Page 136 of Making Choices

He emerges from the trees lining the deserted parking lot. With one arm still in a sling and his hand in a cast, he’s hardly a formidable sight. Unfortunately, the five-armed men with him tell me that I’m looking at almost unbeatable odds.

“Why don’t you join us, Bumblebee,” the sandy-haired surgeon calls.

A man I recognise shuffles forward to pull open the door to my Rover.

Hugh St. James.

Younger brother of Jack.

Middle son of Kristoff Maddison’s counsellor, Seamus.

Alex’s depraved best friend.

There is trepidation in Bebe’s movements as she reluctantly accepts Hugh’s hand.

While I’m wondering what her unease around her brother-in-law means, Jack addresses his wife, “Do you want to do the honours?”

“Sure,” she tells him without hesitation. Raising her revolver, she sights me up for the second time tonight. This time, though, she’s holding a real gun. “I’d tell you to say hello to my cousin for me, but we both know that you aren’t destined for the same eternity as Jenna.” Bebe scowls at me, her eyes flashing with pure loathing. “Burn in hell, Carter.”

I’m braced to dive out of the way the moment she fires that first bullet.

Ready for the agony of a gunshot wound.

It never comes.

Instead, twelve men in Shamrocks cuts materialise out of thin air.

“A’one of you even looks too hard in his direction and I’ll pump you full of lead,” my dad declares. He shakes his head. “If you had any brain cells, you’d already be gone.”

“Bloody Shamrock cunts,” Hugh spits.

“Stand down.” Jack holds his good arm up, then he gestures for his men—and his wife—to lower their weapons. “It’s not over, Angelis. This is just a temporary reprieve. You can’t escape the inevitable.”

“What the fuck would you know about inevitable?” Toker’s father, Duke, asks with a sneer. “You’re wet behind the ears, still sucklin’ on your momma’s titties. All you wannabe mob brats make me sick.”

“What my brother is tryna say,” Dad interjects. “Is that you younger Maddisons have forgotten who’s turf you’re standin’ on. We could end the lotta ya, and no one would bat an eyelid. The Cerulli’s would thank us. The Trinity would reward us for takin’ out the next generation of Irish mob scum for them.”

Wordlessly, and as quickly as they appeared, the Maddison’s melt into the shadows.

Bebe is the last one to drop out of sight.

The hatred in her eyes promises me that this isn’t over.

She’s going to come for me again.

It’s personal for her—she blames me for her cousin’s death.

A ridiculous proposition since Jenna killed herself… and my son.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

Duke chuckles and the rest of the calvary of old timers who just saved my bacon join him.

“You head back to the concert,” my father informs me. I quirk an eyebrow. He grimaces. “Keep Apollo in the dark. Venom, too. This was too close’a call for him to handle in his current state.”

“And everyone else?”

“Isaiah’s been kept up to date… he’s on high alert. Little Cherub and Nadia aren’t in the know, and that’s how things’ll stay.”

---