Chapter 29
Rian
Aodhan glances at his phone. “Both exits are covered. Three cars, four men each.”
I nod and grab Isabelle’s chin to pull her face to mine. “You listen to every command I give you, got it?”
She’s trembling, but she gives me a small nod as I let her go.
“Stay behind me. Ricky at her back. Whatever happens, she gets out alive.”
Her brother moves without a second thought. “Understood.”
Aodhan's jaw tightens, and I know he’s uncomfortable with Ricky behind me, but I have faith he won’t fill me with bullets for the simple fact that his sister loves me. I know she does, even if we haven’t spoken of our feelings. She and I have always been inevitable.
“Go n-éirí leat,” Aodhan mutters.
I smirk and repeat it back.
He flings open the door, his arm raised as he fires out a few shots. I’m right behind him, covering him as we head to the front door, and I can already hear Cillian and Cormac calling out directions.
Isabelle’s fingers are twisted in the back of my shirt, and I move slow enough for her to keep pace as we walk through the carnage. She lets out a small whimper at the bodies on the floor, and I assume she recognizes them.
As soon as we make it outside, more shots ring out and I grab her, shoving her head down and pushing her against the parked SUV.
Her eyes are wide, pupils dilated as her body trembles. Something breaks in my chest at her terror. It’s one thing to be aware of the type of life you’re associated with and another to experience it.
Cillian slides from around the back of the car, squishing into her side. She lets out a shriek, her nails curling into my arm. He glances at her in shock and then at me. Before I can say anything to comfort her, Cillian slips a needle into her neck and pushes the sedative into her body. We brought it in case there was a struggle to get her back, and while I anticipated an ambush, I hadn’t expected Isabelle’s level of terror.
“Fuck,” I curse, tucking my gun away to grab my wife’s limp body.
He nods across from us toward our cars. “Let’s get home. Cormac took out most of them. Aodhan grabbed the last few. But their focus seems to be on you two, not any of the rest of us.”
Anger courses through me. “Someone followed her and knew the moment she was unprotected.”
I scoop her up, adjusting her in my arms so I can hold her more easily. “Tell Declan we have eyes on our territory and to shut them down.”
Cillian nods, standing next to me as we move to the car, and I slide into the backseat. Aodhan hops into the passenger seat just as Cillian starts the car.
I glance over him, concerned at the blood pouring from his arm. “You hit?”
“Just a scratch.”
Cillian pulls out of the parking lot in a hurry and I adjust Isabelle on my lap, stroking her hair away from her face.
“Cormac grabbed Ricky. Bringing him back to the house. And we got men to grab her parents. Where you want to take them? House? Or Jersey City?”
“Penthouse. I don’t want them together just yet,” I say. I’m pretty sure Isabelle and Ricky’s loyalty to each other comes from their parents, and they wouldn’t put their children in danger. But I feel like I can’t trust anyone anymore, given that multiple family members have betrayed me.
The shrill ringing of my cellphone has my annoyance increasing tenfold when I see the caller ID, and I answer, spitting out my words through bared teeth.
“You’re a fucking dead man.”
Luca sighs. “I just heard and?—”
“Heard? Fuck you. Have the balls to admit the set up to my face.”
“Rian, be reasonable?—”
I hang up and toss the phone to the front seat where Aodhan grabs it. I breathe in and out a few times in deep pulls before looking down at Isabelle in my lap. Her mouth is open, she looks peacefully asleep. On our way here, I had been consumed with fury, desperately wanting to get to her so I could punish her. But every mile closer to home, I’m more grateful we’re all unharmed.
* * *
“It doesn’t make sense,” my father mutters. His face is scrunched as he stares at the wall, thinking over everything we’ve told him. My brothers and I all stand around his bed, with crossed arms and peeved off expressions.
“It does if the marriage was just a ruse to get me to drop my guard,” I say.
He hums. “To what end, though?”
I shrug, stretching out my shoulders as I pace in front of his bed. “Declan believes Ricky was used as a smokescreen as well. That Gio is more than Luca’s second, that maybe he’s more involved than we’ve been led to believe.”
“So you think he’s hiding something?”
“Or someone? Sebastian asked for our help to find a girl he thinks Gio is hiding.”
My father frowns. “Gio could have a separate agenda though. Why did Luca propose an arrangement to lure you into a trap after the fact? And at the risk of killing his own people. That won’t sit right with some of the traditionalists.”
“Also poses the question if his father truly has cancer or not. And if he doesn’t, then where the fuck is he and what happened to him?” Aodhan adds.
Cormac groans. “I should have killed the fucking bastard.”
“There’s a possibility that Luca isn’t involved at all,” Aisling says.
We all turn to look at her. She arrived sometime last night and slipped into the house without any of us being alerted. Her hair is still dyed a midnight black and it’s a startling difference from her usual auburn.
“If it’s not him, then he’s lost control of his people.”
She shrugs. “Then he lost control of his people. Don’t you think it’s plausible that someone inside is trying to set him up and he arranged the peace arrangement as a possible ally? The Italians had no motive to align themselves with us, then his father disappears from public view and suddenly he wants to make an alliance? A very public alliance? I’m just saying, Luca doesn’t seem like a dumbass who would publicly betray you. ”
“And if someone was working against him, they would only need to create the doubt that Luca would,” Cillian agrees, nodding at his sister.
“It seems far-fetched, but I’ve always loved how your mind works,” my father says.
Aisling beams. “Thanks, Daddy. But I’m just saying it wouldn’t be the first coup I’ve witnessed.”
I groan in amused disgust as my father chuckles, shaking his head. The rest of the men snicker and then walk over to hug her, the tension broken from the shit day we’ve had. I walk over to her last and wrap my arms around her, squeezing her to my chest.
“It’s good to have you back,” I whisper into her hair.
Her nails dig into my side. “Do you think I can meet your wife before you throw me into the lion’s den?”
“We’ll see. Cillian tell you what I need?”
She nods, sighing as she lets go. “Yes, but I need you to keep in mind what I said. Maybe Luca is just as betrayed as the rest of us. A lot of the older men don’t enjoy the ways we’ve had to adapt to stay under the radar. Some prefer the days when we could wave our guns and money around to get whatever we wanted. They don’t like hiding in the shadows, nor do they like our names only being spoken in whispers by people who know about us.”
“I’m aware, especially for the Italians. Their pride will be their downfall.”
Aisling smiles, her green eyes sparkling. “The downfall of all men, I’d say.”
Cillian grabs his sister, resting his arm over her shoulder. “Come on. Lemme show you the new knives I got and see if you want to take one for the road.”
I watch them leave with a heavy heart, hating where we’ll be sending her soon.
My father clears his throat. “What is the plan if Aisling is right?”
Scowling, I sit in one of the chairs facing him. “Kill him another day?”
Aodhan snorts and we fall into discussion. It’s not until a few hours later that I’m able to break away and check on Isabelle. I had the doctor check her over before administering another sedative as the first started to wear off.
I stare at her sleeping form, the obsession I feel for her nearly overwhelms me. Even if she turned out to be a spy planted among us, I don’t think I could let her go.
Cillian knocks softly, opening the door and wheeling in the supplies. He looks at me expectantly. “You sure? You can’t take it back.”
“I never want to.”
“And you think she feels the same?”
I glance back at Isabelle, feeling my heart twist as I think about his question. “I think Isabelle is very practical about what our life is, and today was a reminder of why it will never be what she’s dreamed. She was clinging to the past, wanting to keep things the way they were, and she was unwilling to see a different path.”
“And now you’re positive she’ll embrace change?”
Shrugging, I sit in the chair and take off my ring to give him my hand. “I think she’ll finally accept that I’ve only ever looked out for her and her wellbeing, even if it’s not what she envisioned.”
Cillian sets up the ink and scoots closer to me. He glances up at me one more time. “Here’s to forever then, brother.”