Page 21 of Mob Bride

“Carys, tell me where I need to take you.”

“Back to your car.”

“I am not going back to get that until I know you’re somewhere safe.”

“The safest place I can be right now, Shane, is away from you. It’s you in your car going wherever you need to go, and it’s me in my car going where I need to go.”

“No, I won’t agree to that. I’m taking you to my cousin.”

I have both hands resting casually on the steering wheel. My gun is in my lap. I’m unprepared for how fast she draws hers and puts the muzzle to my temple.

“You know I can take that from you if I want to, and all I’m going to end up doing is hurting you. We went through this the other night. I told you the last thing I want is to be the one who adds more bruises to you. This won’t end well for you, Carys.”

“You are going to unlock the door, Shane. You are going to let me out. You can do whatever the hell you want with my car, but I am not staying with you. It’d be better for both of us if you got out and let me drive away.”

“You alone—knowing Jacek saw you—will not convince me of that.”

I hear her take the safety off the gun. Now it’s my turn to have my face completely neutral, devoid of emotion, but my heart is pounding. I truly believe she’ll shoot me, and I have a healthyfear of death. It’s what’s kept me alive. I rest my hands where she can see them.

“All right, I’m unlocking the door.”

My left hand moves to the button and pushes it. We both hear the doors click open.

“Get out, Shane.”

My options are leaving her behind where she would have to walk or call a rideshare—there’re certainly no taxis around here for her to hail—or I’m the one who walks or gets a rideshare. Obviously, I won’t leave her completely defenseless. Her handgun won’t do shite against a team of men carrying rifles.

I’m the one who’s going to wait for someone to pick me up. My left hand pulls on the handle, and I ease the door open. I keep my hand where she can see it on the handle as my right hand moves to unfasten my seat belt.

“I’m not leaving my gun behind, so I’m going to reach for it.”

“I know you are. That’s why I already have my gun to your temple. I can pull the trigger faster than you can aim at me.”

I’m in no mood to test that theory, so I let the belt go over my left arm and climb out of the car. I leave the door open, and Carys crawls across to the driver’s seat.

“Give me the fob.”

I hand it to her, and she shuts the door, locks it, then turns on the engine. She gives me one last look. As she pulls out of the spot, then pulls out of the parking lot, I watch her go.

I pull up the rideshare app and reserve a car to take me back to mine. Well, not exactly all the way back to my car. The last thing I need is for an Uber driver asking questions about why there are police at the scene, which I’m sure there inevitably are.

I have them drop me off a couple blocks away, and I walk over there, keeping my head on a swivel as I watch for anybody from the Polish mob or the Bratva lingering, keeping an eye onthe scene. In particular, I’m wondering who Jacek left behind to wait for me. I’m certain he knows I didn’t arrive with Carys, so I must have a car somewhere. I make it to the Corolla without incident, but my Spidey-senses are tingling. I know people are here. I just can’t see them. I hit my cousin’s contact on my phone as I pull out of the parking lot.

“Hey, Dillan. It was a total shitshow. The bratva showed up and rather than doing the deal with Bartlomiej, they attacked, shot up the place, took out several Poles and nearly got me.”

I don’t mention Carys yet. I’m not sure how I want to handle that piece of information. I need to think about it. If I tell Dillan, he’s going to insist we tell Meredith. There’s some reason Carys is living a double life. She was adamant about keeping her distance from her mom the other night, so she’s obviously trying to protect her parents.

“You got out all right? Nothing happened to you?”

“Yeah, I did. Bartlomiej had already gotten pissed at Jacek and sent him out. He was at the car waiting on the other side of the building from where Bogdan and Niko pulled up. He saw me, so he knows I was there.”

“How much do you think that’s going to cost us with Bartlomiej?” It’s a reasonable question. I don’t have a solid answer now that Carys is a factor.

“I say beat the living crap out of him. Make him stay quiet about me being there, not the other way around.”

“Well, in a perfect world, maybe we would do both, Shane, but you know that’s not what’s going to happen. You know he’s going to tell his brother everything and then Bartlomiej is going to come knocking on the door with Jacek right behind him to back him up.”

“I know, but maybe we can delay the inevitable for a little while. Let me deal with Jacek, see what he wants to do. Maybe we can keep it between the two of us.”

---