Page 54 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

“Well, yeah. I mean, what kid named Balthazar grows up to save the world? It’s a villain name. His parents wanted him to be a bad guy.”

“Either that, or they saw it in his eyes from the moment he woke up,” Edu added.

Lock stared at him incredulously. “That’s it! The kid opened his eyes and they saw that evil swirling. And from that moment on, they researched the most horrible names possible to make sure this kid turned out to be a villain!” He shook his head. “You’re such a fucking dumbass.”

“It’s true! When Zoe had her kid, she wouldn’t look the kid in the eyes at night. She said she could swear the kid had black eyes like a demon.”

“So, you’re saying Red’s kid is going to be evil,” Lock said in a bored tone.

“I’m saying some things you know just from looking at them,” Edu finished his thought.

Lock shook his head and whistled loudly as everyone began to argue. “Can we get back to the issue at hand? We have men that tried to attack you and kill you. Chase and Patrick are as good as out. We need a fucking plan.”

“I’ll handle it,” I grumbled, shifting on the couch.

“You can barely move,” he snapped. “We’re not leaving until you’re covered. I already cleared it with Cash.”

“This isn’t your op,” I snapped.

“And if I leave it in your hands, you’ll be dead by the end of the day,” he argued. “You need help. You’re down in numbers and someone wants you dead.”

“Or Jade,” I sighed, resting my head back. “It’s gotta be Ambrose.”

“But why would Ambrose hire someone that used to work for him to take you out?”

I shrugged, regretting it the instant my side pulled. I glanced down and saw a fresh tinge of blood seeping through my bandage. “My working theory was that Ambrose wanted me to marry his daughter to draw me into a state of ease. Then, he would attack when our defenses were down and take over.”

“So, if he hired guys that don’t work for him, it’s because he doesn’t want you to know it’s him trying to take over,” Scottie spoke up.

“Except, Ambrose is the most powerful of any in The Syndicate. If he wanted me annihilated, he would have sent more men.” I sighed heavily. “It can’t be him,” I said as I thought it over in my head.

“Then they’re working on their own?” Edu questioned. “But if they’re disgruntled employees, why go after you and not Ambrose? They were trying to kill you. They took Jade to send a message.”

“Maybe that’s it,” I said thoughtfully. “Maybe they knew they weren’t strong enough to get to Ambrose, but they saw an opportunity to take me out and capture Jade, essentially hurting Ambrose because he chose the wrong fucking guy to protect his daughter.”

“He didn’t choose the wrong man,” Lock snapped. “She’s alive.”

I lifted my head and glared at him. “Because you came to the rescue. It had nothing to do with me protecting her.”

“It had everything to do with it!” he argued. “You can’t do this alone. You have a team surrounding you for a reason, and when Chase had a bad feeling, he called us in.”

“And it should have been me!” I snapped. “I was trying to protect her, and instead, I got us in trouble.”

“Think about that,” Lock said, pointing his finger at his temple. “You changed the plans at the last minute. If you had stayed, they would have had stronger forces. You’d all be fucking dead right now. But they have someone on the inside, and until we figure out who called it in, we can’t trust anyone but ourselves.”

It fucking made sense, but with my head fucking pounding and my body aching, I wasn’t in the position to take care of any of this. I was less than fucking useless. I didn’t know who to trust at this point beyond the men in this room. But I couldn’t think with the pain in my head. I couldn’t plan out the next steps when nothing fucking made sense.

“I need a fucking drink,” I muttered, trying and failing to push myself up from the couch.

“Lay back, Princess,” Lock snorted. “I’ll get it for you.”

I nodded and rested my head on the arm of the couch. When the glass was shoved under my nose, I gratefully took it and drank it back in one shot, only realizing after I swallowed that there was a funny aftertaste.

My eyes popped open and I glared at Lock. “What the fuck did you do?”

He started swaying in my vision, and it wasn’t the fucking brain injury.

“What needs to be done.”

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