32. Chapter 32 #2
“I knew you’d come. Never doubted it. But knowing you were out there looking for me was one thing; sitting here with all of you around me was another.” I swirled the whiskey in the glass. “So thank you for coming after me and for making sure Isabella got out with me.”
Lucian studied me for a moment. “You’re in deep with her.”
“Aye, and if your next question is how deep, mind your business.”
Lucian’s mouth curved. “You are my business. Marriage didn’t change that.”
“No, it just made you nosier.”
“It made me smarter.”
“Debatable.”
His mouth curved, but there was no chance he was letting it go, and judging by the attention coming from the rest of the cabin, neither was anyone else.
I set the whiskey on the table beside me.
“She grew up in that place surrounded by people who treated cruelty like breathing. She lost her mother and spent years hearing what happened in the dungeon beneath her room, and somehow she came out of it kind.”
No one interrupted, so I kept going.
“She notices everything and remembers every fucking detail. She’s stubborn as hell, and when she decides something matters, good luck moving her off it.
” A smile pulled at my mouth. “She can be quiet enough that people forget she’s there, then say one thing that cuts straight through all the bullshit. ”
Lucian’s expression softened.
“And she’s good,” I continued. “Not innocent. Not helpless. Good. There’s a difference. Ciro had twenty-five years to turn her into something ugly, and he failed.”
I picked up my whiskey again. “Aye. I’m in deep with her.”
“I’ve never seen you like this with a woman,” Lucian said.
“You’ve never seen me chained in a dungeon either. Maybe I’ve changed.”
“No.” His mouth curved. “I knew Scarlett was mine when she was still trying to convince herself she hated me.”
Gabriel snorted. “She did try to kill you.”
“More than once.”
“While you were sleeping,” I reminded him.
Lucian shrugged. “Still married her.”
“That isn’t the argument you think it is.”
He laughed, then his smile faded.
“I knew anyway.”
I understood exactly what he meant, and my thoughts immediately went to Isabella behind the closed bedroom door.
“Isabella gets to decide what she wants next. I meant that when I told her.”
“But?” Nik asked.
I gave him a flat look.
“But I’m a patient man.”
Rory coughed into his fist.
Gabriel laughed outright.
“Fuck all of you.”
Lucian grinned. “Patient?”
“Aye. She can take all the time she needs to figure out her life.” I picked up my glass again. “I’ll just make a damn good case for keeping me in the running.”
“That sounds more like you,” Nik said.
“And regardless of what she decides, anyone who sees Ciro’s death as an opportunity to get their hands on her is making a fatal mistake.”
No one argued with that.
“I need two things from you before we land,” I said, directing my attention to Nik.
Nik’s fingers moved toward the keyboard. “Go.”
“José, Rosa, and Miguel Herrera risked everything to help us. They could’ve handed us straight back to Delgado or Marcela’s people, taken the money, and walked away.”
“What do you want?”
“Enough that cartel money is never their only option.” I held his gaze. “Life-changing money for all three of them, but keep it quiet. I don’t want some massive deposit landing in a Salvadoran bank and painting targets on their backs.”
Nik nodded once. “I can structure it privately. Separate accounts, simple access, nothing publicly tied to you or The Syndicate.”
“Do it.”
“Consider it done.”
“What else?”
“Rafael—his body was left beside the service door at the south retaining wall near the loading dock.” My throat tightened despite my best effort to prevent it. “He loved Isabella’s mother. Find out where Eliana is buried and put him beside her.”
“I’ll handle it.”
I nodded and looked down at the whiskey.
For now, that settled the debts I could settle from forty thousand feet.
I turned to Lucian. “How bad was Boston?”
“Jack has lost his fucking mind,” he groaned. “He wants little heirs running around and alliances tied up with ribbons. Aisling, Everleigh, and Keira apparently exist primarily to solve whatever political or territorial problem is annoying him.”
“They’ll love that.”
“They already don’t.”
Gabriel smiled. “I still want to meet them.”
“Say that loud enough, and Jack will have you marrying one of them tomorrow.”
Lucian rubbed the back of his neck. “The problem is, they haven’t been sitting around waiting for their father to barter them away.
Those women control half his world between them.
If Jack thinks he can casually arrange three marriages and everyone will thank him for his leadership, the old bastard is in for a surprise. ”
“And where does that leave you?”
“Wanting no part of it, which Jack disagrees with violently.”
I smiled.
Lucian pointed at me. “Don’t laugh. You’re his nephew too.”
His humor faded.
“Scarlett’s going back and forth about Boston now. Ciro being dead changed things for her. She thinks Manhattan may be safer.”
Nik shut the laptop. “It isn’t. Delgado was one piece.
Whitaker’s money is still buying women, Hayes is still breathing, and people high enough in government to make federal agencies dance are still protecting the network.
The Syndicate may need Jack and his allies.
I don’t like what he’s trying to do with his daughters, but the people behind this have enough money to buy politicians, prosecutors, and whatever else gets in their way. We deal with the larger threat first.”
“And Jack’s daughters?” Lucian asked.
“If they’re anything like you describe, they won’t sit quietly while Jack rearranges their lives.”
“No.” Lucian exhaled. “I’m mostly worried I’ll end up caught in the middle and lose my balls in the process.”
Gabriel lifted his glass.
“To family.”
I laughed and raised my glass to his.
The bedroom door opened less than half an hour before we were due to land.
Isabella stepped out with sleep still softening her face and her dark hair mussed around her shoulders.
Seeing her rumpled and sleepy made me want to drag her straight back to bed.
“Whatever happened back there appears to have excellent therapeutic benefits.”
Isabella stopped.
Color warmed her cheeks.
“Gabriel,” I warned.
“What? She looks rested.”
Her eyes narrowed on him.
“I wasn’t aware the treatment came with public reviews.”
Rory looked down, hiding a smile.
Gabriel grinned. “I like her.”
Isabella crossed the cabin and slipped into the seat beside me.
“Did I miss anything important?”
“Only Gabriel discovering another reason someone might shoot him.”
She smiled.
Seeing her smile was a hell of an improvement.
I handed her a bottle of water while Lucian passed over a plate with fruit, crackers, and cheese.
“You should eat before we land.”
“Yes, boss.”
I glanced at her.
She gave me an innocent expression that fooled absolutely no one.
“We’ll be landing soon, and there will be a customs agent meeting the plane. Aria is waiting at the FBO with the rest of your paperwork.”
Isabella’s smile faded slightly.
“Customs?”
“Routine private arrival,” Nik said. “The officer assigned to us knows this aircraft and knows my people. Your documents match the manifest. Answer what he asks and don’t volunteer a life story.”
“I think I can manage that.”
I reached for her hand, and she threaded her fingers through mine.
“Aria also has coats,” Nik added. “You’re about to discover why.”
“Is it cold?”
Lucian laughed.
“You have no idea.”
“Storm’s coming,” Gabriel said. “A nor’easter’s supposed to hit overnight.”
Nik nodded. “The forecast keeps getting worse. Could be two feet by morning.”
Isabella’s eyes widened. “Two feet of snow?”
“Aye, Mouse. Welcome to New York.”
The pilot’s voice came through the cabin a few minutes later, asking us to secure ourselves for descent.
Isabella tightened her hand around mine as the jet dropped through thickening clouds.
This time, curiosity had replaced the fear, which was a hell of an improvement.
The wheels hit Teterboro a little after four.
Gray winter light covered the airport, and snow-heavy clouds hung low over New Jersey. By the time the aircraft rolled to the private terminal, DarkMatter SUVs were already waiting.
Customs was blessedly uneventful.
One officer boarded, checked the passports and passenger list, asked several routine questions, and moved on without giving Isabella more than a professional glance.
Aria appeared behind him almost the instant he cleared the door.
She swept into the cabin, carrying two coats over one arm and a slim leather folder in the other, perfectly put together despite the weather and chaos surrounding everyone else.
Her face lit up when she saw me.
“Look what the cat dragged home.”
I stood.
“Good to see you too.”
She hugged me carefully enough not to crush my ribs, then immediately turned to Isabella.
“And you must be Isabella.”
Isabella rose.
“Yes.”
Aria didn’t hesitate. She opened her arms.
Isabella blinked, then stepped into the hug.
“Welcome home, sweetheart.”
Isabella went still at the word home.
Aria released her before the moment could become awkward and handed over the folder.
“Backup identification, supporting documents, a phone, and a few other things Nik asked me to arrange. I also stocked Lachlan’s penthouse with everything I could think of.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Everything?”
“Food, toiletries, clothes, shoes, the basic necessities.” She smiled at Isabella. “And several things men consider unnecessary, but women know are absolutely essential.”
Isabella laughed.
I leaned down and kissed Aria’s cheek.
“You’re fucking amazing.”
“I know.”
She handed me my black wool coat, then helped Isabella into a thick cream-colored coat that looked as though it had been made for her.
Isabella ran her fingers down the sleeve.
“How did you know my size?”
Aria smiled mysteriously.
“You’ll learn.”
“Come on,” Nik said. “We need to beat the worst of the traffic and weather.”
Outside, the cold hit hard enough to steal Isabella’s breath.
Her eyes went huge.
“Holy shit.”
I laughed and tucked her against my side.