Page 132 of Manacled Hearts

“Did you find out how the motherfucker lived?” He had a few holes in him, his men couldn’t find him either.

“I found a hospital record that matched some of his injuries. He used a different name, so I can’t be hundred percent sure, but it sounded like he was found by a random person, half dead. The records were altered though because that’s the only thing there. No evidence of surgery, recovery, death, or anything else. He disappeared,” Ronan answers.

“I’ll make sure he’s dust this time around.”

He nods in response. It’s a certainty for the both of us. For all of us really. Bartiste has been taunting us for long enough, and The Sanctum does not allow errors, let alone failures. We were young when he disappeared on us, but we aren’t the same people now. The wheels are in motion, Bartiste is leaving breadcrumbs, and he’ll be ours soon enough. The worst thing to admit is that the guy is a master in disappearing and hiding. If he were anyone else, we would admire the talent, but there’s nothing to admire about this man.

“You and the girl—” Ronan changes the subject.

“Evelyn,” I correct.

“She’s young…” His words strike me.

“And that bothers you?”

He takes a deep breath in, then releases it as he ponders, his gaze turning to Annika, still playing with their son.

“She seems mature enough, don’t get me wrong. But pulling her into this life at her age seems unfair,” he says as he refocuses back on me.

My fists clench and tightness grips my chest. “I know you’re not fucking insinuating that I’m forcing her to stay here. That I’m coercing her in some way.”

“I’m not, it’s just—”

“Evelyn is free to make her own decisions, brother. But I’m not gonna sit idly by and not show her all her options. And I am an option. I fucking deserve this too! Fuck knows I’ve waited long enough.” I rise and storm off before he can say anything else.

I’m rounding the house, needing a damn moment to myself before I end up taking my anger on someone else. But footsteps crunch on the grass behind me, and I whip around, ready to tell them to fuck off.

“Finnigan, sorry, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Loreley.

My warning stops in my throat and I nod, curious. The blonde woman and I don’t interact that much, though we are in each other’s presence fairly often.

“I know you and Evelyn are getting… close.”

“Oh for God’s sake, not you too.” I step back shaking my head. “Look—”

“No, listen to me. I’m not here about that. I want to talk to you about her and Maya. Has she spoken to you about the custody situation?”

This, I didn’t expect.

“I tried to approach it once, but she brushed me off and changed the subject. Why?” I ask, fully intrigued now.

“You and I both know she cannot get custody of Maya legally without jumping through enormous hoops that girl can’t afford. We spoke of it, she’s not really doing anything about it because she’s terrified she’ll lose Maya to the system until the custody is decided by CPS and a judge.” She takes a deep breath and looks behind her, probably making sure Evelyn isn’t around. “I offered to help, obviously. But she got really defensive. She’s a stubborn one.”

“What reason did she give you?” I ask, crossing my arms against my chest.

“She’s not comfortable with me doing anything about it because I already helped her so much. I hired her in the café, she lives in my apartment, though she insisted on taking rent out of her salary. You can imagine I barely charge her, but anyway, she fought really hard and actually got angry at me. You probably know as well as me that Evelyn does not get angry. Ever. So I had to back off. I want to speak to Morri about it, ask her to get The Sanctum involved, but I thought I would talk to you first. I see how you look at her…” she ends with a suggestive smile that would make me blush if I wasn’t distracted by the custody matter.

“Thanks for coming to me. I’m looking into it.”

Loreley’s eyes widen as she snaps back. “Really?”

I nod, feeling a bit lighter now. She smiles, a great big smile showing all her perfectly straight white teeth.

“Thank you!” Her shoulders drop on a calming exhale. “And… I probably don’t need to say this, but if you hurt that girl, I’ll chop your balls off myself and feed them to you.”

My brows shoot up as she whips around, her long ponytail brushing against my chest, and walks away. Jesus Christ. I kind of believe her though. Loreley is a Dietrich, and that family has quite the reputation in the criminal underworld. She may be out of the family business, but who knows what she learned before. This conversation seems to be what I needed, because I’m calm, another goal added to the list of all that concerns Evelyn.

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