Page 165 of Stolen Hearts

“So…wait…youfucked up, and now this is your way out?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy mutters quietly. “Yeah, brother. It is. And don’t think I don’t hate that this is going to destroy you and me.”

Castle barks out a cold laugh. “You’re worried about our fuckingfriendship, asshole?” His arm muscles strain against the rope tying him to the beam. “When I get free, and I will, I’d be more worried about your ability to keepbreathingif I were you. Our friendship was over the second you decided to betray me. Butthis?” His gaze swivels to me, and his throat bobs. “When you put your hands on her, and tied her up?” He looks back at Jeremy with a vicious glint in his eyes. “That’s when you signed your fucking death warrant.”

Jeremy exhales. “I’m sorry, Castle,” he whispers. “I really am. But you know as well as I do that sometimes, your back’s against the wall, and you’re just shit out of options except shooting your way out. That’s where I’m at right now.”

Castle shakes his head. “So what happens next, you fucking prick?” he snarls. “You gonna shoot us?”

Jeremy frowns. “No; no, man. Like I said, it’s just business. This is just about money, I swear to you, nothing more.”

Castle’s eyes dart to me, and then switch back to Jeremy. “The trust—that was you, wasn’t it.”

Jeremy nods miserably.

“That money was for the widows and child of the men we called brothers, you piece of fucking shit!” Castle roars.

“You think I don’t know that?!” Jeremy snaps. “I’m telling you, I hadno. Other. Choice, Castle!”

“Bullshit,” Castle snarls back. “There’salwaysa choice.” He nods grimly at the gun in Jeremy’s hand. “You could’ve stuck that in your mouth and pulled the trigger instead of fucking over the families of your brothers in arms.”

“But you have the money now, right?” I blurt. “From the trust?”

Jeremy turns to me and nods.

“Well then?!” I yank my arms against the ropes around my wrists.

He smiles sadly. “I wish it was that simple. But I didn’t go through all this trouble and burn my life to the ground for fifteen million.”

“There was thirty mil in that account,” Castle spits.

“Yeah, well, I got a partner, brother.” Jeremy glances at his wrist-watch. “She’ll be here in a minute.” He sighs as he looks back at Castle and then over at me again. “I’m indeep. And I do mean deep. But you’re the darling princess of the biggest Greek mafia family this side of the Atlantic.” He jerks his head at Castle. “Meanwhile he’s the goddamn king of the Kildare organization. I’m pretty sure I could name any dollar amount I want, and your families would gladly pay double it to get you both back.”

Castle barks a mirthless laugh. “So that’s what you are now, huh? A fuckin’ mercenary? A kidnapper?!”

There’s the sound of a car pulling up outside. Jeremy’s mouth thins. “She’s here now.”

The side door to the old boathouse wrenches open. My face pales, and my heart twists as a woman with a black hoodie pulled up over her head walks through.

It takes me a second. But then I realize I’ve seen her before, standing across the street from my family’s building the day Castle and I got married.

The woman pushes the hood back, revealing a haunted face, a grim mouth, and unkempt dark hair.

“Megan?”

My eyes flick to Castle, who’s staring at her with a cold look on his face and stunned, confused familiarity in his eyes.

“Megan, what thefuck…”

She turns to look at him, an eerie, cold expression on her face, her eyes stabbing into him maliciously. Then without a word, she turns to level the same look at me.

Andsmiles.

It’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Jeremy eyes her warily as he pulls a cell phone out of his pocket. “Let’s just get this done, okay? My accountant is ready to go, and I’ve got a plane to catch in six hours. I’m going to call Ares Drakos first for the fifty mil onher,” he nods at me, “then we’ll get Cillian Kildare on the phone regarding—”

“You let them die, Christopher.”

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