Page 129 of The Best of Us

Once Juliette left, I trailed behind Izzy, grateful she didn’t try to strike up afeelingsconversation on our way upstairs. I’d maxed out on my capacity to share anything personal for the day. Hell, for the year.

Once we were in Dad’s office, which was twice the size of mine back home—and double the amount of obnoxiousness in terms of luxury—I shut the door and waited for Izzy to talk.

She went over to Dad’s desk, an ornate, imposing thing, almost as regal as the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. It sat before a bay window, the dark velvet curtains drawn open, offering a view of the city skyline shrouded in a wash of pink and blue evening light.

Hudson stood behind her as she sat, asking me, “Are you good?”

I exhaled, dragging a hand through my hair. “I’m not sure what I am.”

The cycle of grief, if that was what I was going through, truly was one messy, tangled blob. Not a straight line, that was for damn sure. More like up and down and all the fuck around.

“Just tell me you have something on those two men who tried to take Colin.” I finally strode over to them, catching sight of a bottle of Legacy Ridge at my father’s bar. He’d always kept it on hand for me. The fact he hadn’t hesitated to anonymously save that company all those years ago without ever knowing why I gave such a damn about it?—

“We did get a hit.” Izzy’s words saved me from walking back into the past for the hundredth time in two days. “The two men are, well,were,mercenaries for hire. Boston natives. Both have warrants for crimes that’ll make you want to raise the dead so you can kill them again and run them over with your car this time.” She looked up at me over the laptop screen. “Yeah, I saw you be sweet and move their bodies before I erased the CCTV footage.”

“That wasn’t to be kind to the dead.” I shook my head, coming around the desk to see her screen. “Any connection to the Sicilians? Irish?”

“No. From what I can tell, they don’t have allegiance to just one group, only to whoever pays the best,” she answered. “I haven’t been able to determine who hired them to abduct Colin yet, but I don’t think the Sicilians would dare cross you, not even by outsourcing for help.”

“I agree.” I linked my hands behind my neck, thinking. “There has to be more of these guys here. Whoever hired them wouldn’t just bring in two men, not if they know our family.”

“I was working on that when Sean texted. I started broadening my search to make a list of their possible associates, assuming they’ll try and come after him again.” She glanced back at me. “By the way, you couldn’t have anticipated what would happen at the mall today any more than I could have. So, please tell me you don’t plan to beat yourself up about it.”

“I considered it,” I said under my breath, letting my arms fall to my sides. “But I’ve been too sidetracked for the guilt to sink in.” I lifted my chin in a silent request to distract me before I began kicking myself for going out today. For having one of the best days of my life before those assholes ruined it.

“If Jamie’s the one behind this,” Hudson began, and I nodded my thanks for picking up on my silent cue, “why go after Colin today?”

“The only logical explanation would be because Colin lied to us and carried off the theft from the Sicilians,” Izzy proposed, facing her screen. “But that doesn’t make sense because the Sicilians would’ve requested a meeting with us and gone the diplomatic route to retrieve what was taken. So, that brings us to the only other possibility. Jamie must have promised something to someone, and when he couldn’t deliver, Jamie gave up Colin’s name to buy himself time to get it or to get out of the city.”

Before I could agree, which I did, Sean McGregor’s name popped up on my sister’s lock screen. She placed him on speaker and let him know we were all listening.

We exchanged a quick greeting before Sean cut to it. “Brian Cormac’s records were swapped with another inmate last month. We had to get some tech support help from a colleague of Sebastian’s at The Sapphire to help us discover that.”

My stomach wrenched because I knew what was coming. Another gut punch. “Colleague as in Carter Dominick?” I couldn’t seem to shake free of that man. Was he now working this case because Sean had requested help? Did Easton tell him about Colin yet?

“Yeah, Dominick has one of the world’s best cyber experts on his team. Gwen Montgomery,” Sean confirmed.

I could feel Hudson eyeing me, probably doing a quick vein check, worried the one at the side of my neck was about to break free. “What’d Gwen find out?” I asked instead of acknowledging Hudson’s concerns about my heart, arteries, and how much one human being could tolerate before they imploded.

“Gwen discovered Brian Cormac was part of The Alliance. An equivalent to a fixer for The League.” Sean laid the news on us—which I never expected—while also answering Hudson’s unspoken question about how much one person could handle before snapping.

Breaking point officially reached.

I needed to sit.

I rounded the desk and dropped into the black leather wingback chair in front of it. Resting my elbows on my legs, I removed my hat and tore my hand through my hair as Sean let us digest the un-fucking-digestible. Colin was mixed up with someone formerly tied to one of the world’s worst criminal enterprises in Europe and Asia.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Izzy said, reading my distressed look, “but The League took out The Alliance, and Cormac’s in prison.”

She could be the voice of reason all she wanted, but I doubted she’d get through to me.

“Remind me of what a fixer is again?” Hudson asked when I didn’t answer her.

“They fix shit, usually by way of murder.” I mumbled a disgruntled response under my breath. “My father was also a fixer, but for The League.”

“What does this all mean?” Izzy cut to the chase.

I stood and tossed my hat onto the desk. “It means Cormac may be looking to start things up again, and my son’s caught in the crosshairs of the revival,” I shared, forgetting Sean was unaware Colin was my son. I’d told Izzy not to speak to anyone about that, and I’d let my emotions get the best of me.

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