Page 142 of Forbidden Romeo

But I’m not only worried about the mob getting their hands on her. She’d been partying a lot in the weeks leading up to all this. The last time I saw her, she was suffering from a hangover.

Our agreement was always ironclad—if she ever needed me to pick her up, I’d be there in a heartbeat. Want if one of her calls was her asking for help? What if she felt unsafe and I wasn’t there to protect her?

Kate’s hand brushes against mine gently. “Hey.”

I look up at her and see her looking at me intently.

“One thing at a time, yeah?” she says with a nudge to my shoulder. “She’s safe.”

“Being safe is different from beingwell,” I mutter, locking my phone again. My hand pulls through my hair and tugs at the roots. Of course, Kate’s right. There’s nothing we can do right now, and I have Jack’s word that as soon as it’s safe to do so, we’ll be checking in on Roisin. Still, the nagging, sisterly part of my brain won’t stop filling me with dread.

Which is doing nothing to help the dread I already feel for the more pressing matters.

“I wouldn’t put it past Padraic to choose an actual bulldozer at this point,” I say through gritted teeth.

Kate lets out a humorless snort as we glance over to the man in question.

Padraic is keeping court with multiple older members of theDead Eyesas well as a few faces I don’t recognize. Each of them is wearing tailored suits and watches that catch what little light there is in the room every time they throw their hands up in heated discussion.

“The Italians don’t usually come here,” Kate comments under her breath. “Padraic must be expecting a show.”

I try not to gulp audibly. “Jack is going to be okay, right?”

“Always is,” she says quickly, although her eyes never leave the Italians.

What the hell is Padraic up to?

I try to distract myself by surveying the audience, but they seem even more energized than before. Constantly moving around, laughing, chatting animatedly. I wonder if they notice us up here, still as statues.

But our silence is interrupted by Ray, climbing the stairs toward us two at a time.

Kates’s face darkens as she leans over the barrier to greet him. “Where the hell have you been?”

Ray tries to catch his breath, but Kate cuts him off before he can begin his explanation.

“If you say the bookies, I swear to God, Ray.”

“Not the bookies,” Ray pants. “I found out who Jack’s fighting.”

I’m suddenly alert and sitting on the edge of my chair. “Who.”

Ray looks at me with a frantic gleam in his eyes before glancing to Kate for confirmation.

“Spit it out!” she says, leaning to shake his shoulder a bit.

Ray opens his mouth, then closes it again before finally composing himself enough to look at me again.

Just as he says the name, the sound is lost in the announcement that Jack is entering the ring. The sudden eruption of the audience drowns out anything else.

But my attention is on Ray.

No.

He couldn’t have said what I thought he said. My lip reading isn’t what it once was.

It couldn’t be.

Kate sits back in her chair and grabs my hand tightly. The only time I’ve ever seen her lost for words.

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