Chapter 8 #2
We get to the auditorium where the ballet is preforming, and Hayes goes in to keep an eye on her.
She might push him out, but at least she’ll have someone close by for protection.
I need to make this right, because I’m never letting her go.
If I have to walk away from everything or burn the world down for her, I will.
I take the SUV and head out to make sure I can get everything else set up, hoping Belyaev can fix what we both broke. I make my way to the dress shop where I know the owner. I helped her get into business, and she owes me huge. She’s a single mother who needed a fresh start.
I get the dress ordered to be delivered later today. It took some serious money and research, but I found the perfect green dress. The shoes were a bit more difficult, but I have a pair being flown in from Los Angeles right now to be delivered to the hotel.
My phone rings, and I answer it as I drive.
Jordon is in the passenger seat. He’ll be my personal guard until we can find someone Hayes trusts and I like.
The last one looked at Daria wrong, and I knocked out two of his teeth before I fired him.
Turned out he was also a soldier who was walking with the wrong team.
“Hello,” I say without looking at who’s calling.
“Son, how are you doing?” Broderick’s voice fills the car.
Jordon rolls his eyes as I shake my head.
“How can I help you, Broderick? I’m a little busy today.”
“I was wondering where you were. Someone said you were at McGill’s.”
He knows I was at the jewelry store. Interesting. He’s having me followed.
“Where else have I been?” I ask, and Jordon is furiously typing away on his phone.
“Oh, it was just a soldier who said he passed by and saw your SUV.”
“Is that all?” I need to know if he saw Daria.
“Well, he said Roisin was there, along with another woman, who got out of your vehicle.”
My heart drops. I didn’t want him to know. I’m sure he’s already talking to the person in charge of everything, but I don’t know how close he is to this person.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Who was the woman? Is it true she’s Bratva?”
“You seem to know a lot already about her.”
“I know that you, as the head of the family, shouldn’t be spending time with a Bratva princess. How do you think your soldiers will feel about this?”
“My soldiers have no say in who I spend time with. Besides, she isn’t a Bratva princess. Her brother isn’t Bratva. He’s a casino owner.”
“He’s a former Bratva soldier. He still is a trusted advisor of Morosov’s. She is also the niece to Barone. She’s the bastard child of the mob princess and a Bratva brigadier—”
“Stop right there. You will not refer to Daria as a bastard.” I feel the blood pumping through my body in anger. I’m ready to kill him for just referring to my sweets by that term.
“Well, what would you call her? Her parents weren’t married. Barone paid for the hit on Belyaev himself.”
I know the truth. But I want my uncle to continue to tie the noose I will hang him with.
“It’s also rumored Barone sent his sister away because he was embarrassed to be around her and the child.”
“And?”
“Son, you cannot be serious about her. She better be just a piece of ass you have on the side. I’ve already promised the home country family you will seriously consider their offer.”
I’ve heard enough.
“Broderick, I told you no. I won’t do it. I’m not going to be in an arranged marriage. When I marry, it’s going to be for love. I need to go. Don’t you worry about what I’m doing. My men support me. Besides, my cousins are married to Bratva men.”
“They aren’t your cousins. They’re Jimmy’s bastards. He knew what he was doing when he broke your aintín’s heart by sleeping with that whore, Clare. She didn’t care who she slept with. She just wanted someone to take care of her and would do anything for money.”
This is news to me. I didn’t know he knew Clare at all.
“I still don’t understand why your grandfather wouldn’t let me have Morrigan and allowed Duncan to have her instead.”
I want to end this call, but he’s supplying so much information.
“I didn’t know you were interested in Aintín Morrigan. I thought you only asked for Aintín Eireen.”
“She was my second choice, after your grandfather had already given Morrigan to Duncan. It was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made. Your father was the greatest voice in not letting me have her, something about the family needing ties with American Irish instead of the home country.”
“I need to get going. I have errands to run and calls to make.”
“Please listen to me, son. Your father left me to advise you. You need to take my advice this time, like you used to. Your men are not going to be okay with you dating any Bratva women. Think about it, please.”
“Sure, I’ll think about it.” I nod as I hang up.
I immediately dial JJ.
“I want a meeting with all my lieutenants and soldiers before Christmas eve,” I say in greeting when he answers. “Make sure Broderick is there.”
I want this taken care of before Christmas, but I also want to give my fiancée time to settle into her new life.
“On it, boss.” He hangs up, and I know he’ll do his job.
I turn to Jordon. “You’ll be there to make sure everyone falls in line or is eliminated. I want you on Broderick too. As soon as we get confirmation that Eireen is in New Mexico and safe, I want him dead for his lies.”
“I can do that.”
“Unless I kill him myself for calling my fiancée a bastard.”
“He sealed his fate, not only with you, but with Belyaev or Sokolov. Fuck, that man is getting to be troublesome.”
“I don’t understand what he has to gain from all this.”
“Paddy, you’re too close to the situation. Step back and look at the bigger picture. He was upset with your father and grandfather for not giving him my mother. What if that was the catalyst to everything and he’s the rat? I’ve been looking into it for a few days now.”
“What have you found?”
Now that he brings this up, I’m starting to see things. But it can’t be all based on jealousy. Why didn’t he stop when my father was dead? There is more here, and I’m missing it.
I clear my mind and focus as Jordon goes over everything he’s found.
“What if your mom was an accident? What if she wasn’t supposed to die?
Your father was supposed to be in that car that day, not her.
I’ve been looking into both of your parents’ murders.
I’m also looking into medical records for Aunt Eireen.
She had no mental health struggles before she supposedly tried to commit suicide after your mother’s death.
Yes, they were best friends. But from a journal entry I found in an old box of things in the attic, Eireen and Rowanne swore to take care of each other’s children if anything ever happened to them.
It was the same pact they also had with my mom. ”
Him just saying my mom’s name hurts. But it has me thinking about it. She was heading to a restaurant to meet my father for dinner. He had a meeting and took a car service earlier in the day. She was in his car. Bullets riddled the vehicle before it crashed into a ravine.
I think of who a hired gun was back then, and it hits me.
“Jordon, make an appointment with Bronwyn. I need to know who would be hired for a hit if he didn’t take it.” I pull up in front of the auditorium. Some of the dancers are in the entry, milling about.
“I can do that. Right now?”
“Yeah, I don’t need you sitting with me.”
Just as I say that, I see movement behind us, and a masked man with a gun appears.
“Hit the floor,” I bark.
But Jordon opens his door as bullets hit the back of the SUV.
I hear a single gunshot, then silence. I sit there for a moment with my gun in my hand.
Slowly, I open my door. When no shots are fired, I move to the back of the car.
There stands Jordon over a man who is bleeding from a single shot between his eyes.
“It’s my job to protect you.”
“What the fuck? You could have been shot.”
“Nope. He was focused on you. I saw him in the side mirror. He was watching you. I was ready when you said hit the floor. Told you, I’m here to protect you. This was a hit on you.”
People rush out of the building, and my girl runs right at me.
“Patrick, are you okay?” she yells as she throws herself at me.
I catch her and hold her to my body. I look over her shoulder to see Hayes standing there.
“I’m sorry I took your brother’s advice. He told me to keep you separated from my family until we found out who the rat is.”
“I know. I love you. I’m so sorry I ran.”
“Yeah, don’t do that again, okay?” I kiss her deep until Jordon clears his throat.
“Cops are on their way.”
“Okay.”
Jordon takes the body and flips it over his shoulder as one of my other guards pulls up.
He takes off with the corpse and Jordon’s gun.
No one will say anything, and if they do, we’ll take care of them.
The body will find its way to the desert after we get their fingerprints and determine who it was. Find out who hired them.
Jordon walks back over to me.
“I’m leaving this guard with you so I don’t have to answer any questions.”
“Go,” I say.
He gets in the passenger seat as another guard walks up. Before the cops show up, I direct Hayes to take Daria back inside.
“I’ll see you soon, sweets. Okay?”
“Okay.” She turns to go back in as the others do.
I pull my gun and shove it into the soldier’s stomach. “This close, the shot won’t kill you right away, but it will do a lot of damage and you’ll eventually die. Who do you trust? Who are you loyal to?”
“You and the MacEvoys only.”
“Do you have a problem with Daria?”
Without breaking eye contact, he answers my question. “Not at all. I don’t judge or care who you see as long as you’re happy and the family is stable.”
“Good.”
Cops surround us, and we have to answer questions for hours.