Page 132 of Pride

I pull out a hundred-dollar bill. “Is this enough?”

She grabs it from my grasp. “Yeah, who the fuck are you looking for?”

“Paddy Kendall, he’s staying here with a young girl.” My lips purse together as we discovered James has a fake identity. “An underage girl.”

“Shit, I thought it was his daughter.” She nods. “It’s room seven. Do you want a copy of the key?”

I arch a brow. “What’s it going to cost me?”

“Nothing.” She grabs the key from behind her. “I hate pedophiles.”

“You and me both,” I say, taking the key from her. “Thanks.”

Cathal is back at the car when I return. “There are windows at the back, but they won’t open enough for anyone to get out.”

“Room seven.” I hold the key up. “Even snagged the key.”

He smirks. “Let’s get this son of a bitch.”

We march toward room seven and Cathal pulls out his gun as I slide the key into the lock slowly. And then once it clicks open, I force the door open quickly to find James and Luciana lying on the bed, kissing. Thankfully, both of them are still clothed.

“Move away from the girl, you dirty son of a bitch!” Cathal shouts.

“Oh my God,” Luciana says, her cheeks flushing instantly.

James’ eyes go wide as he jumps to his feet, holding his hands up. “Boss, I—“

“Don’t!” he snaps, rage simmering in his dark eyes. “You were intending to run off with Luciana, weren’t you?”

He draws in a deep breath. “No, I was just…”

“What money were you going to live off of?”

James looks scared now as he moves backward toward the wall, but there’s nowhere for him to go. “My own savings.”

“Bullshit. This is where the money has been going, isn’t it?”

Turns out Cathal has been dealing with someone skimming off the top since his brother died, and Jane managed to trace the money to an account in James’ fake identity, Paddy Kendall.

James’ Adam’s apple bobs. “I knew that Joe wasn’t going away,” he admits, shaking his head and staring right at me. “And I knew he’d spin some lies about me, so I made arrangements—“

“You fucking stole from me, and you know what happens to people who lie to me.”

James turns pale. “Surely we can talk about that.”

“No chance in hell.” Cathal looks at Luciana. “Luciana, go outside and wait for us.”

“But, I—”

“Now,” I say, fixing her with my most intense gaze.

She shudders before racing out past me.

“Now, you and I are going to have a proper conversation back at the warehouse. Get up.” Cathal keeps the gun trained on him as he walks toward me.

Once he’s within reach, I grab his hands and slap handcuffs onto his wrists. “You should be very afraid, as I’m finally getting justice for Aiden,” I say.

James doesn’t say a word as I march him out of the motel room and push him into the backseat. Luciana sits up from next to Cathal, and I sit in the back with James, my gun trained on him. Getting revenge on James will help complete my revenge plan, as he had a hand in Aiden’s death, but once he’s dead it leaves Gio for the finale.

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