Page 107 of Mob Saint

“You can, but you haven’t.”

“I will when you will. Thank me for saving your girlfriend, then I’ll thank you for helping my aunt.”

“Arsehole. If I helped your aunt like you claim, your gratitude shouldn’t be conditional. I’ll be sure to tell her the next time I see her at a reception.”

“Should I mark a date on the calendar for your wedding?”

“Pish off. Do you want the body?”

I grin at Zack. He’s heard the entire conversation since I’ve had it on speaker. Wisely, he’s remained silent.

“Nah. We don’t have time. We’ll leave you Darren and Keith.”

“Keith?” It shouldn’t surprise me. It doesn’t. It just pisses me off even more.

“He’s been Darren and Zack’s go-between. He’s always been the bitch in the relationship.”

“Get Tiera out of there, and I’ll let you have the biotech company in Pennsylvania you want.”

“Gee. Gracias.”

“If you?—”

“Done.”

“Let me know when she’s safe.”

“Will do.”

I hang up and toss my phone on the bed. I stalk forward until my rifle’s muzzle jabs into Zack’s chest. I pull the trigger. I don’t wait for him to hit the ground. I put a bullet between the eyes as he drops in front of me. I’ll never walk away again without making sure the man is dead.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tiera

I’m Catholic and a pretty good one—mostly. I squeeze my eyes shut about the “thou shalt not steal” one. So, as the product of a great Catholic school education, I can’t believe Darren’s been resurrected to stand before me. He is not the one I expected to come again.

“Shocked to see I’m not dead?”

“Regretful is more like it.”

Blind rage rises from the tips of my toes, shooting a burning heat far more intense than the fucking cow prod. It engulfs me, urging me to lash out. Only a single synapse in my brain says, “don’t do it yet.”

If I attack him, I’ll kill him before he can tell me why. If I attack him, I won’t live long enough to learn why.

“Did your boyfriend tell you he was the one to pull the trigger? No? Pity you won’t be the one to tell him he failed. If he gets to you before the bears or bobcats do, he’ll see how it’s really done.”

I didn’t know Seamus was the one to shoot Darren. He never hinted, and I never dreamed of asking. I suspected an O’Rourke murdered him, but the perpetrator left no evidence. The only reason I believed it was them was because Gareth suddenly became indebted to them in a way Darren had never been.

Gareth ordered me to examine the remnants of the car explosion to determine what caused it. I couldn’t find it. Whoever’d set it was a pro. The coroner found a hole in the skull of the charred remains, but someone had knocked out all the teeth, so no dental records would identify him.

“You’re wondering how I did it.”

A light snaps on, and I blink as my eyes adjust. I’m on my feet again with someone holding my arms back. I don’t think it’s Keith since I got him with the cattle prod more times than he got me. I smelled his burning hair and skin. It made me retch, but it was the smell of a small victory.

I feel bile burn the back of my throat as I stare at Darren’s nearly unrecognizable face. The burns on both sides of it and his neck are macabre. I dart my gaze to his hands. They’re no better. How the hell did he survive short of being the devil himself?

“Do you know who pulled me out just in the nick of time?”

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