Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Ican still taste her. The sweet, tangy flavor that is Aurora lingers on my tongue. My favorite flavor. If I could bottle it up and use it as gravy, I would. I asked her to look into finding out information about this child my parents gave up for adoption. I have doubts that my mother knew about it.
I know her name is on that birth certificate, but it doesn’t make sense. My parents were married. They wouldn’t have just given up their heir. Not because they wanted a child to raise and love. They just needed someone to take over the business. That’s what I was. An asset.
Did my mother love me? In her own way, she did. Although now I’m sure she’s out there somewhere, plotting my demise. I took her crown, and for that, she will never forgive me.
If I had known how everything would unfold after spending that one night with Aurora, back at my cousin’s party before I knew who she was, would I still have done it? Or would I have walked out of the room and never looked back?
The answer is simple. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’ve never felt more alive than when I’m with her, never been able to be more myself.
Guilt slides up my chest at the thought.
Kenny. The only regret I do have from all of this is him.
I’ve learned to push those feelings down, though.
My blame has shifted from Aurora to myself.
If I had been at that party when I said I would, she never would have taken that fucking drink.
She wouldn’t have been in that bedroom, and Kenny wouldn’t have found her.
Because I was late, I lost my cousin. My best friend. And I lost weeks with Aurora trying to push her away. I’m surprised the Albanians still want to do this deal, considering what my family did to two of their own… after I blamed them for Kenny’s death.
Do they know my family was behind it?
I need to get this shit sorted and get back to New York. Get Aurora back to her parents. I can’t leave. Not until I erase the threats, and the best place to do that from is here. I have a lot more resources in Dublin. Which means it’s where we are the safest.
I tried to leave Patty at the house with Aurora again today. She wasn’t having it, though. When she told me that she would be more at ease knowing he was with me, that it would help her anxiety, I didn’t have a choice but to bring him. There’s also the fact that Levi is hanging around.
Do I trust that fucker? More than others. She’s family to him, and that means a lot to the Valentinos.
“You good?” Patty asks. We’re currently walking through Trinity College campus, heading for their science department.
“I’ll be a hell of a lot fucking better once I destroy this place.
” The desire to burn the entire lab and everyone in it to the ground is strong.
First, I need that fucking vial. I need these assholes to believe I’m going ahead with the deal, because that’s what everyone back in New York has to believe.
Until I know my next move.
There are still two of my father’s men who are working to overthrow me.
The thing is, there is only one way for them to do that.
The same way I overthrew my dad. They have to kill me, tear my heart from my chest, and display it.
I’m not about to let that happen, because what they’d do to Aurora if they ever got me would be far worse.
“You think it even works? I mean, seems pretty farfetched,” Patty says.
“It works. My da wouldn’t sell it if it didn’t.” He wouldn’t risk his reputation by selling a product that didn’t deliver on what it promised. When we get to the building, I turn around and face the ten men I brought with us. “No one touches anything, says anything, until I give the go ahead.”
“Sure thing, boss,” one of them replies with a nod.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to correct him, tell him my name is fucking Connor, not boss.
I hate the term. I hate the job. I hate the fucking organization.
Some things are better left unsaid, though.
This organization is these guys’ lives. They live and breathe for it.
I have no intention of taking that away from them.
They need it. I just don’t want to be the one running the fucking show.
I turn back and tap the staff card Patty acquired against the panel. It grants us entry to the building without breaking shit or calling any more attention to our group than we already have.
Patty leads the way into the lab, and as soon as we enter, all eyes land on us. Faces pale and everything goes silent. You could hear a pin drop.
I smirk. Of all the things I hate about this job, this reaction isn’t one of them. “You have something for me?”
“Ah, Mr. O’Malley, we weren’t expecting you,” a skinny guy in glasses says.
“Is that a problem?” I glare at him.
“N-no, sir… I, ah… I have what you need,” he stammers out. “It’s in the safe.”
I don’t respond, just stare him down. Does this fucker expect me to get it myself?
Eventually, he clears his throat and moves towards the far wall. His fingers tremble as he puts in the code to unlock the safe. When he returns, he hands me a plastic box. Inside the box is a single vial.
“That’s it?” I ask. It’s fucking tiny.
“That’s all of it, sir,” the guy replies.
“How does this work? How can I be sure it’ll work?”
“We showed your father the tests. Using the blood sample he provided,” he says.
The blood sample my father got from my fucking wife.
“How does it work?” I repeat. I’m still not convinced something so fucking small can take out an entire bloodline, especially the Valentinos.
“It requires a carrier to self-inject. The carrier will not be affected. When that carrier exposes themselves to someone with the gene, they will pass on the virus unknowingly. From there, the person with the gene passes it onto other family members. Until there are none left. The virus works quick, within three days. By then, patient zero will be dead and it will appear to be from an instant heart attack.”
“All of that, from this one little vial?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Yes, sir.”
“Is there any more of this anywhere?” I press.
“No.” The guy shakes his head.
“Where is the research stored?”
“It isn’t. We destroyed it all, at the request of your father.” He looks to the side.
Like fuck, they destroyed it. Not that it matters, because I’m burning this building to the fucking ground.
“Great. Come with me,” I tell him. It’s broad daylight and people are everywhere. I don’t give a fuck, though. I plan to make an example out of this fucking asshole. I turn and look towards my men, who are all itching to start smashing the place up. “Have at it.”
Patty follows me and the guy with the glasses. He’s the head of this project. Which is why he’s getting the special treatment.
There’s an old superstition at this college that if you walk directly under the clock tower, you’ll fail your exams. It’s why every student I watch walks around the perimeter, even though it’s faster to walk under it. Patty has a ladder and a rope already set up for us.
“This is how this is going to work.” I squeeze the guy’s shoulder. “You’re going to climb up that ladder. Then you are going to put that noose around your neck and kick the ladder out from under yourself.”
His face pales, and he takes a step backwards. “Why would I do that?”
Patty steps behind him. “I wouldn’t try to run if I were you.”
“You’re going to do it. Because if you don’t, I’ll do it for you.
Here’s the thing, though. I won’t stop at just you.
I’ll bring your entire family to this same spot and make sure they’re all hanging right next to you.
It’d be such a pretty sight. All three of your daughters hanging from the clock tower.
” I look up like I can already picture it.
Would I actually do that? No. But this asshole doesn’t know that, and going off my family’s track record, he has no reason to doubt me.
The guy shakes his head even as he starts climbing up the ladder on shaky legs.
Then, without a word, he does exactly what I told him to do.
Once the life drains from his body, I take my phone out and snap a picture, ignoring the screams of onlookers as Patty and I walk away.
That’s when I see the smoke coming from the lab.
“What are you going to do with that?” Patty asks, nodding towards my hand that’s still holding the box with the vial.
“I’m going to create a lookalike and sell it to the Albanians,” I tell him. “But not before I let the Valentinos know about the deal.”