Page 63 of Mob Bride

“I don’t feel any less connected or love Finn any less than I do Sean. It’s just different with my twin. We have that intuition science hasn’t proven, but so many pairs of twins say they feel. But just because Finn isn’t my mirror image, doesn’t mean I’m not super close to him too. I am. There’s something unique about sharing the exact DNA with another person. I’m intuitively closer to Finn and Sean than I am my cousins. I know Cormac and Seamus feel the same way.”

“Doesn’t that leave out Dillan? It must be isolating being an only child nowandthe mob boss.”

“When Colleen was still alive, she and Dillan were so equally matched you’d have thought they were the twins. If there’s sucha thing as platonic soulmates, Dillan and Colleen were those. They were so in sync with one another I know there were things Dillan shared with her he probably shouldn’t have. But she was the other half of his coin. She was his conscience when he was ready to have none. I know he keenly feels her loss every day. It’s something none of us will ever get over. I can’t fathom how my aunt and uncle survive it. They wouldn’t have if not for Dillan. But now that Dillan’s married, he’s found a romantic soulmate. He and Mair are so well-matched you couldn’t think of a better couple.”

Hearing that makes me wonder if Shane might be my soulmate. I’ve certainly never been attracted to another man the way I am him.

I don’t believe he’d bring me into this world if he didn’t think there was a possibility I could be. It would be foolhardy on so many levels to bring me closer to him if this weren’t for good. But I know it’s too soon to be sure of that.

He slides his hand into mine, guiding me into the kitchen.

“Are you hungry,cailín?”

“Yeah, actually, I am. I hadn’t thought about it earlier, but now that we’re in here, I just realized I’m starving.”

It doesn’t take us long to put something together. We suspend our conversation while we make some lunch. We work well together in the kitchen, and it feels so natural, like a moment of domestic tranquility. This is the sort of thing I want to get used to. The life I want to build with somebody, one like my parents have. Like I assume the couples in his family have.

As I watch Shane, I keep trying to picture us here in five years, ten years. When we’re old and gray. It’s not as difficult as I thought it would be. I’ve learned a lot about the man he is because the traits I’ve seen are so deeply ingrained, they can’t change. Family, duty, honor, loyalty, and love are who he is and always will be. They’re traits I admire. He’s the hottest man I’veever met, but that’s not the entire reason I’m attracted to him. That wouldn’t make our relationship last. It’s who I know he is to his very core. I don’t need to spends months or years with him to know those qualities run bone deep. It’s why it’s been so easy to fall harder and harder for him.

I don’t know his entire life’s story, and I never ever will. I can accept the lies and secrets because those qualities I admire are the ones driving him to protect the people around him. The man I know him to be already tells me more than hearing childhood stories or hearing about his high school and college glory days.

But reality stomps back in like an elephant after we’re done with the dishes. We sit on a love seat together, each of us in a corner, turned to look at the other.

“Is it possible for me to call Steve and Angela to let them know I’m somewhere safe?”

“Do they have a way of tracking you here?”

“Normally they would, but I’ve turned off the tracker before. I have a bracelet that’s a thick silver band. There’s a small spot where someone smelted the metal together. That’s where the tracker is. The clasp is like a latch. One end of the latch releases the bracelet, the other turns it on and off. I’d just gotten out of the shower when Tymoteusz and his men barged in, so I had to get dressed.”

“Barged in? Were you wearing anything?” Rage vibrates from him.

“My bathrobe.”

I won’t tell him it wasn’t closed. He’d Hulk out if he knew. I keep talking before he can linger on that.

“I took off the bracelet just before Tymoteusz dragged me out. I left it behind in my apartment. I can always tell them I took it off to shower, even though it’s completely waterproof. It’s submergible to like a hundred feet, if not more. I have a way of setting it on my computer to look like I’m somewhere I’m not.Like at I’m at my apartment, when there are times I’ve been other places.”

I cock an eyebrow at him. He knows I mean when I was with him.

“Do you think they’ll know by now?”

“Probably. They can’t get in touch with me because I don’t have the pager or the phone we usually use.”

“What will they say to you?”

I grimace. “They’ll insist I come to them and stay there. That’s why I haven’t rushed to contact them.”

“What will you do about that?”

“I’ll tell them I have a better place outside of the city, where I can regroup and figure out when it’s safe for me to come back. They’ll tell me I should go straight to the office, then they’ll put me in a different safe house.”

“That definitely won’t protect you, Carrie. Now that Jacek knows, he won’t give up. He’ll continue to pursue you until he finds you. There’s no way he can back down because Bartlomiej will push him to find you. Once Jacek does, Bartlomiej’ll let Jacek work you over. He won’t do it himself. He’s always had his brother do his dirty work for him, and I fully believe Bartlomiej will sanction Jacek going after you. He’s already put a hit on you, and time will not calm him and convince him to call it off. Just the opposite. It’s just the permission Jacek needs to do it himself. The man was always batshit bonkers, but after his time in the military, he didn’t come back quite right. He is the poster child for PTSD. He’s every horrible stereotype of a syndicate man and a wounded warrior I know.”

“I learned that well before I went in. It’s all in his VA file. He didn’t pass the psychiatric exam when he got out. It’s only gotten worse with time. I saw it that night he attacked me. It was in his eyes. If I believed anyone needed an exorcism, it would be him.Even if I’d hoped Bartlomiej might call off the hit once he calms down, what you said doesn’t surprise me.”

“Bartlomiej isn’t the type to calm down. He only gets himself more and more amped up, and Jacek contributes to that. Feeds off of it. It’s their dysfunctional codependency. It won’t be over for Bartlomiej until you’re dead. That’s how it works. The pot bubbles, then boils over spectacularly.”

I don’t doubt him, but my expression must make him think I do.

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