Page 89 of No Promises, No Lies

I see the moment Koen’s eyes notice her split lip, following it up to the dark mark marring her cheek, her red-rimmed eyes… His gaze softens. We exchange a long look.

“Is that Aidan?” Liam comes around the corner, his phone pressed up against his ear.

The phone in my pocket has been going off nearly non-stop.

“What the fuck?” Liam glares at me, coming to stand beside Koen. “You can’t send out an SOS text and then STOP responding…” He notices Rory at my side for the first time, and his steely expression changes. “Oh, hi, little Kostalova.”

I turn toward her. “Do you remember where my room is?”

Rory nods, looking nervously between my brothers and me. I nudge her forward, to the far hall and the bedrooms. “Go. I’ll meet you there in one minute.”

“Okay,” she answers quietly, letting go of my hand. I resist the urge to pull her back. Watching until she disappears down the darkened hallway before turning my attention to Liam and Koen, who are watching with rapt attention.

“Call Alex.”

“I already did. He’s five minutes out,” Liam confirms.

“Good.” My face twists, the anger I’ve been holding onto finally burning through to the surface. “He doesn’t live to see sunrise.”I stare down both my brothers.

Koen and Liam straighten, their faces serious as they exchange glances.They know exactly who I mean.

A dark smile appears at the corner of Koen’s mouth. “The cars or the bikes?”

“The bikes.” My jaw flexes.

“I want him to hear death coming for him.”

53

DON’T WORRY ANGEL

RORY

Sleep won’t come. My mind keeps circling… How did Matteo react when he realized I was gone?How did my father?Would they think to look for me here?Would the Irish cut their losses and send me straight back?Was Aidan already working on brokering the best trade deal for the Bratva Princess?

No.

I push back against the intrusive thoughts.

Helping me gains Aidan and the Irish nothing… and he has every reason to give me back. But somehow… I know he won’t. I trusted him in blind faith when I jumped on the back of his bike. And again hours ago when he handed me a dry Breakers hoodie and some boxers before he disappeared.“I’ll be back.”

He’s not here. In the loft.

And neither are his brothers.

I know, because somewhere around three a.m. I gave up on sleeping. I wandered through the quiet loft until I found Reagan curled up on the giant sectional in the living room. The Irish princess sits up, pausing her movie when she spots me hovering in the hallway.

We stare at each other for a few seconds before she cocks her head. Lifting the edge of her blanket, a silent invitation. I crawl into it, thankful for the company. What starts as quietly watching a movie quickly devolves into me unloading onto her everything that’s happened with Matteo. Needing to get it out.

“I hope Aidan doesn’t send me back.” I wrap the blanket tighter around myself. “If my father doesn’t kill me… Matteo will. He’d have the right, after what I did… Or maybe Aidan will save them the trouble and finally kill me himself.”

Reagan shakes her head, adamant. “Not even on the table. Even when hehatedyou—a Kostalova—he couldn’t do it. Now—” she trails off, a little smile playing on her lips. “I think if anybody so much as looks at you the wrong way, he might drop them off the French King Bridge.”

I sigh. It’s what I want to believe, but Aidan took off so quickly after we got here… I haven’t talked to him about any of it. Or confessed that I don’t have a plan in place yet. It’s not like we’re exactly—friends.I don’t even know what to call what we are.

And it might not even be Aidan I need to worry about. Koen’s the boss. And the eldest O’Rourke has little love for me. If he wants me gone—I doubt Aidan would stand in the way.

Reagan yawns, settling deeper into the plush cushions, and both of us quietly return our attention back to the movie.

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