Chapter Nineteen #2
Aiden stared down at the two dead men. Ben and Donovan.
Both had worked for the family for years, and they’d deserved better than to be gunned down in the street.
He was ashamed that he didn’t know more about them than their names.
He didn’t know if they’d left families behind. Partners. Children. Fucking pets.
Liam stepped up to stand at his shoulder. As always, he knew what Aiden was thinking. “They were both single. They both were loyal, and you treated them both with respect. This isn’t the way that I would have chosen for their lives to end, but it’s not as bad as it could be.”
That didn’t make him feel better. He didn’t think it made Liam feel better, either. Aiden stepped back from the bodies and rubbed a hand over his face. “What the fuck are we doing?”
“This is the price sometimes.”
But what was the gain? Power? They had a shit-ton. Money? More than he could spend in a lifetime. All they did was breed enemies and get people they cared about killed. Maybe it was the last couple years taking their toll, but he wasn’t sure if he saw the point anymore.
He couldn’t do anything about that. He couldn’t even fucking say that.
There was no one else, and the problem that Romanov presented—taking him out would open the door for someone even bigger and badder—also applied to the O’Malleys.
If they suddenly were to step back and go legit, it was all but guaranteed that the next power player to move into their position would be even more a monster than Aiden felt like.
It was equally likely that whoever that player was would come after them, if only to ensure that they wouldn’t try to get back into the game.
No, there were no other options but to continue forward, bearing the price and doing whatever it took to guarantee that they stayed in power—stayed as safe as anyone could be in this life.
He turned away from the dead men. “This doesn’t read like Romanov.” As much as he’d like to lay the whole damn problem at the Russian’s feet, it didn’t line up.
“No, it doesn’t.” Liam fell into step next to him as they walked up the stairs to the garage. “How sure are you of the Eldridges?”
“Not sure enough.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fuck, this is my fault, isn’t it?” He should have just left well enough alone, or gone after Romanov himself instead of putting together a plan that involved far too many wild cards. He couldn’t control Alethea. That was abundantly clear.
“You didn’t order a hit on your woman and sisters.” Liam shook his head. “Don’t go taking this on, too. You know damn well that we can’t predict every move every enemy will make.”
He did know that. It didn’t make it any easier to bear.
“I should have known she’d go after the women.
” That was what bothered him the most about the situation.
There was a time when even the most twisted of enemies would hesitate to strike out against the women and children of a family, but it appeared they were long past it.
If he was being honest, they’d been past it for a very long time now.
But Alethea was a woman. She wouldn’t have that same code.
Aiden stepped forward to grab the door and open it. “I would have predicted that she’d at least have waited until she took out Romanov to start looking to remove the other competition.”
A mistake they’d both made. Maybe if he’d consulted with Carrigan, she would have had better insight on the way Alethea’s mind worked. But he hadn’t.
Something else I needed to change…and now have an opportunity to do so because of Charlie.
“The question is how you’re going to respond.”
He followed Liam out into the night. They climbed a second set of stairs to the porch situated at the back of the house.
Most of the family ignored it, preferring to either be inside or completely out of the house, but he and Liam had spent quite a few evenings out here, sharing a beer and just sitting in silence.
Silence wasn’t an option tonight. They needed a plan for moving forward. “What’s my father been up to today?” He hadn’t seen much of Seamus, which wasn’t comforting in the least. The man was up to something, and hell if he could figure out what it was.
Everyone in his fucking family seemed to be up to something these days.
“He’s been in meetings with the gunrunners. I don’t know where he’s planning on sending the shipment he’s currently negotiating.”
“Find out.” He needed to cut that shit off at the knees.
Aiden hadn’t really expected his father to back off just because they’d exchanged words, but it appeared Seamus was more than happy to use his current distraction to undermine him.
He couldn’t allow it to happen, no matter what else was going on.
They were only as strong as their foundation, and infighting would weaken the family at a time when they needed their strength the most.
“We need proof that it was the Eldridges. Once we have that, I’ll make my move.
” He just needed to figure out what his move was going to be.
He stood before an impossible choice. If he didn’t strike back after an attack like that, it would be a weakness his enemies would want to exploit.
If he did, he ran the risk of screwing up his plans.
His original plan to set the Eldridges on Romanov and Romanov on the Eldridges was all well and good, but he couldn’t allow Romanov to fight his battles.
Or James Halloran, for that matter.
Fuck.
He pulled out his phone, cursing himself for not thinking of it sooner, and dialed James.
He had the man’s number out of sheer necessity, though he hadn’t had cause to use it up to this point.
It rang until he was sure it would click over to voicemail, and then a surly voice answered. “What do you want?”
There was no reason to mince words. James wouldn’t take it well if he tried to manipulate him. His only option was blunt honesty. “That attack was against Charlie and Keira, not Carrigan. I want you to stay out of it.”
“Too fucking bad. She has three sets of stitches and she’s cut all to hell. If your woman hadn’t reacted when she did, Carrigan would be dead. So don’t try to start a pissing contest with me, Aiden. You know who’s responsible? You had better fucking tell me, or you will be next on my list.”
He closed his eyes, praying for patience. “I’m glad my sister is okay. But her being there changes nothing.”
“What would you do in my position?”
He wanted to lie, to tell whatever convenient truth he could come up with to get James to stay out of it. He couldn’t. “I’d do exactly what I’m planning on doing and make an example of this piece of shit so that no one comes gunning for my fiancée or my sisters again.”
“Exactly.” James hesitated and then grudgingly said, “I’m willing to hold off and work together since our purposes line up. That’s as far as you can push it. Don’t fucking cut me out of this.”
Fuck. He considered his options. There really weren’t any.
James would move forward on his own if he didn’t agree to these terms, and they’d likely be stumbling over each other in their effort to get to the Eldridges—or whoever was responsible—which would weaken them both. “Fine. Don’t move until I contact you.”
“Your sister wants you at that fundraiser tomorrow night. Don’t fuck this up, Aiden. You keep saying that you’re not your old man—now’s the time to prove it.”
He’d totally forgotten Carrigan’s comment about the fundraiser. It couldn’t be worse timing. He opened his mouth to say exactly that, but the image of Charlie’s face imprinted itself on the back of his eyelids. A chance to fix things. “We’ll be there.”
“Good.” James hung up.
“That went well.”
Liam snorted. “It sounds like it. Can you blame him?”
“No, but the situation just gets more twisted the further into it we are. The last thing we need is more complications.” The words were barely out of his mouth when his phone started ringing. He stared at it. “Check the porch for bugs. Now.”
As Liam moved to obey, he answered. “It’s awful late for a chat, Dmitri.”
“And yet you’re awake.”
He stood and stalked around the perimeter of the porch. “Our next meeting isn’t for several days. Why are you calling?”
“You know why.”
Yeah, he did. “If you had a warning about the attack, you should have warned me instead of Keira.”
“That unnecessary step would have wasted time the women didn’t have.”
He couldn’t argue that point, no matter how much he wanted to.
It was entirely too easy to lay every single sin he could think of at Romanov’s feet, but the unfortunate truth was that the man had moved to protect Keira in the most efficient way possible.
“There had to be a better way.” A way that didn’t include Charlie and Carrigan getting cut all to hell as bullets whizzed over their heads.
“How shall we deal with the responsible party?”
Should have seen that coming from a mile away.
It struck him for the first time that there were fiancées from the O’Malleys, the Hallorans, and Romanov in that restaurant.
If Dmitri hadn’t sounded a warning, that would have been a blow that every single one of them would have had a hell of a time coming back from—if there was any coming back from it at all.
Aiden’s chest tightened painfully again at the thought of Charlie sharing the same fate as Devlin.
“Prove it’s the Eldridges—with evidence—and I’ll take care of it. ”
“Unfortunately for both of us—and James Halloran, I imagine—I’m not handing over that information unless you give your word that we will cooperate in bringing down our mutual enemy.”
“No. Our alliance doesn’t cover this, and you damn well know it.”
Dmitri sighed, as if Aiden had disappointed him. “That is the wrong answer.”
Frustration had his control cracking and his mouth getting away from him.
“What the fuck do you even care? Keira is merely a means to an end. I’m sure you have other women lined up if that falls through.
” A man in Dmitri’s position—Aiden’s position—had his pick of political hopefuls who wanted to marry off their daughters to accrue more power for their families.
No one was quite on the O’Malleys’ level, but there were other players in New York who would fall all over themselves to step in if Dmitri so much as crooked a finger at them.
“Your lack of understanding doesn’t change the fact—if you want the information, you will loop me into whatever retribution you have planned.”
He could find the information on his own given enough time, but it presented the same problem he’d run into with James.
Aiden stepped to the side as Liam came back to the porch with a handheld device that he promptly ran over every piece of furniture they had out there, before turning it to the deck itself.
He cursed and lifted a chair to yank something off the bottom.
I knew the timing of his call was too convenient.
Aiden watched with satisfaction as Liam crushed the surveillance device under his heel. “Do not bug my house again.”
“I make no promises. How can I expect to know when you’re planning things if you refuse to call me and inform me when my fiancée is involved as well? What is your answer?”
There was no choice, as much as he hated to admit it. “Fine. You’re in.”
“Delightful. We’ll meet in neutral territory. I trust you’ll ensure that James Halloran minds his manners.” Dmitri ended the call.
Aiden leaned against the railing and glared out into the night, wondering where the fuck he’d gone wrong. He was supposed to be orchestrating the downfall of Romanov to ensure that he didn’t end up actually marrying Keira, and yet here he was, working with him again to bring down a common enemy.
The world had gone topsy-turvy when he wasn’t looking. He felt like he was moving through a foreign land without a map or compass. It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t let it.
All that mattered was the bottom line.