Page 62 of Mercy in Betrayal

“No one by that name lives here,” he responds.

I glance over my shoulder before looking back at the doorman. Of fucking course, they wouldn’t use their names. Would Evie use ‘Papparado’? No, that would be too obvious. She wouldn’t use Rowan’s name, either. Maybe…what was the old woman’s name?

Maggie…some old world British Isles name. Meredith? Yes. Meredith. Fuck, what was her surname?

O’Neill? Yes. It was O’Neill. I remember reading about the family history. The O’Neills and O’Hanlons had been supporting each other since 1564.

Maybe the research I had done into the family would pay off. I lost sleep reading that night.

“Meredith O’Neill,” I tell the doorman.

“One moment, Mr. Scarpetta.” The doorman turns his back on me and presses a button.

“Mr. Scarpetta is here to see you.” He speaks into the intercom.

I don’t hear a response, and I’m ready to bust the door in when a buzzing noise sounds. The doorman steps aside, and Cassidy strides to the door.

“Cassidy.” I greet him, my manner unfriendly.

He glares at me. “What do you want?”

So we are going to do this on the sidewalk.

The door opens again, and this time it’s Evie. She takes one look at Cassidy and shakes her head. “Get your asses upstairs, and let’s deal with this. Look at you two, staring at each other like a couple of junkyard dogs.” She barks.

I grin at Cassidy as he turns and follows Evie into the building and follow on their heels. Evie walks past the elevator and starts climbing the stairs. It’s good that we aren’t crammed into a steel box together, but the thought of pushing Cassidy over the railing comes to mind more than once until we reach their apartment.

Evie closes the door behind us.

“We are aligned now, by the rules of famiglia; we are not supposed to undercut each other.” I start straight away. I don’t sit down, and neither do Evie or Cassidy. I keep my back to the door to keep both of them in my sights.

Cassidy takes a threatening step toward me. “I don’t give a fuck about the rules. You’re a fucking asshole—”

“Cassidy,” Evie warns, but he’s not to be stopped. “You should have respected the O’Rourkes enough to not pull what you did with Rowan.”

It’s clear that I won’t get much talking done with Cassidy; he's too wound up, so I speak to Evie instead. “You know how this works; you need to talk some sense into him,” I say to Evie.

“I’m right fucking here.” Cassidy’s fists tighten, but I don’t look away from Evie.

Evie glances at Cassidy before taking a protective step toward him. “Cassidy and I are on the same page.”

I shake my head. That’s the wrong fucking answer. “Maybe I should go to Angel about this?”

Cassidy snorts. “Angel?” He questions. “I can take on anything he sends my way. So go ahead and run to Angel.”

“Maybe we are being a bit too hasty here,” Evie interjects.

The look on Cassidy’s face tells me he isn’t going to back down. He moves his hand to his hip. Anticipating his move, I draw my gun and train it on him. I sense movement behind me and a moment later see Evie’s gun in my peripheral. Sighing, I pull a second gun and point it at her.

“We have ourselves a little quandary,” I say. None of us blink. Cassidy and Evie watch me, and I divide my glance between both of them. If I shoot Cassidy, I could take him out, but I won’t escape Evie’s bullet. I won’t lower my guns, though. I won’t give them the pleasure of my capitulation. “What do you propose we do about it?”

Chapter 22

Rowan

Clementine does not like public transportation. He scrunches down in his carrier on my back, making himself as small as possible. His discomfort doesn’t help my own, which I should have thought about before electing to take the subway—but I probably would have made the same decision, anyway.

It’s one of those experiences I have to get comfortable dealing with.

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