Page 107 of Mob Princess

I step closer to my twin, and he realizes he’s about one word away from his easy-going baby brother exploding. He puts his hands up and shakes his head. He steps back.

“I was just trying to lighten the mood. Believe it or not, but I’m about two seconds from losing my shite too. They took you. Until you’re checked out—I see that puncture wound in your elbow—I don’t want you more worked up.”

“Then you shouldn’t have told me that Lina knows about Lucy. But there was no way around that. You’re really certain Lina’s all right? Not just safe from this shite storm, but with finding out about Lucy.”

“Yeah. She wasn’t pleased, but she accepted it.”

Finn comes in with my bag, and it doesn’t take long before I’m clean enough to be presentable. A shower wouldn’t be remiss, but I can see Lina now. I have fresh clothes and shoes. Finn’s taking care of getting Mikhail to the station for more questioning, and Shane’s driving me to our parents.

I don’t like seeing them rush out of the front door to greet us. The look on my mom’s face isn’t relief.

“Nikki’s gone.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Lina

“Nikki, what the hell are you doing? Go back.”

Ewan’s been pissing vinegar since he called me the first time. He relented and called to check on me, even though he was the one who got shot. I guess being near death makes him want to make amends. Is there a twelve-step program for recovering douchebags?

I shouldn’t think that about my brother. There are more days than not when he doesn’t feel like a sibling. He’s more like a stranger or someone I don’t have more than a passing relationship with. Other days, he’s someone I barely stop short of loathing. When I answered the phone, that’s where I was at. This is one of the rare moments when he’s being my brother and not a manipulative fuck.

“You shouldn’t have told me where she is if you didn’t want me to do something about it.”

“I wanted you to tell the O’Rourkes.”

“Unless it’s Sean’s mom or aunts, no one will make her talk because none of them will lay a hand on her. They won’t torture her, but I will.”

It was no easy feat to slip off Breda and Rowan’s property. They have armed guards patrolling it the same way all the O’Rourkes do. There’s a wall that runs around the perimeter that’s ten feet tall. It’s not concertina or chicken wire at the top, but it may as well be. There are spikes that are barely more than two inches apart. They stand at least six inches tall. No one is coming over that easily. They could make it, but not before guards spotted them.

I came outside to take this second call from Ewan because I didn’t want anyone around me if I lost my temper. I was sorely tempted the first time he called. He wanted me to go back to Montreal. He was prepared to send his jet for me. He wanted to tell my grandfather what’s happening and convince him to make me leave. For once, it wasn’t to coerce me into doing something else he wanted. He genuinely wants me safe. He told me he thinks it’s the bratva that targeted him and Sean, and if that’s the case, they’re the most likely to make me collateral damage.

I ended that call because Breda came to check on me. She had a cup of tea for each of us. We sat together on Sean’s old bed. She said nothing. She was just companionable silence. No platitudes. No explaining things I already know. No encouraging me to talk about my feelings. Eventually, I leaned against her, and she wrapped her arm around me. I felt badly for a moment, putting the weight of how I feel on her shoulders when she’s scared for her son. But when I reached across her lap and took her hand, she gave it a squeeze and held on to it tightly. It was a moment of shared fear and sense of uselessness.

When Ewan called again an hour-and-a-half later, I was downstairs with everyone else. We’ve been on the phone now for twenty minutes. I wandered the front garden for a while, not really paying attention to what Ewan was saying, since he was repeating himself from our first call. When Siobhan and Tate arrived, I heard the Elton John version of that oldies tune, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

My rage flooded me. It was a sign. I needed out, and I needed to go immediately while I had the chance. I crept around the back of the guard shack right by the gate. I kept to the shadows and slipped out while the guard spoke to Tate. It was like good fortune shone upon me. I’m still on foot, but I’m about to hail a cab and head back to Sean’s for my car.

“Ewan, enough. Either give me her address or don’t, but I know you have it.”

“No. I’m not helping you with this. I’m going to call Dillan.”

“Do that, and the first thing out of my mouth when Sean gets home is the key to my encryption.”

I refuse to imagine anything besides Sean coming home. Finding Lucy isn’t about finding Sean. I pray it helps, but I trust his family to find him. This is answers. This is retribution.

“Really? You’re going to be spiteful right now?”

“I’m going to do whatever the hell it takes to find out what else these pieces of shit planned for Sean. And might I remind you that the bratva is pitting you against each other. If I find out what they’re going to do to Sean, I’ll probably find out what they’re going to do to you. I’d tell you that.”

“She won’t know anything. They probably paid her or threatened her, and she played her part.”

I know that. I don’t expect Lucy to know shit. But I’m not confessing to Ewan before I commit the crime. Lucy isn’t going to live.

“If she’s not a threat, then why shouldn’t I talk to her? The O’Rourkes won’t interrogate her like I can.”

Ewan and I both know that’s bullshit. They can interrogate even better than me. But they won’t hurt her for the information. I will. And that brings us right back around to what I was thinking about earlier.

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