Page 54 of Mob Princess

Ewan holds on to the envelope while his truck driver pulls the door shut and locks it. As though they’re saying a lingering goodbye—no air kisses, though—neither turns their back on the other. The truck takes off, and the men fill their respective SUVs. Then they’re pulling away in opposite directions. None of us makes a peep for three minutes. That’s when I can no longer hear anything at all.

“We need to be fast. Nate, get the padlock undone. Luke, John, grab the gear bags from the vehicles. Peter gets the spotlights set up.” I’m putting my equipment away as I speak.

We travel with solar powered, portable work site lights. We don’t do everything in the dark. The guys hurry to do their tasks while Shane and I stand together. We whisper to each other. Shane looks in the direction Schlossberg’s envoy drove as he speaks.

“Are you prepared to save him when Schlossberg goes after his arse in the morning? You can’t let your girlfriend’s brother die.”

“We see how it plays out. It would have been better if this happened a month ago. Then I wouldn’t have to keep his dumb arse alive. It would have been so fucking convenient.”

“Do we let Schlossberg rough him up?”

“Within reason. We can’t go in and save him, though. We’ll have to find a way to have Schlossberg call off his Wachhunde.” Guard dogs.

The guys have the shipping container open, and the lights set up. Peter hands me a crowbar, and I go to the spot I found the hidden stash. I pry back the metal before stepping away. Luke and John take my place and toss the various currency bundles into the bags. Finn will go through everything and decide what to do with the counterfeit—who to sell it to—and which accounts to hide the legit money in.

Shane and I search throughout the container, going in opposite directions. We find a couple more suspicious nooks and crannies, but they’re all empty. We’re all wearing gloves, so no need to wipe anything down. We leave the siding pulled away from the walls and the door hanging open.

It’s not long before we’re on the road and catching up to Ewan’s truck. As we expected, it has no escort. A couple quick maneuvers, and we have it boxed in and forced onto the shoulder of the road. We all have balaclavas on now. Not that the driver or the guy riding shotgun will talk. They won’t breathe. We work in silence, even with Kelly along who’s never done this type of job with us. We work fast, going through every sofa, carefully extracting one cushion at a time—seats and backrests.

Nate and Peter set up a workstation with two TV tray tables while Shane and I help the other guys carry burlap sacks full of oregano to them. They get the wrapping open, then pour out the contents into empty sacks. Luke and John help them funnel the oregano into the original packaging while Shane, Kelly, and I haul the sacks to the SUV we arrived in. We aren’t worried about the weight of the bricks we leave behind, so some packages look deflated.

The ones that look the worst get hidden in the far back sofas. The entire operation takes nearly four hours, but then it’s done. It takes precision, which takes time. Peter’s the new truck driver with Luke riding shotgun. Kelly pulls into the lead vehicle position and stays there until we’re three blocks from the harbor. We hang back, trusting everything will be fine while Peter and Luke get everything offloaded.

This part feels like an eternity even though it’s only another two hours. We still have our earpieces in, so we can hear what’s happening. But if shite goes sideways, we can’t get to them in time to save them. I breathe a sigh of relief when it’s done. We meet up with Kelly’s dad and brother. The three of them deal with the vehicles once they drop us off near the back entrance to our motel. Nothing flashy because we don’t need anyone noticing we’re in town.

“We roll out in three hours.” Shane waits for my agreement.

“Don’t oversleep this time.”

“That was seven years ago, and I had the fecking flu which you gave me.”

“But I still arrived on time at the airport.” I grin at him as he flicks me off.

I head into my room and take a quick shower. It’s just after five a.m. I’m about to fall asleep when my phone buzzes. What the fucking hell now?

Chapter Eleven

Lina

I brace myself as I slide my key into the front door.

Silence greets me, but I know Ewan’s home because the light’s on in his office. It’s gray and dismal today, and it matches my mood. I didn’t sleep well last night. I couldn’t figure out why for a couple hours. I didn’t fear for Sean because he radiates capability and a self-assuredness few people would test. It didn’t scare me to come back here. There was smidge of dread, but that wasn’t what woke me, then kept waking me up. I realized it was I missed Sean being in bed beside me.

We didn’t even spend a night together, and we didn’t exactly sleep when we shared the hotel bed. Despite that, I felt so much better in his arms than I ever have on my own or with someone else. My mom would protect me to her last breath. God help anyone who came near me while she was close. But she wouldn’t be able to put up the same fight Sean could. She doesn’t exude the same menace I know Sean can. I’ve never felt so safe or sheltered as I did in his arms.

It’s not like my life is some great hardship, and it’s not like I’m caught in some war zone with bullets flying. I’m a mob princess more than anything else. I fucking hate that term. I’m a mob daughter, but considering the advantages I’ve grown up with, I get why some would call me the former. But I’ve also lived with danger surrounding me since birth. Women and children are off limits, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t catch us in the crossfire. It doesn’t mean it hasn’t been dangerous when I was close to Dad or Granddad. It definitely doesn’t mean I’m safe when I’m within a hundred miles of Ewan.

I glance back over my shoulder and dip my chin as I look to my left. I know Seamus is in the car where he dropped me off. Cormac is already in position at the other end of the block. Seamus will circle around and park farther down the road but where the house is still in clear view. They’ll both be within sprinting distance.

I close the door behind me with the softest click.

“Nikki!”

Fuck me.

“Hey.”

“Get in here. Now.”

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