of the bastard who carved this dark pit of grief inside me.
I want to kill Hawk but Faina says no. For all we know, he’s just another in a long line to reach the top, but if it turns out he is the one who gave the order and rigged Cormac’s house to explode, nothing will stop me from tearing him apart.
I reach for the door handle, but something makes me hesitate.
How did it come to this? Rushing through Europe chasing money, wire transfers, and poor men and women sold as sex slaves, all to track down the criminal responsible for destroying my family.
I never got to bury them.
I never got to say goodbye. My last memories of them are from that night when everyone was happy and smiling, and then there was so much heat and blood.
The hope I clung to that somehow they were still out there has diminished over the months, and now I’m here in the middle of Greece, poised to take down the head of an international Mafia who saw my family as nothing more than an inconvenience.
So why can’t I open the door?
The brass warms under my palm, and pleasant noises rise from the other side of the door as the party gets into full swing. Faina is out there all alone, so why am I stuck here, frozen and staring at a blank door?
Am I about to fail her too?
No… but it ties back to her and then it hits me. This strange feeling that if I don’t step out that door, then our plan can’t happen and the party will go without a hitch. No one will be put in danger and Faina won’t get hurt. As long as I stay here, the risk stays zero.
Right?
Then again, after Anastasia’s call, I could be wrong. Maybe Hawk already knows what Faina and I look like and this entire party is a net to catch the two of us. Right this second, Faina could be in their clutches while I hide in here like a coward.
Come on, Cian. You’re better than this. What would Saoirse think?
My twin’s probably tearing her hair out from heaven right now.
I can do this.
I must do this.
Finally, the door opens and I step out into the party, immediately getting caught up in the swell of things.
After a few minutes of moving through the crowd, I spot Faina on the other side of the room, handing hors d’oeuvres to an older man.
Our eyes meet and she gives me a brief frown of concern, hitting me with a thousand questions in half a second.
I answer her with a reassuring smile and melt into the crowd.
The party is much like all the other fancy events I’ve seen this organization throw.
Everyone is dressed to the nines in rich clothing and jewels that likely cost more than all the properties I’ve ever owned.
Alcohol flows and food is passed around without much thought.
No one looks at me, which is exactly what Faina and I have been counting on.
Waitstaff are invisible half the time and tonight, it’s the perfect cover.
But which of these guests is the Hawk we’re looking for? Is it a man? A woman? A group whose initials spell out the word?
I make three full loops of the guests and return to the bar to pick up the next tray of food.
Every so often, I glimpse someone delicately clutching their abdomen and slipping away from the party while Faina follows them.
Each time, she returns with a subtle shake of her head and the game resumes again.
Another hour into the party and Faina appears at my elbow, speaking in a low voice.
“Check out the guy in the purple smoking jacket, corner of the room with a cigar in hand.” She moves on as swiftly as she spoke, and after allowing a giddy woman to take three glasses of champagne from my tray, I seek out the man Faina pinpointed.
He sits in the far corner loudly talking while waving around a small glass of brandy. I can’t make out what he’s saying through the noise of everyone else so I move closer.
Then I see it. While he appears to be sitting alone, several men and women are strategically positioned around him.
They shift and move with the flow of the crowd and all tense every time someone moves close to the man, including the waitstaff.
Faina approaches slowly from a different angle, but it’s clear she’s catching onto the same signs I am.
Is this Hawk?
Suddenly, the man stands upright and drains his glass, then he tosses it aside into the arms of a waiting guard and strides into the depths of the party.
While most of the guards around him melt into the crowd, a couple stick close.
There’s a tall woman with long blonde hair that drapes around her shoulders like a silk sheet, and a broad-shouldered man with a scar down one cheek that cuts straight through his beard. They must be the personal bodyguards.
The man suddenly grabs a guest by the collar and starts drunkenly yelling at him about the state of things and how he’s had to cancel his entire month in order to come here and clean up a mess.
Most of the guests don’t seem alarmed at this sudden outburst and my suspicion rises.
The last glass of champagne is swiped off my tray, so I lower it and watch as the stranger suddenly pushes the man he’s arguing with.
He stumbles back with a cry and falls onto his backside.
Then, before anyone can react, ‘Hawk’ whips a handgun out of his belt and aims it at the splayed man on the ground.
“Sorry?” he bellows. “You’re sorry? Sorry doesn’t fix things, does it! Sorry doesn’t get me back where I need to be!”
The gun goes off and a scattering of squeals and yells of fright dust through the crowd, but no one appears to be particularly alarmed as if this is a common occurrence and they’re happy not to be the chosen one.
Faina locks gazes with me across the crowd, and she nods just once.
Target acquired.