27. Connor
Connor
Declan walks into my bedroom as if he’s entering the bedroom we shared as kids over in Couldermouth. He puts the fresh cup of coffee on my desk and rests his hand on the back of my gaming chair (those chairs are most comfortable for long hours of sitting while I do surveillance).
He tips my chair back and looks down his nose at me. “You fucked her last night.”
“And this morning.”
He releases the chair, and I bounce back like a ping-pong before settling and picking up my coffee. I sip the brew. Hope it helps with my alertness. I didn’t get much sleep last night.
“Where did you put her tracker?” Declan asks.
“Her purse.”
“Not her phone?”
“She’ll ditch the phone.”
“When she runs?”
“Mmhm.”
“You think she’ll run without the baby?”
“I doubt it.”
“Would you take custody if something happened to the mother?”
“Yes.”
“Connor.” Declan spins me around. He sets his coffee down and places both hands on my armrests, effectively caging me in. Mismatched eyes stare into mine. “Do you love this woman?”
“No.”
“Do you think she loves you?”
“No. Don’t be stupid.”
“Is it possible you’re wrong about how you feel about her?”
“No. I’m obsessed with her.”
Declan releases my chair. “That’s your love language, Con.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“You should fire the Musketeers, then, because you know everything there is to know about me,” I say.
“Is that one Musketeer still around?” he asks.
I nod.
“One is better than none. You think you can stick with him?”
“Yes.”
“Great news, brother. There we go. Are we calling her Ekatia or Renne?”
“Renne. It fits her better.”
“Her name has two n’s like your name.”
“It’ll look nice on our wedding invitations,” I say, just to get him riled up.
Declan turns my chair toward him so fast, my coffee sloshes into my lap. I vault out of the chair and drop my pants. “Hot, hot. What the fuck is the matter with you?” I grab a towel and wet it in the bathroom, then clean my pants.
“Wedding invitations?” my brother asks, his voice high-pitched.
“I’m joking. Jesus, Dec. I would never steal your thunder. You’re the one who’s getting married.” I change into faded blue jeans. “Are these jeans even mine?”
“Those are mine.”
“Hm. They’re nice. You don’t wear jeans, so they’re mine now.” When I look up, he’s in my chair. Control freak. He can’t help himself. “Out of my chair. Don’t touch my keyboard. Don’t touch anything.”
Declan gets up and grinds his teeth. “Renne entered the hospital, and I can’t figure out which camera follows her because you sucked up all the brains and left me underdeveloped.”
I pull up the cameras at the hospital. “You know that’s not true.”
“It is, brother. It really is. And if you were operating on a normal brain wavelength like the rest of us, you would see how brilliant you are.”
Declan always says this stuff to me. I ignore him.
A man wearing a baseball hat and jeans, looking as casual as a cop could possibly appear, walks into a storage closet. I know Renne will follow before she does.
“Uh-oh. You think they’re going in there to fuck?” Declan asks.
I swing, landing an open-handed bitch slap on Declan’s cheek.
He licks his bloody lip. I wait for him to whack me back, but he fists his hands at his sides.
“I’m waiting,” I remind him to hit me back.
“Can’t fight you. Promised Dina I wouldn’t.”
“I’m never falling in love with a girl,” I declare.
“Only obsessing over one.”
“You can’t fight me, but I can fight you. Keep that in mind, twat.”
“Why don’t we have a microphone on her?” he asks.
“We do.”
“Why don’t we hear anything?”
“Because they’re not talking.”
“Oh, so they are fucking.”
“Damn it, Dec. I’m trying to work over here, and you’re putting images into my head that make me want to kill everyone. Including you. Stop that shit.”
Declan laughs.
He’s fucking evil, this guy.
“Hey, what’s up?” Renne says from inside the closet.
Dec and I listen.
“Glad you could make it,” the cop says. “How have you been?”
“Busy. Complicated.”
“That’s not good. There’s a picture of you and a man carrying you up the stairs that’s been leaked to the agency. I need to confirm who the man is.”
“Confirm who the man is? But I thought you wanted to meet because there’s a picture of me circulating around, and I’m in danger because I’m a witness?”
“That too. But we need to confirm who the man is first.”
“They’re using you,” Declan comments as if speaking to Renne.
A long pause while Renne gathers her wits about this. I take a sip of my coffee. “My belly feels funny, Dec.”
“Those are butterflies, Con.”
“They feel like fire-spitting dragons.”
“Whatever works.”
“That man is Connor Crossbow,” Renne says, her voice shaking a bit.
Declan squeezes my shoulder.
“I’m okay,” I tell him, even though I’m unsure what I am. My body’s reacting to this. My chest feels heavy. My gut burns.
“We weren’t sure which one of the Crossbow twins it was,” the man says.
“The other one is going to marry my best friend,” Renne says. “What do you mean you weren’t sure?”
“We never know.”
“That’s awful that you think I would take her man. But now that you know it’s Connor, are you going to extract me?”
“Actually, no. The orders are that you stay.”
“On the phone, you told me you would move me. You promised me safe haven. How is the Crossbow manor a safe haven for someone like me?”
“Well, you seem to be in a relationship with him.”
“We fuck.”
“We fuck really good,” I say.
“Spare me,” Dec comments.
“Connor is untouchable. Unapproachable. He’s the genius behind the entire criminal network. His intel and surveillance run half of this world’s underground market. If we get him, we can take down the entire network. We’re talking people at the top of the food chain. Cripple them for good.”
Renne stays quiet.
But Declan doesn’t. “Told you, you’re a genius.”
I roll my eyes.
“Wait, you want me to spy on him?” Renne asks.
“We’ll take out a life policy on you so your daughter will be taken care of.”
“Life insurance? Oh my God. You think life insurance is going to help her if Connor finds out I’ve lied to him?”
“You’ve already lied to him. If they find out who you are, and they will because the image was sent with a request to identify the woman in the picture, the Crossbows will take you out into a cornfield, and we’ll never find your body.”
Renne pauses again. “Connor wouldn’t do that.”
“That’s my girl. I told her I wouldn’t.” Cornfield. Pfft.
“Let’s say that I—” Renne starts, but the man interrupts, sounding agitated.
“You don’t have much of a choice. If we can get into the Crossbow organization, we can take out both them and the Macarleys.”
“What if I refuse? What if I don’t want to do it?”
“We leak your name.”
Renne scoffs. “You’re just like them. Worse. They’re not pretending.”
“We’re only asking you to change the targets.”
“Targets? I never targeted anyone. I was supposed to testify. I was supposed to tell the truth of what I saw that night. Now you’re asking me to be a mole.”
“Target is just informal speech.”
“I don’t speak that way.”
“Start now,” he hisses, sounding angry with her.
“Welp, his days are numbered,” Declan says.
“Minutes, not days.” I sling on my holster.
“Did you hear anything while you were at the Crossbow house?” the man asks.
“I heard lots of things. We talk, you know. But I’m not telling you a damn thing until you answer my questions.”
“I don’t have a lot of time,” he says.
“Make time, damn it. This is my life. What about the trial?” Renne asks.
“If you can give us Connor Crossbow and become part of that circle, there won’t be a trial.”
“No more running? No witness protection? I just keep doing what I’m already doing?”
“Essentially.”
“And what’s in it for me?” she asks.
“She’s considering this, Con.”
“Be quiet, Dec.”
“You would become an asset. Pension once the case is concluded. Life insurance for the duration of the assignment. These are bad men. Connor is the worst of the worst.”
“A monster, you mean?”
I hang my head.
Next to me, Declan says nothing. His silence speaks for itself.
“Yes, a monster.”
“But Cassian Macarley walks away free,” she says. “He murdered all those people.”
“Cassian Macarley is Connor’s uncle.”
“My favorite uncle,” I correct.
“What? What?! Why…why are you just telling me this now?”
“Lower your voice.”
“I can’t lower my voice, asshole. Why haven’t you told me that before?
You…you played me. You used my connection with Dina, and you let me get close to Dina because you knew she was tied to the Crossbow family.
Then, when you saw that Connor and I were getting close, you let it play out.
You could’ve extracted me at any point, but you waited until I was really inside, where I wouldn’t have a choice but to say yes to spying on them.
I have no way out. You’re the worst. Do you not see how hypocritical you are? ”
“Now, wait a minute. I tried to get you out as soon as you reported the hospital incident. But the shift in the Crossbow family took precedence, and my boss said you could be an asset. He was right.” A pause, then: “Will you do it?”
“I don’t have a choice now, do I?”
Hanna’s monitor scrambles. She’s up in the crib, holding to the bar and bouncing on the mattress, cooing.
Dina pokes her head into our room. “I hear the baby. You guys want breakfast?”
“Steak and eggs,” my brother and I answer in unison. We’re going to need the energy for the long day ahead.