Page 60 of Mob Princess

“How out of touch with reality do you think I am? Like you haven’t killed people to serve a greater purpose than just seeing them dead. Like you haven’t ordered people killed on someone else’s behalf, so they’re just as indebted to you as you are to the O’Rourkes.”

“Justin said you wouldn’t open the door while you were in your suite with Sean yesterday. You missed your flight, but somehow you arrived home right on time. Is my concern misplaced?”

“You’re concerned? About me? Oh, you mean, concerned about the mission you sent me on. You want to know if I fucked him for information. You want to know if I’m sulking and holding out on you. If I learned something, but I’m just not telling you. That’s why you came to offer me sushi.”

“Must you always be so antagonistic?”

“You had me build encryptions to lock the O’Rourkes out of our finances. Fine. But you had me do that, and a few weeks later, you send me to New York. The city where they all live. You scheduled meetings for me with not one, but two syndicate heads. You weren’t willing to show your ass in New York, but you were fine sending me. You basically covered me in steaks and tossed me into a pit where three alpha lions could have torn me apart.”

Sean definitely ate me. Just not in the way I’m alluding to.

“You went. It’s not like I bound and gagged you, then tied you to the seat in the plane.”

“Okay. If I have so much freedom, I’m not doing another thing for you. I’m done.”

I walk to my closet and pull out my big suitcase. I wheel it over to the foot of the bed and lift it onto the mattress.

“’Scuse me.” I walk toward my dresser, gesturing to my destination.

“What are you doing, Nikki? Stop being dramatic.”

“If you’re not forcing me to work for you, then I quit. If I quit, then I don’t need to stay here.”

“Stop already.”

I’m pushing every last one of his buttons, but he’s already taken a sledgehammer to mine. I pull open the drawer with my t-shirts and scoop them out. I turn back to the bed.

“I signed a lease on a condo the day before yesterday. I get the keys in two days. I’m going to stay somewhere else for now since I’m already moving out.”

“When’d you find a place? I didn’t even know you were seriously looking. You have a place here.”

“We’re adults now who don’t live well together. We were fine when we were kids, and we both knew I was only visiting for a few weeks. I wanted my own space when I figured I’d be stuck here indefinitely. Now I just don’t want to make yet another move, even if it means I could go home. I have no job in Montreal. I sold my house. I’d be starting over there, staying with my mom. I enjoy living alone. I’m here, so I may as well make the most of it.”

That’s what I figured before going to NYC and before this argument. Now I don’t want to be in Boston at all. I could just abandon my security deposit plus first and last month’s rent. The amount makes my eye twitch. I don’t want to do that. Boston is still more affordable than NYC, and it’s still closer to NYC than Montreal. For how much I’m going to pay each month, I made the property owner agree to a month-to-month. Even before this latest clusterfuck with Ewan, I knew I wanted to have an easy escape when I finally got free of him.

In no way do I believe I’m free. But I’m free from living under his roof. I know he’ll make Justin and some of Justin’s men watch me. They’ll know if and when I see Sean. They’ll know how long I’m with him. But they can’t stop him from being with me. Not physically for sure. My money is all in on Sean winning any kind of fight. I know Justin can hold his own, but everything about Sean radiates he won’t back down first.

I keep going back and forth to my dresser, then my closet as Ewan watches in silence. When I zip it, he finally speaks.

“Where are you going to stay? Where’s the condo?”

“Just have Justin or one of his henchmen tell you. I know you’re going to make them follow me.”

“I can and I will. But you know Justin followed you to the city on his own. I didn’t order that.”

“I know.”

He waits to see if I say more, but I don’t.

“Nikki, all this shit aside. Are you going somewhere safe? Do you need guards?”

This is Ewan, my brother, who happens to lead the mob. Not the mob leader who happens to be my brother, Ewan. He has moments of sincerity. I forgive a lot because of that. But I’m still not staying here, and I’m not letting him run roughshod over me anymore.

“I’ll be in a good part of town. You know I have my gun.”

One of the first things I did when I moved to Massachusetts was get my LTC—License to Carry. I never carried a gun in Montreal. I learned to shoot pistols at a range, and I used to go hunting with Granddad. But I carried nothing more dangerous than a switchblade. That was something I kept well-hidden since they’re illegal in Canada. Knowing why Ewan summoned me, I made sure I got the legal right to carry a gun as fast as I could because I trust next to no one here.

“That’s marginally reassuring. Would you let Colt take you wherever you’re going tonight? Just to be sure you make it safely. You’re right about the risk I put you in being seen with Nishida and having a meeting scheduled with Pablo.”

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