Page 28 of Home Free

Julia bit her lip. “The truth is, I could use a break. And a change of scenery. You’re always jetting off to cool places while I stay here and potty train.”

Elise looked more closely at her sister and felt ashamed. She’d been so wrapped up in her own problems she hadn’t been paying attention to anyone else. How long had the shadows been under Julia’s eyes?

Ronan’s expression softened, and Elise had the sense that he was kicking himself for not paying attention too. “You’re right. You deserve a break, and it’ll be more fun with you along.”

Finn stared down at the plate of food in his hands, obviously unhappy with the decision.

Elise swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat. She didn’t have a toddler or a house to take care of like Julia, but she didn’t have anything else either. No job to keep her busy, no purpose at all really.

Why should she stay here in Boston, especially if Julia was going?

“It’s settled then. The four of us will go to the gala.” Elise looked pleadingly at Finn, silently begging him to let it go.

He looked up and met her eyes, then nodded with a reluctant sigh.

15

Finn followed Ronan and Julia into the suite at the Four Seasons and tried to banish the dread in his stomach. He didn’t want to be there, or more accurately, he didn’t want Elise to be there.

Not because he didn’t want her with him. He always wanted her with him.

But after what had happened at the mountain house — what he’d done — he could no longer pretend he was on a simple fact-finding mission. He’d killed more than once in search of justice for Fedir and Iryna and Petro, but killing Eudorus had been different from the man he’d shot during the shootout in New York.

Killing Eudorus had been a choice, however much he wanted to tell himself it was an accident. His fists had punched the life out of the other man, and while the fallout had left him asking hard questions about himself, there was one thing he hadn’t said aloud.

He wasn’t sorry.

He wasn’t even sure regret was the right word for what he felt.

They’d known the case was dangerous from the beginning, but now Finn knew he was dangerous too, knew he would do anything, take any risk, to bring the hand of justice down on the people responsible for the murder of Petro’s parents.

Being around him was dangerous, and Elise had seen enough danger.

“Wow, this is… big,” Elise said, her gaze sweeping the luxurious living room of the suite.

“There are four of us,” Ronan said. “Don’t want to be on top of each other.”

The room was spacious and comfortable, walking the line between spare and minimalist with retro furniture in ivory and beige, shelves lined with books, and fresh flowers arranged in vases throughout the room.

“This view is amazing,” Julia said from the wall of windows.

Finn crossed the room to join her and took in the view of the city, London Bridge rising up out of the trees that grew along the river. He loved London, had been to the city several times, most recently right before he’d decided to return to Boston.

But this wasn’t a pleasure trip.

A knock at the door pulled his attention from the window. It was the bellhop, and Finn waited while he unloaded their bags, then tipped him before closing the door.

Ronan picked up three of the bags and headed for the open door on one side of the living room. “We’ll take this room.”

“Sounds good,” Elise said.

Ronan returned a minute later and bent to kiss Julia. “Happy?”

There was no snideness to the question. Ronan was single-minded in his focus, something that had obviously left Julia feeling neglected. Finn could tell his brother had felt bad when Julia mentioned never going anywhere.

Finn was still learning about his brothers, but one thing he knew was that Ronan would do anything to make Julia happy, something he’d proven every step of the way on the trip from Boston, starting with new designer luggage and continuing with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries on the jet and a limo to drive them to the suite at the Four Seasons.

Julia rose on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Very.”

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