Page 492 of Lodestar

“Steel wanted to know, so I’ll fill him in.” He cupped my shoulder. “Not sure how you get as much done as you do, but fuck if I’m not grateful for it.” A sigh escaped him. “We live in a cruel world, Lodestar.”

There was no arguing with that. “And it’s getting crueler.”

“I hoped that… after he helped us…”

“I think we need to face facts that we’re not always going to be able to deliver happy endings.”God, that was hard to get out.My throat felt raw, as if salt had grazed the lining of my voice boxand was scratching it with every word I uttered. “I’d better get out of here.”

Nodding, Rex did the weirdest thing—he drew me into him and squeezed me in a hug. “I shouldn’t have judged you in there. I’m sorry, Star.”

I relented just enough to hug him in return. “Don’t worry about it.” When he patted me on the back again, I told him, “Can tell you’ve picked up daughters along the way. You’re turning sentimental in your old age.”

He winked at me. “You think that’s an insult, but I know otherwise. Drive safely back to the city, ya hear me?”

“I hear you.”

With a final hug, we parted, and from the dead silence in the car when I jumped behind the wheel, I knew I was in for a frosty ride over to Lily’s place.

Heaving a sigh, I muttered, “Alessa, I’ve done worse shit over the years than blackmail someone, and I’d do worse still to take down the Sparrows.”

“Does Conor know?”

That had me scowling at her as I pulled off Rachel’s driveway. “Do you think he’d toss me out if he did? He knows what I’m capable of.”

“That means he doesn’t know.”

“What’s your problem, Alessa?”

“I’d want to know if Maverick was capable of hurting people who’d already been?—”

“Fuck off, Alessa,” I snapped, taken aback by her judgmental tone despite the fact I’d been forewarned by her reaction in Rachel’s dining room. “You think that’s the worst any of us have done? Jesus Christ, we were both soldiers. You think it’s okay to kill people?”

“No, but?—”

“No.No buts.Don’t you dare judge me when I’m the goddamn reason one of the largest human trafficking rings in the world has imploded. You want me to tell Conor? I’ll tell him. In my time.

“Now, I don’t want to talk to you. This whole meeting was a headache and I have enough shit of my own to handle without adding to the mess.”

She didn’t reply and I didn’t expect her to.

When we pulled up outside the gates of Lily’s home, I drawled, “Go on, Ms. Innocent. You get your pious, self-righteous ass inside and tell Maverick what a cunt I am for doing what had to be done to get the answers we needed to take down a centuries-old secret fucking society.”

She shot me a stony look but jumped out of my ride.

I reversed and shot off down the street, relieved when I was on the highway and heading back to Manhattan.

There was only one problem.

It was pretty fucking big too.

If easy, happy-go-lucky Alessa could react like that, how would Conor?

I wanted to be confident in him, wanted to think he’d accept that I did what had to be done to finish the job, but…

No matter what I’d said to Alessa, there wasalwaysa ‘but.’

Especially when taking his past into consideration.

With my eyes locked on the city skyline in the distance, I whispered under my breath, “Fuck.”

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