Page 82 of Mob Princess

If Ewan’s put a hit on me, Pablo’s probably getting his rocks off thinking about my death. If Pablo’s put a hit on me, then Ewan’s probably sucking his dick to get the job. Either way, both of them have a reason to see me dead sooner rather than later.

“Where is Pablo right now?” I look at Finn since he works with me to surveil the other families.

“Margherita’s back in the hospital. Pablo has questionable friends, but after what happened to his mom when she found out about his involvement with everything that happened to Thea—I don’t think this is him to be honest.”

Margherita’s his mom and has been fighting cancer for over a year. She’s been in and out of the hospital. She was home when shite went sideways for Finn and his in-laws. My brother made Pablo confess his role to his mother. It was Ally—only Finn calls her Thea—who stepped in and made Pablo stop talking. She’s a doctor, and she got alarmed when Margherita’s breathing became labored.

“Is she going to be all right? Did that just happen?” I’ve been gone two days.

Just like all the moms, Margherita knows her son’s shortcomings, but she’s still proud of him. But that day—she looked at her son as though she didn’t know him. It crushed him to see her disappointment. It really made me believe he’d think twice before involving any more women. But his memory hasn’t been that great since Aleks Kutsenko gave him a concussion in eleventh grade.

His fuckwad cousins, Tres J’s—Jorge, Joaquin, and Javier—insulted Maria Mancinelli at a party we all wound up at. Her brothers, cousin, cousin’s best friend, and her now husband—who’s also one of her brother’s best friends—lost their ever-loving minds. The Kutsenkos and their Andreyev cousins who now lead the Ivankov bratva jumped in to defend Maria and her friend, who was also insulted. Dillan, Finn, and I started heckling the Diazes for picking on girls and the Mancinellis for needing the Russians to protect their women. We all got sucked into a melee.

By the end, we all wished we’d died because we had to face our respective leaders. Granddad went completely berserk. Uncle Donovan wasn’t any calmer. We were lucky neither our grandfather nor uncle wanted to face our moms if we came home any more battered than we were. I learned Irish words I’d never heard before when they both chewed us up, then spat us out. I say we were lucky, but then again, now that I think about it, we ran back to them to escape our moms.

Shane shrugs. “We don’t know. Our moms took more food over yesterday. They ran into Laura, Christina, Anastasia, Sumiko, Heather, and Katerina as they were leaving.” That’s all the bratva wives.

Forget the United Nations. It’s the United Mothers the world should care about. Irish Catholic moms are permanent members of that Security Council. They sit at the same table as Italian Catholic moms, Colombian Catholic moms, Russian East Orthodox moms, and I’ve met my share of Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish moms who sit on that committee too. Fuck. I’ve met mothers of all different faiths who could give PhD level seminars on how to make their children repent with one raised eyebrow. They can dole out guilt like it’s their love language.

Cormac crosses his arms and rests back on his heels. “My guess is Pablo’s still doing business with Ewan because he can. He won’t stop Ewan, but he won’t help, either. Whatever money Ewan’s making from the deal with Pablo, that’s as involved as the Diazes are going to get. He’ll turn a blind eye, and Ewan’ll pay for the hit with his profits.”

“Are you certain I was the target?”

Finn, Shane, and Cormac shake their heads. I glance at the door. Shane rests his hands on the foot of the hospital bed. His knuckles are white as he speaks.

“Before I left and Dillan arrived, Ewan and Colt met some big guy who looked seriously pissed while talking to them. He was gesturing all over the place. I sent Finn his pic, and he ran facial rec on the guy. His name’s Justin Monahan.”

“Lina’s bodyguard. The guy’s in love with her.”

Cormac shakes his head. “The feeling definitely isn’t mutual. He left her a message, telling her to put distance between the two of you. He offered to come get her and take her to Montreal. She told Shay and me that if he comes near her and tries to take her from you, we’re to kill him. She wasn’t exaggerating. She was dead arse serious. They’ve been friends since they were kids, and she didn’t bat an eye telling us what she wants. I wouldn’t put it past her to do it herself if we don’t.”

“She told me. I saw him while they were in New York. He banged on her hotel door while we were together.”

Shane picks up the story again from where he left off. “He was angry about something Ewan said. I’d just pulled up and didn’t catch what it was. They were on Ewan’s porch, so the mic and headphones helped. I heard him telling Ewan and Colt how pissed he was. They laughed. Colt taunted him about his feelings for Li—Nikki.”

My brother catches himself before I clench my jaw. He raises his hands in surrender.

“Sorry. You keep calling her that, and I barely know her. Give me five minutes to catch up. Anyway, Justin warned them about the Tremblays getting involved if this goes much further. He left, presumably to call Nikki. Ewan and Colt went inside. I waited in the car, watching the place until Cormac called to tell me what happened. I left when Dillan got there. I think this could be as much about her as it is you. I think Ewan could have put a hit on his sister for being with you.”

“Or for being uncontrollable. She won’t bend to him, and she knows shite now. She’s a liability in general, but now that she’s with me, he won’t want her talking.”

We fall silent, and I know all of us are thinking about Colleen. She was Dillan’s younger sister, but she may as well have been all of ours. She was the uncontested leader among us even though she was younger than Dillan and Finn. She’d get us into so much trouble, but we had a blast along the way. When Seamus and Cormac came out of it with their hands looking clean, she’d point out the dirt under their nails once we were away from our parents. We never dimed each other out. She’d mete out her own justice to make sure they got their fair share.

She was hilarious with a raunchy sense of humor, but she was also the kindest person anyone could ever meet. She was a vet and specialized in rescue animals. When Uncle Donovan died, our moms’ cousin Declan seized control. It was a shitshow with the bratva that led to Uncle Donovan’s death. Dillan was so pissed because our uncle didn’t listen to his advice and exactly what he warned would happen did. He went out of town for a breather before he was supposed to assume the mantle. Granddad and Uncle Donovan groomed him for it.

To ensure his power grab, Declan put a hit on our moms. He died for fucking around with the bratva before he called off the hit. A woman thought she had Cormac and Seamus’s mom, Auntie Saoirse, in her crosshairs. It was Colleen. Dillan was there and caught her as she fell. He called his parents. He was holding her, sitting in a pool of his baby sister’s blood, when we got there. He didn’t speak for a month. They were as close as Shane and me even though they weren’t twins.

If it weren’t for Finn, I’m certain Dillan would have drunk himself to death. Either alcohol poisoning or getting so pish drunk he wound up in a fight that would have killed him. I think that’s what he wanted. Fortunately, he trusts Finn, and they survived his grief. His wife is the best thing that’s ever happened to him. I didn’t believe it was possible, but he trusts her and relies on her advice even more than he did Colleen’s. I wasn’t sure he’d ever let himself love someone so much again. But he and Mair are soulmates.

I glance at the clock again. It makes me wonder what Lina’s doing. It’s been twenty-five minutes. I’ll give myself four more minutes before I get out of bed. Six before I go looking for them. Arse to the breeze if I have to.

“What’s the plan going forward?” We only have four minutes left to decide.

“You keep your arse in bed where you belong and stop staring at the clock. We will keep you and Nikki safe. We wait for Dillan to tell us anything he learns. As soon as you’re well enough to travel, we go home. Will Nikki come with you?” Finn’s watching the door as he speaks.

“I hope so.”

“Find out.” Shane’s going to say more, but someone knocks.

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