Page 28 of The Devil We Know

He walks over to the door and then motions for me to follow him as he says, “Don’t get me into any fucking trouble, or else.”

I remain quiet as I step out into the hallway, and wait for him to follow and then lead me down to our destination.

It doesn’t take too long for us to enter what looks like a large meeting hall. I could see how someone—someone being me—would get lost in this place, given it appears to be somewhat of a maze, and the blueprints we had were completely inaccurate. Or it could be that that’s only showing one level, but it’s really fucking annoying.

A group of people are congregating at the far end, and we walk in that direction without pause.

There are four men standing on what appears to be a makeshift stage, and it’s all I can do to choke back my snort of laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation I’m finding myself in.

An older man finally speaks up and asks, “What is the meaning of this, Matteo?”

He inclines his head toward me and replies, “Someone sent me a gift.”

All eyes turn towards me, and I squirm from the attention. Finally, that same man who spoke previously says, “And who the fuck is she?”

They all look at me expectantly, and once again, I find I’m incapable of speech, so Matteo rolls his eyes and replies, “This is Jessica Killeen, Seamus’s daughter.”

There are a few gasps from the men standing around and widening of eyes as they are obviously surprised at this news.

One of the younger guys standing on the stage says, “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

“Well, that’s what she says,” Matteo responds. “Of course, we’ll have to verify this is true. If any of you even care?”

The man who spoke initially speaks up, “Unfortunately, we have to care.”

Matteo frowns and mutters, “That’s what I was afraid of.”

One of the other younger men asks, “Why do we have to fucking care? They dropped their bitch off here. Can’t we do what we want with her?”

The older man laughs almost bitterly as he replies, “Sure, if we want to start the war of all wars with the Irish.”

The younger guy pipes up again, “We’re not afraid of the fucking Irish.”

The older man turns his eyes toward him and glares as he says, “It would be one thing if it was just the Irish. But you would bebetter served to remember that most times, if you piss off one family, you piss off everyone associated with that family.”

The younger guy looks a little bit sheepish for a moment and then nods. The older guy turns back to Matteo and says, “I’ll verify her identity. If she is who she says she is, we need to proceed cautiously.”

“And if she’s not?”

The man shrugs. “Then you can do whatever the fuck you want with her.”

A commotion on the other side of the room draws everyone’s attention, so I turn to look, my heart stopping in my chest as my eyes clash with the eyes of one Mathias Shields.

He mostly looks through me, though I’m sure he must recognize me.

I move to take a step toward him, but the minuscule shake of his head stops me, and I look away.

He walks further into the room, the same tall, dark-haired man who brought me to Matteo following with him. He stops a few feet from us as he asks, “What the fuck’s going on now?”

The older gentleman answers, “It appears the Irish have sent a gift for Matteo.”

He looks at me briefly, those dead eyes flat as he then looks over at Matteo and responds, “Is that right?”

Matteo’s expression turns decidedly smug, and I see Matt’s hand twitching in response. And then Matteo says, “That’s right. Sent me a virgin bride.”

Matt’s lips twitch minutely, and I feel that laughter bubbling up in me again. I choke it down, my eyes on the floor, knowing if I look him in the face, I’m going to lose it. I don’t know if that means laughter, tears, or rage, but whatever’s going to come out of me next isn’t going to be good for my self-preservation.

And then Matteo says, “See, Mathias? Maybe you could have been so lucky if you weren’t stuck with Kaian’s fucking sister.”

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