Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
DECLAN
I'm here, in the home where I spent most of my childhood, and my mind is a mile away. Favors to call in. People to reach. Everything balanced on a knife's edge.
Aunt Caitlin sees me first.
“Y’alright?” I ask her.
“Oh, grand,” she says. “I just need to make sure you'll be here tonight. I'm having a very important dinner, and it's essential that you be here too.”
“As in?”
“I just got word that Valentina's family has arrived.” A pause, just a beat too long. Then the bright smile.
I school my face. I don't want to meet her fucking family. Christ, it's the last thing I want to do.
“Trust me,” she says, walking up to me and putting a hand on my shoulder. “This is a meeting you want to go to.”
Right behind her, Bronwyn nearly sparkles with energy. She's bouncing from the bottom of her feet to the tips of her toes. “Please come, Declan. You absolutely must.”
“Must do what?” Seamus says, stomping into the kitchen with one kid over his shoulder and a child in each arm. Caitlin takes one and turns away, giggling with the baby.
“Apparently, Valentina's family is in town.”
“Right.” Seamus doesn’t look like he knows anything either.
“It’s so strange,” Bronwyn says. “They say they haven't been able to get in touch with Valentina, and they're eager to see her.”
That is interesting. She’s always telling me she’s talked to them. I frown. “What time? Give me the details.”
Somewhere in the house, I hear Bridget's laugh. It's bright and magical, like everything about her. And I want to see her. I want to hold her. I want to feel the presence of the baby that we grew together, between us.
I need to get out of here.
I want a moment to collect myself. Seamus is feeding his kids, and Bronwyn’s on the phone, planning food for the evening.
I take a walk down to the garden, and I remember being a lad here—my father and his sitting out here while their wives were inside.
We'd run around the pathways, chasing each other in the grass, and my grandmother would always wave her hand when Da scolded us for being too wild. “Leave them alone, Cormac,” she'd say. “They bring life to the garden, don’t they?”
We used to pretend there were fairies in the space between the hedges.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
I look up to see Bridget walking over to me. Now that she’s here in the flesh, the air is thick with excitement. I can feel it vibrating off her. The women in this house are plotting something. I fucking knew it.
“Looking forward to meeting the in-laws tonight?”
“No, I'm not. Please, Bridge, tell me you're not coming too.” I don't want the woman I love in the presence of wolves.
“All good, Declan,” she says. “I wouldn't miss it for anything.” She smiles. “You know, they say if you’re still enough, you can hear the garden fairies talk back to you.”
“You’re off your nut, lass.”
She snorts. “Don't tell me you don't believe it now. The earth of Ireland grew from magic; everyone knows that.” She leans her head on my shoulder, just briefly. I almost don't care if somebody sees me. I like her here. She belongs here.
Then she pushes to her feet. “Caitlin needs me.”
“Bridget, wait—” But she's already gone, and I'm standing in the garden alone.
As I watch her go into the house, I wonder if she knows more than she lets on.
I have a child about to be born into this family and a wife I need to marry. But I love this woman with everything I have.
I once swore to do whatever it took to protect her, to keep her here. And I'll do it again.
I look at the time—an hour before Valentina's family arrives. I push to my feet and head inside.
My mother and father show up just in time. The house is teeming with people and staff, fragrant food, and tinkling glasses.
“Son.” My mother gives me a big hug. “How’s Valentina?”
“Fine, I guess. Been hard to reach. Busy with the wedding prep, I’d imagine.”
“Mmm. She’s an elusive one. Even at your engagement party, she was always with a crowd of people. Hard to reach. And Bridget?”
I sigh. “Grand too.”
“She is that. She held vigil at your bedside after you were shot, didn’t she?”
“Aye.”
“Good friend, that girl.”
“Right.” I don’t meet her eyes. I can’t.
She walks into the house with me, and just before we part, she leans in. “You remember the story of me and your father, don’t you?”
I nod. “Aye.”
“And you remember the stories of all your aunts and uncles, and how sometimes they had to fight against all odds, but they made it work?”
I nod.
“Listen, son. The McCarthy family has a history of making things work. It was your family, your own flesh and blood, that established the McCarthy legacy.”
She’s right. We've overcome so much.
Tonight, I'll get the terms from Valentina's family that I need to free Torin from prison. Tonight, I'll put the screws to them. They've been paid as well, but they owe intel, and I'll get it before anything else happens.
And something is going to happen. I know it. I look around, trying to put my finger on what feels off. Did we bring in more help for tonight? I didn’t expect this to be a formal affair, but there are several people in uniformed gloves serving drinks and appetizers, a bit fancier than I expected.
Aunt Caitlin sees me in the hallway.
“Hello, Declan,” she says. “Have you talked to Valentina today?”
“Aye. She texted me an hour ago and said she’d be a little late.”
“Oh, good. I wanted it to be a surprise that her family is going to be here tonight. They are quite eager to see her.”
“Fair enough.”
Damn. Everybody is here. Uncle Tully and his wife, Michaela. Kyla and Colm. Lorcan and Ashland. No children though.
“Where are all the children?”
“Oh, we said it would be a late night tonight and asked that no children be here.”
No children? She loves having them here.
“Why do I feel there is something up your sleeve?”
“Oh,” she says, “there is always something up my sleeve. And Declan? Stay very close to Valentina.”
And then she’s gone, positioning herself right at the head of the table next to Uncle Keenan.
Valentina arrives in her rental car and walks straight toward me. My instinct is to do what Aunt Caitlin said. Stay very close.
So I greet her with a hug. “We have a surprise for you tonight.”
“I do not like surprises, Declan,” she says curtly.
“Well, it’s not my surprise.” And I don’t fucking care if she likes it.
“What the fuck is it?”
I give her a tight smile. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”
An unfamiliar car pulls up to the curb as Aunt Caitlin strides into the room. “Valentina, so glad you could make it. We have an exciting surprise for you tonight.”
Valentina goes stiff. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”
Aunt Caitlin smiles at her. “Your family has come. They said it’s been difficult to get in touch with you, and they are very eager to see you.” She smiles and gets Erin’s attention. “Erin, will you fetch me something from the pantry?” They walk out together.
Valentina blanches as her eyes go hard and cold.
Why is she so hesitant to see her family?
But Uncle Keenan and Seamus are already at the door, opening it and welcoming them in. “Valentina is just in the other room,” Keenan says brightly to the two men in suits. “How were your flights from America?”
“Excellent,” the younger one answers. “My father doesn’t speak English, sir, but I can translate.”
“Ah, of course. This way,” Uncle Keenan says.
Valentina turns her back to the door. It’s a strange response to your own family arriving—strange enough that I notice it, and something in me goes quiet and watchful.
“I need to use the ladies' room,” Valentina says. “I’ll be right back.” She starts to walk away, but I grab her arm.
“Eh, not so fast.” I tighten my grip. “If you tell me what it is you’re hiding, I might be merciful.”
“Fuck you.”
Keenan and Seamus come into the room, the two strangers with them. “Valentina, Declan, come here, please.”
He stands beside two men. The older one, silver-haired and fit, doesn't speak. Doesn't need to. He takes in the room with a slow sweep and frowns at Valentina’s back.
The younger one is about my age—dark-eyed, broad-shouldered, with warm olive skin and the kind of face that gets exactly what he wants.
His jaw is sharp enough to cut glass, with a mouth that knows it, and his black hair is pushed back.
He smiles when he enters, and the smile is genuine and disarming.
The women in the room unabashedly stare.
God, the Italians.
Valentina hasn’t moved. The patriarch of the Esposito family narrows his eyes. “Valentina, dove sei stata?”
“Yes, sister, where have you been? And why not greet your father properly and introduce us to your betrothed?”
I’ve had enough of her bullshit. Whatever she’s hiding needs to end now. I take her hand and walk over.
“Declan McCarthy,” I say, my hand outstretched.
“Lorenzo Esposito, and my father—” But the older man is staring, and the younger one’s gone cold. “The fuck are you playing at, McCarthy?” he says, his hand immediately going to the waistband of his suit as Seamus instantly moves to block him.
What?
“Pull that out here, and we’re at war, Esposito.”
Valentina steps on my foot and yanks her hand out of mine. I reach for her, but Kyla gets to her first.
“Oh no, no,” she says. “Not so fast.” She grabs Valentina's thin arms and marches her forward. More accurately, she pushes her. “It is time we had a little chat, isn't it? How convenient that your family came just when we made a discovery. Didn't we, Bronwyn?”
“Let me go,” Valentina says.
The Espositos watch in cold silence.
“You had a chance. You betrayed the McCarthy family,” Kyla says.
Valentina’s eyes are wild.
“Bronwyn, dear, lock the door, will you?” Caitlin asks sweetly. Caitlin turns and faces the Espositos. “Please forgive us,” she says. “The only way we could verify that our theory was correct was to bring Valentina's family into town, wasn’t it?”
The younger man quickly translates for his father.
“Stop calling her Valentina,” he says. “This isn’t my sister.”
Valentina doesn’t wait. As soon as she hears his words, she moves, grabs a candlestick, and brandishes it like a weapon. “Get them out of here,” she says, her lips thinning. “And no one gets hurt.”
“Now you can use your weapon,” Seamus tells Esposito. He draws his gun, and Valentina lunges, not toward the door—she goes straight for Bridget.
I watch the second that calculation shifts behind her eyes. A knife comes from somewhere inside her jacket. One second, the room is moving, and the next, Bridget's wrist is in her hand, and nobody gets there in time.
The room goes still.
I go still.
I could end this, but she has positioned herself perfectly, the knife angled. If I make a move toward her, Bridget gets hurt.
“Nobody moves.”
Bridget’s eyes find mine. I can see she’s frightened, but she isn’t panicking, even now.
“You let me go,” she says to me. “Or she—”
I nod to Bridget. She squirms and steps on Valentina’s foot, giving me enough time to draw my gun.
I don’t think—I don’t plan. I pull the trigger and hit the shoulder of her knife hand.
With a scream, she goes down, and Esposito’s instantly on her.
Bridget pulls herself free and stumbles forward.
I’m across the room in three steps, and I have her in both arms, pulling her into me.
I don't care who sees. I don't care what it costs. I have her.
“Who is she?” Esposito asks the room as Seamus orders restraints brought forward. He’s got her face down, a knee in her back, and a gun to her head. “And where is my sister?”
I shake my head. “Let me make a call.”
All eyes turn to me. Bridget’s still breathing heavily, tucked under my arm.
I take out my phone as the imposter squirms and fumes on the floor. Lorenzo is careful not to let her get up.
“FaceTime John Doe.” No one needs to know who my contact in Boston is. “Brother, keep your video off,” I tell him as he answers.
“What is it?”
“We have an impostor here pretending to be Valentina Esposito. We need you to identify her so we can find the real Valentina.”
“Of course,” he says. “Let me see her.”
“Let me help,” Bronwyn says as she walks over to Valentina, who's practically spitting fire at this point.
“Careful, bella,” Esposito says to Bronwyn. “Snake bites are venomous.” He pins Valentina down by the neck as Bronwyn reaches for her scalp and yanks off her wig.
Valentina screams in rage as long, thick black hair spills out onto her shoulders. Her vibrant blue eyes flash.
“Told you,” Bronwyn says to no one in particular before her voice goes hard. “Take out the contacts.”
Valentina glares.
Bronwyn shakes her head. “For fuck's sake. You know you have contacts in. Nobody’s eyes are that blue, bitch.”
“This one's easy, brother,” says the voice on the other end. “Will send you the name.”
“Thanks. I owe you a solid.”
He hangs up.
“Hand it over, Declan,” Esposito growls.
But no, I’m not giving this to him that easily.
“Of course. But now that I don’t have your sister here, the terms of our agreement are sketchy.
You promised us, before anything else happened, that you would give us intelligence that would free my cousin from prison.
Tell me that now, and I will hand over the identity of your traitor. ”
Lorenzo talks rapidly to his father in Italian. He nods, gestures, then pulls out a small thumb drive and tosses it to me.
Seamus pulls a laptop out of a bag, plugs it in, and his shoulders sag in relief.
Torin is coming home.
“Now,” Esposito says. “My sister’s location. Where is she?”
“We need to discuss our terms,” Seamus begins.
“We'll discuss the finer details of our terms later, McCarthy,” Esposito says. “I hope you understand that the priority for me is to find my sister.”
“Let me go,” the impostor fumes, but it's too late. Lorenzo has her by both arms and isn't being gentle about it.
“We have a holding room,” Seamus offers. “If you'd like to question her here.”
“Thank you for your hospitality.” Lorenzo's jaw is tight. “But she's coming with us.”
“You're not getting anything out of me,” the impostor says. Her voice has gone flat and cold, different from the rage of a moment ago. More decided. “And you're all going to pay for this.”
Lorenzo yanks her forward, and that's when he stops—his hand closing on something beneath her jacket that isn't fabric. He goes absolutely still for one half second that stretches like a held breath, and then he moves.
“Fuori! Out! Get out!” he shouts, ripping the device free in one motion. No hesitation. No calculation. He turns and hurls it through the doorway into the corridor beyond.
The blast takes the hallway.
The pressure wave hits the room like a wall. I’m already moving toward Bridget when the floor comes up to meet us both. Glass. Plaster. The ringing starts immediately, that high, hollow sound that means your ears have stopped working properly. Somewhere behind me, something heavy falls.
Then… silence.
When I lift my head, Lorenzo Esposito is already on his feet, bleeding from somewhere above his eye, and the imposter’s prone on the ground.
Bridget.