41. Scarred For Life #3
“Maybe I should get some quick target practice in,” Maddox said, folding his arms and looking me straight in the eye.
“Careful, Moriarty,” I smirked, heading towards the car. “Say it a little louder, and Gio’s going to ask why you want to shoot me so badly.”
Giovanni’s head turned. “Why does he want to shoot you?”
Maddox’s eyes narrowed. I smirked, holding his black gaze as I replied, “He’s Irish. Revenge is in his blood.”
“Revenge for what?” Gio frowned. Maddox’s jaw pulsed with his rage as he realised I knew. I knew why he wanted me dead. And he was waiting to see whether I’d tell my brothers who Callum really was and that he was screwing my sister.
“For being better-looking than him.”
Gio laughed, grabbing my shoulder and squeezing it. “Stop winding him up, or he really will kill you. Stay safe out there, fratello.”
I slid into the back seat as Alessio climbed into the passenger seat. Giovanni stayed behind because we would never leave the women alone in the mansion. The whole car dipped under Maddox’s weight as he took the seat next to me.
The engine growled to life, and we pulled down the drive towards the guarded gates.
I glanced back through the rear window and saw Soraya still standing on the steps, arms wrapped around herself, watching us leave.
Watching him, really. I could tell by the angle of her eyes that she was staring at the back of his head.
Maddox’s eyes were fixed on the wing mirror, too.
He didn’t blink. He didn’t even seem to breathe as he watched her grow smaller in the distance.
When the gates shut behind us, he leaned back in his seat with a small exhale.
I recognised that look. That feeling. I’d worn it myself every time I had to leave Arianna behind in Verona and return to Rome without her, not knowing when I’d see her again. If I’d see her again.
“So,” Alessio said, filling the awkward silence, being ever the diplomat. “When we land in Belgium, the warehouse where Sean’s hiding is a forty-minute drive. We will meet Aleksandr and his men there. Sean’s men rotate the guard at the door every two hours. We attack during the change.”
“We don’t attack until we see McKenna with our own eyes,” Maddox said in a flat tone.
Alessio twisted around in his chair. “He’s there. I’ve seen the videos myself.”
Something dark flickered in Maddox’s eyes. “I know how McKenna thinks. He’ll know by now that you are hunting him. He’ll have something planned. He won’t stay put for us to kill him so easily.”
“He may know he’s being hunted, but he won’t realise he’s been caught until it’s too late,” I offered.
“Don’t underestimate him.”
Alessio frowned. “You think this is a trap?”
“I think… when he sees me alive, this will be a standoff. McKenna will try to negotiate.”
The car went very quiet. Alessio’s blue eyes flicked to me in the windscreen mirror, giving me a what-the-fuck-is-he-talking-about look. I turned to Maddox, finding him staring out of the window and rubbing his chin.
“The only thing Sean wants is Arianna, and he already knows that ship has sailed. What will he want to negotiate for?”
“Me,” Maddox said calmly. “When he sees me alive, he will want me.”
“There’s nothing he can offer us in return, Moriarty. Whether he wants you or not, it’s pointless,” Alessio tried to reassure a man who didn’t seem bothered either way.
“Whatever he offers, take it. Hand me over to him,” Maddox said. “That’s our way in.”
Alessio huffed in the front, clearly unhappy with the change of plans. I could see his reasons. This felt unpredictable and risky. And if Maddox was right and Sean had something up his sleeve, I’d be breaking my promise to Raya by letting him walk in there alone.
“All the more reason to give this werewolf a gun,” I said.
The corner of Maddox’s mouth, the one that had a subtle split courtesy of my fist, twitched.
Alessio chuckled, confusion in his eyes at my dig, but he didn’t bother questioning it.
Instead, he passed a handgun over the seat.
Maddox took it, checked the magazine with confident hands that showed he knew exactly what to do with it, then settled back into his seat.
So much for better with my fists, the lying bastard.
“We should bring Sean back to Italy alive,” I said, which made them both look at me in surprise. I focused on Maddox, smiling as I explained, “Raya will want to watch you kill him herself.”
For the first time since I met the man, a genuine smile crept onto his face and he nodded. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, but one that said he knew exactly what I meant. He already knew her dark side.
“And Moriarty,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road ahead.
“What?”
“When this is done, when Sean’s in the hell he belongs in, we’re going to have a conversation. You and I.”
I felt the shift in the atmosphere weighing on my shoulders as the silence grew.
“Yeah,” he finally replied. “We are.”
And that was it. A temporary truce. Two men who should have been killing each other were becoming teammates, all because one woman, who we’d both burn the world down for, asked us both to come back alive.