27. Chapter 27
Connor
“Awfully bold of you to walk in here,” Luca said when I slammed the door to the less-than-friendly bar that had become a frequent spot. The air was thick with dust, full of a secret I had done everything to keep. A secret I still needed.
I put my hands up like a peace offering. “I’m here for a reason.”
“Is the reason that you have a death wish?” When Mickey said it, Luca pulled his gun, and so did the three men huddled behind them. Honestly, walking in here was probably exactly that. I wasn’t a fool to think I would walk in here, and these guys would know nothing. Word traveled fast.
“No. But you have a rat.” I looked right at the barrel of each gun aimed at me and took a deep breath.
Luca cleared his throat. “Not for much longer.”
“I mean a real rat.” The way they both cocked their heads to the side reminded me I was technically a real rat too. What else would you call an agent pretending to be one of you? “You’ve got someone partnering with the feds.”
When Mickey put his hand on Luca’s shoulder, I released a breath of relief. “Prove it,” he said, as if they would shoot me dead the minute he removed his hold. I had one chance.
I glared at them. “You’re lucky I told you at all.”
“You’re lucky you weren’t shot dead the second you walked back in my bar, cop.
” Mickey took a daring step forward, but I held my ground.
Beneath his feet, the old wood floor creaked, and his guys in the shadows held their breath as the tension grew.
In just a few steps, we were chest to chest, and, for the first time, Mickey didn’t look at me like he was my boss. He looked at me like I was a threat.
“That’s because you know you’re lucky I walked in here alone. I know enough about your operation to take you all down, and you know that information is safely backed up.” I smirked. “If you kill me now, that doesn’t go away.”
Mickey grumbled, and Luca’s finger twitched, like he was debating if the risk was worth betting on or not.
They also knew the Morettis were arrested, so they knew the FBI was watching—but they were watching another family.
When Mickey’s lips twitched into a thin smile, he had decided I wasn’t the threat.
But then, he nodded to Luca, and he lowered his arm, but none of the shadows did.
Their guns stayed aimed directly at me in preparation.
“I can help you.” But I wouldn’t help with more than turning their own man over to them or planting the suspicion. The greatest fall always came from the inside.
“Likely story.” Luca glared at me, but his gaze bounced between me and his brother, like he couldn’t believe he wasn’t cleaning my brains off the old floor by this point.
“Let’s be clear here, Murphy. You may think you have all the information to help us or to supposedly take us down, but I think you forget I have access to everything you could ever want. ”
I shook my head. “I never wanted any of this.”
“This isn’t what I’m talking about.” Mickey started to circle me like a predator, and when he was behind me, my hair stood on end. He saw me as his prey. So did everyone else in this bar. “Do you know where your girlfriend is right now?”
My heart slammed into my chest along with images of her broken face when she learned who I was. Around me, the room was clouded under a red, foggy filter that blurred any reasonable control I clung to. "You don't want to involve her,” I warned him. Things would be a lot worse if he did.
“Oh, but I do. I’ve got eyes on her at all times.” Mickey pulled his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and tapping his screen a few times until he found what he was looking for. A sinister grin stretched across his face. “Like now. I’ve got a guy parked in front of her place as we speak.”
He shook his head and shoved his phone in my face.
“She really is a sweet little thing, isn’t she?
” I clenched my hands into fists when he showed the picture around the rest of the circle.
A mix of grumbled agreements formed a frustrated lump in my throat.
Then, he looked at his phone again and lifted a single brow.
“Shame that didn’t work out. I can see why you like her so much.
Maybe once she’s sick of you, I’ll let her experience what she can have with a real man.
One who actually is everything he claims to be.
Does she know about your little secret? Oh, she does… ”
He saw my face drop and my eyes narrow. I couldn’t hide that one. “Keep her out of this.”
“You already brought her into it.” Mickey Cassidy was an evil man, and the more he stared at the live feed of Grace’s house, the more my blood boiled.
I glared at Mickey; from the corner of my eye, I saw Grace walk out her front door. Urgency spread through me. “If anything happens to her, I’ll take you down. All of you. I can do that, and it won’t be legal.”
They laughed.
When she gets sick of you.
I had to get to her.