Page 51 of Creatures in the Night

“Leave my family alone,” he sobbed at the reminder. “Ple…please…”

“How much did you pay them?” James asked as he went through Craig’s phone.

“I’m sor…sorry…” Craig whined.

“Answer the fucking question,” I snapped.

“Ye no doin’ yerself any favors here,” Declan bit out.

“Ten,” Craig finally admitted. “I paid them ten…ten-thousand dollars.”

I saw red.

This sonofabitch had valued Shea at an amount that I pissed away just waking up in the morning. Ten-thousand dollars had been the price of her life to him, and I’d never been so fucking insulted in all my life. My wife was fucking priceless, and Craig had dealt her away for ten racks of nothing.

“Then it wasn’t Kotov,” Declan remarked. “There’s no way that his men would have killed an O’Brien for that small of an amount.”

“I agree,” James chimed in. “I also just got a reply. They’re interested in finishing the job.”

“Text them to meet us on Drummond Street, just behind the closed auto shop,” I instructed. “Tell them to come alone and that I’m pissed that they fucked the job up.”

James grinned down at the phone. “Who are you sending to meet them?”

“No one,” I answered. “I’m going to meet them myself.”

“Da feck ye ere,” Declan bit out.

This time, I grinned. “I stand corrected.”

Chapter 32

Shea~

When we’d finally gotten back into town, Noah had been kind enough to inform me that they’d been able to retrieve my car. So, even though I wasn’t able to drive anywhere on my own, I had my car back, and that gave me a false sense of security, which was probably what Noah had intended all along.

At any rate, after Noah had spent all day Friday doing his best to convince me that he loved me, we’d come back to the city this morning, and as soon as we’d walked into his penthouse, I’d taken a shower, allowed Noah to check my injuries without complaint, then had gone straight to bed. Once upon a time, I’d been one of those women that had fantasized about a man being able to go all night long, but now that I had one of those, the reality was quite different from the fantasy. In short, I was fucking exhausted, and it had nothing to do with being shot, running away, or trying to recover from my wounds. Noah Murphy had the stamina of a racehorse, and my body was paying the price for it.

When I’d woken up, it’d been to answering more texts from my co-workers and an actual conversation with my boss. Though I had an unofficial medical pass because of who my husband was, it wasn’t anything that I wanted to take advantage of. So, while I wasn’t scheduled to work until tomorrow, I’d be on light duty because of my arm, and so it was being strongly suggested that I take a few more days off, which was their way of telling me that no one was looking to piss off Noah Murphy.

So, being married to Noah was what actually had me down in the garage, checking out my car. If Noah was telling the truth, then it made no sense that he’d parade me in a black town car, instead of letting me drive myself or have one of his mercenaries drive me in my own vehicle. The town cars were magnets for unwanted attention while my car matched any of the average cars that you saw on the street. No one would ever look for me in my car because no one would ever suspect Noah Murphy of letting me drive around in the damn thing. Granted, that reasoning only mattered if it wasn’t one of his guys trying to kill me, but still.

Nonetheless, I was looking my car over, and though it looked used, it didn’t look like it belonged in a junkyard, either. It had some scratches, and the white paint was dull, but there weren’t any huge dents in it, and no pieces were broken off inside. If I had the inside detailed and the paint restored, then it’d be almost as good as new. Now, while I was sure that Noah Murphy wasn’t the kind of man that cared what other people thought, I could see him irritated by his wife driving a car that was already seven years used, but if it ran, then I didn’t see the problem.

As I began to check the tires, a buzz sliced the silence in the garage, and when I whirled around, it was to see Keagan on the ground, blood oozing from a hole in his chest. Keagan was one of the guards that Noah had assigned to me while in the building, and when I’d told him that I’d wanted to check on my car, he had dutifully followed me to the garage.

I raced over, and his eyes were wide as I placed a hand over his chest to help stop the bleeding. “It’s okay,” I lied. “I’ve got you.”

“Mrs…Mrs…” His chest vibrated as he struggled to speak, and tears stung my eyes.

“I really thought that this was going to be a lot harder than the first time.”

As soon as I recognized the voice as one of the men that had tried to kill me the first time, I didn’t hesitate. I reached inside Keagan’s jacket, grabbed the gun that was in there, then turned my head, raised my arm, then fired. The shot rang out like a cannon in the garage, but that didn’t stop me from aiming at the second guy, then firing for a second time. I couldn’t care about the ringing in my ears, and because I wasn’t a fucking idiot, I jumped to my feet as quickly as I could before emptying the entire clip in both my attackers.

It all happened within a matter of seconds, but even when the clip was empty, I didn’t stop shooting at them. I knew that it was hysteria threatening to set in, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything but making sure that these two men were dead.

I jumped when I felt a hand on my arm, and when I turned, I saw that one of the other guards, Odhran Kelly, was gently trying to take the gun out of my hand, his green eyes regarding me carefully, almost like he was afraid that I was going to lose it, which wasn’t far off.

“They’re dead, Mrs. Murphy,” he said, his voice calm and soothing. “Give me the gun.”

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