Page 547 of Lodestar

“Then,” she continued grimly, “there’s the fact that I just cannothave been that goddamn hard to find.”

“He said Aleks was seeking info on you and that’s why he was murdered,” I reasoned.

“That’s what Anton said. But Reinier…”

“It all comes back to him?”

“I wish it didn’t, but it does. The way he talked about Anton, it was like they knew each other, Conor. He said something along the lines of ‘That old bastard—more faces than Janus himself.’”

“And you agree?”

“I do.”

“He was trying to save his ass. Wouldn’t he have sold Anton out worse than that?”

She conceded that with a nod. “Maybe. But he was more interested in trying to buy me off with blackmail material.”

“He said nothing else?”

Sheepishness whispered into her expression. “He was mostly begging not to die and for the pain to stop. He forgot his own name after a few blasts of that cattle prod of yours, never mind Anton’s.”

“What did you ask him today?”

“I wanted to know about Mom’s original mission. He said he ‘thought’ it was related to the Lockerbie incident. Is that something you’d forget? When it’s your flesh and blood?”

“I don’t know, Star. We wouldn’t, but we’re not him.”

“No, we’re not,” she concurred. “And that’s what makes me not trust him. We had tunnel vision. We were given a directive and we fulfilled our objective and we didn’t question because why would we?

“But now, with distance and time, I’ve got a lot of unanswered questions, and there’s danger in asking the wrong person the wrong thing.”

I pondered her words. “What’s the wrong thing?”

“Are the Brothers as knee-deep in the shit as the Sparrows are? Are they just better at hiding in the shadows?”

Hell.

“You think that’s a possibility?”

“I don’t have concrete answers. Not without further investigating and…” Her gaze settled on mine, loaded down with her concern and indecision. “I want to live. I want to be with you, Conor. I want to raise Katina. I want to be happy. I wantusto be happy.” She lifted her hands and used them to rub at her eyes. They were dry, though, when she next looked at me. “Is that so much to ask?”

“No, it’s not, baby,” I told her softly, even as I knew Star didn’t have it in her not to seek the truth.

It was a toxic trait we both shared.

As I gently rubbed her shoulder, she whispered, “If I wait until he’s dead, which can’t be that far out, and if I suck up to him, pretend, then I can slip into his role and dismantle the Brothers from the inside.”

The hopefulness in her words had my lips twitching. “You and Aidan are more alike than you know.”

“I neededthatinsult after today.”

I had to chuckle. “Reinier’ll be dead by now.”

“Without a doubt. And who orchestrated his death? Who’s covering it up?”

“The Brothers,” I said slowly.

“Anton knew who Reinier was. It’s bullshit that he didn’t know Smythe and Foundry were involved too.” She gritted her teeth. “Ever since Reinier mentioned goddamn organ harvesting, this has been eating away at me.”

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