Page 88 of Mob Princess

Chapter Eighteen

Sean

“He said that to you?”

“If I didn’t see both of your mouths moving, I wouldn’t have believed you both spoke. That’s eerie.”

Plenty of people tell us that. We often say the same thing. Our voices blend to most people’s ears, but our family can tell us apart. Our parents can, so I never got away with shite if I mutter things under my breath. Shane has the better sense to think his comments, not say them.

“Lina, when did Colt say all of that?”

“About five years ago. We dated for nearly a year, but most of it was long distance because of grad school. I wasn’t sure I wanted to settle down and get married. I wasn’t sure he was the right person, but I’d known him most of my life. It was always so comfortable being with him. I thought I knew what life would be like with him, and it felt nice. When he asked a third time and formally proposed, I said yes. He flew down to DC to do it. I came back three weeks later to surprise him. Except I’m the one who got surprised. I went to Houlihan’s since we used to share our locations, and the app showed he was there. I came in through the back like I had since I was underage. There he was with a brunette on his lap, Ellie sitting on Ewan’s lap next to them, Uncle Riley across the table, and most of the bar listening. I have never felt rage like that. I haven’t since. I knew where the owner kept his Colt—I liked the irony for what I planned. I also knew where the Louisville Slugger was, too.”

She looks down as her head tilts slightly. I see the muscles in her jaw flex as she purses her lips for a moment. She gives her head a little shake before looking at Shane and me.

“I shot the shot glass out of the bitch’s hand. Fuck William Tell and the apple on his kid’s head. I knew it would distract them all enough to get them on their feet. I was ready. Colt left with three fractured ribs, a broken elbow, and a busted kneecap. Denny Byrne tried to stop me. His four front teeth are implants. I rammed the end of the bat into his mouth.”

Denny’s name makes my fist curl, and I know Shane has the same reaction. He was Corey Byrne’s son before Finn dealt with Corey, who was part of the fucked-up situation Rowan jumped into with Finn’s in-laws. Denny’s my dad’s age. I met him the first time I came to Boston. He was a prick then. He’s a prick now. Since his dad died, he’s taken over leading a motorcycle club. They’ve stayed quiet after the reminder Finn sent them.

“I knew the woman on Colt’s lap. She was my best friend in Boston. She doubled down and came after me with a broken beer bottle. The bat to her tits ruptured both implants. She got them when she was fifteen, so they were already seven years old. Shockingly easy to burst old saline ones.”

“You took a bat to them?” I’m fucking stunned.

“I played softball all the way through college. I loved kickball when I was little, so it was a natural transition. I prefer kickball now that I’m older. I prefer a different kind of balls whizzing toward my face.” She winks. She fucking winks!

Now she shrugs. Her lips turn down in a false frown.

“I was just the runt of the litter to them. None of them came to my games in high school because I lived in Montreal. None of them came to games when I was in college because I lived in New York. I don’t look as sturdy as most softball players. They underestimated my strength and my speed. They lived. They learned.”

“And Colt thinks he can charm you after all that?” I want to bash his face in. I will bash his face in.

“That’s how arrogant Colton Flaherty is. He believes I’d fuck him again if he offered. He hints at it. Ewan suggests it. My brother told me I could have stayed in Boston if I wanted to get laid rather than seeing you.”

I’m seeing red.

“Sean, that was a long time ago. I vented my anger that afternoon. I sold the engagement ring and put a down payment on my sports car. At least he had the decency to get me a high-quality, flashy ring. Even that wasn’t about me. He wanted to impress my dad. If you deal with Colt, do it because of work. Do it because of your family. Don’t do it for me because he isn’t worth shit. He craves attention. The best way to fuck him over is to ignore him. It drives him nuts that he can’t get me to engage anymore. Pretentious twat.”

I nod, but it’s because there’s nothing I can do while I’m in a hospital bed. I’ll ignore him for now. But Lina didn’t pay attention earlier if she thinks I’m letting this rest permanently. From her resigned expression, she knows. She walks over to me and kisses my cheek.

“Don’t waste the expensive bullets on him.”

I glance at Shane. He’s staring at us.

The women in our family are—extraordinary.

Truthfully, all the syndicate wives are. They have to be to survive this lifestyle, and they already are extraordinary when they enter this world. It’s why we fall so hard, so fast when we meet our soulmate.

This has been a bizarre, yet informative story that confirms what I know. Lina is the person I was destined to meet and fall in love with. I’m not there yet. I’m not so drugged up I don’t know that. But I’m on the way. The foundation is there. Time will build the walls. I wonder if she feels anything like that toward me.

“Lina, you were flippant with Colt. But do you want to go back to Boston? Do you want to see Ewan?”

She hesitates and closes her eyes. When she looks at me, I see conflicting emotions brewing within.

“They say there are stages of grief. It’s not linear. Sometimes you return to old ones. Sometimes you skip past others. Now that my anger isn’t about him attacking you, my anger is that he’s not the brother I had. I miss that boy. But neither of us are kids. He’s made his choices about me, and I’ve made mine about him. It still makes me sad sometimes, and that annoys me. I can’t bargain with him or God to heal our relationship. He doesn’t want it, and neither do I. Not really. I didn’t move to Boston because I wanted to help him specifically. I moved to help protect our community. Not everyone has been horrible to me. That’s why I let him guilt me into shit. No more. If I see him, it’s to say a permanent goodbye. He won’t forgive me for choosing you. And I will never choose him again.”

My heart hurts for her. Shane and I exchange a glance. We can sympathize that this is a shite position to be in. But we can’t empathize. We’ll never be able to put ourselves in her shoes to know what she feels. We can’t. It’s unfathomable to us ever to be at odds like Lina is with Ewan. I can’t imagine it with Finn either. It’s not just because Shane and I are twins. I love Finn just as much. Shane and I might be genetically identical, but Finn and I still share the same DNA. It was stamped into the very fibers of who we are before we were anything more than an embryo. It’s the same with our cousins. How we feel about them, and how they feel about us.

I wait to see if Lina will say more, but she remains quiet. I turn my attention back to Shane. “What does Dillan want us to do?”

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