He chuckled softly. “Yeah. I keep forgetting.”
“Go home, Daddy. I’ll talk to you later.”
Before he could answer, Kevin pulled the phone away from my ear.
“Good girl.”
He set the phone back on the table and took his seat again.
“Now what?”
“Now we wait for Ian to figure out you’re missing.”
“Why? What are you going to do to him?”
Kevin smiled softly. “Isn’t that sweet? His little wife’s worried about him.” He leaned forward a little, the gun between his hands. “Makes me feel so good, that it’s because of me that the two of you are together.”
I turned my head away, not wanting to see that smirk on his face. And I really didn’t want to admit to myself that he was right. It was because of him that Ian and I were together. But that didn’t mean I had to be grateful to him.
We sat there like that for a long time. I tugged at the handcuffs holding my wrists above my head, but I could slip free of them. Besides, every time I made them rattle, he stared at me, this threatening gaze that made my blood run cold.
I felt sick, sitting there like that, aware that Ian would come for me eventually. I was hoping that he wouldn’t come, but also hoping that he would. It was stupid, really, but I wanted to know that he would come looking for me once he started to miss me. But I didn’t want him to get hurt and…fuck! I was tired and scared and I didn’t know what I was thinking.
“You killed my aunt.”
“A couple of cousins, too, from what I heard.”
“It doesn’t bother you? Knowing that you killed people in cold blood?”
“It had a purpose.”
“What about Caroline McGuire?”
He shrugged a little. “She wasn’t supposed to be there. But in every war there’s always some collateral damage.”
“It doesn’t bother you? You grew up with her as a part of your life.”
“The only woman who ever mattered to me was Abigail, and she’s gone. No one else makes much difference.”
“What about Brianna?”
He reared up from his chair. “Don’t say her name!” He waved the gun close to my face. “Don’t you dare even speak her name!”
“How would you feel if someone blew up her aunt on her wedding day? How would you feel if she’d been the one to take Caroline to the reception hall?”
He hit me across the face with the back of his hand, smacking my head back against the headboard. I saw stars for a moment, and when my vision cleared, he’d backed off.
“Don’t make me do that again. I really need you in one piece when Ian arrives.”
“What are you going to do to Ian when he gets here?”
Kevin smiled almost pleasantly. “Brian’s going to begin finding out what it feels like to lose the things that matter most to him.”
My heart sank as real fear made its way through the core of me. I’d been afraid, but this fear was something more, something different. I couldn’t imagine my life without Ian in it, not now that we’d gotten to know each other. Not now that he’d confessed his love for me.
I couldn’t do this.
I pulled at the handcuffs, testing them again. Kevin laughed.
“You’re not getting free of those.”
“What makes you think Ian even cares enough to come rescue me?”
“I’ve been watching the two of you. He’ll come.”
“What if he doesn’t come alone?”
He laughed again. “You don’t know my brother as well as I do. He’s a hot head. He acts before he thinks. He’ll be here. And he’ll be alone.”
I closed my eyes, praying that he was wrong. He had to be wrong, because if he wasn’t, Ian was walking into an ambush. I couldn’t just sit here and watch my husband die.
Kevin paced the room like he was bored, humming some song I didn’t know under his breath. Every few minutes he would walk up beside me on the bed, once brushing his fingers over the raw skin on my wrists, once wiping a bit of blood from my lip. If I’d been free…I thought about swinging my legs and smashing him in the balls, but I knew I couldn’t get enough force to do any damage. And then he’d turn his rage on me, and I was afraid as crazy as he seemed, he wouldn’t be able to stop.
I had to stay alive to help Ian.
He kept checking his watch like we were on some sort of schedule. Then, maybe an hour after our last altercation, he pulled a flip phone out of his pocket—one of those old ones that I had in high school—and pressed a button.
“Brianna, my love,” he said softly. And then he spoke in a jumble of words that made little sense to me. It was clearly a code, common words replacing other common words. He said something like, Train to boat to car…I don’t know. It didn’t make sense. But she must have said something right because he smiled brightly.
“She still loves me,” he said when he hung up. “When this is done, we’re going to run off together, make babies, and live happily ever after.”
“You really think she wants you after finding out you were the one behind her kidnapping?”
His eyebrows raised. “She knows that I did it for a good reason.”
“Does she? You held her against her will. For months!”
“Brianna loves me.”
“You keep telling yourself that.”
He didn’t get angry this time, and that made me nervous. He acted as though he knew something I didn’t.
Was there another bomb somewhere? Was he planning on taking out more than just Ian? Who was he after next? Killian, Kyle…Sean?
“Are you going to kill me?”
He looked over at me. “It’ll be a beautiful murder-suicide. I couldn’t have planned it out better. And Carmine…if Caroline’s death didn’t destroy that pact, this definitely will.”
“Why? Why are you trying to start a street war?”
“So that they’ll all kill each other. What’s more poetic than a man dying from the same sword his wife begged him over and over again to put down?” He came toward me again, pacing in such an agitated manner that I could almost smell the carpet burning under his feet. “Abigail told him, every time they fought, that she hated what he did for a living. She wanted him to give it up, to be a normal, mundane businessman. She wanted him to turn his back on all this. Instead, he killed her and ran back to the fold. And now that fold is going to kill him.”
“That’s been your plan all along? To turn his friends against him?”
“To turn everyone against him. And once the war has begun…there will be no stopping it next time.”
“What makes you think that? They managed to stop it before. They made a pact—”
“Jack gave up half the gun trade! Who could have predicted that?”
“Maybe that’s how determined Jack is to make sure this war doesn’t happen.”
“But now Caroline’s dead. And when you’re gone, and Delaney’s lying dead in the street, there won’t be anything to stop the two of them from throwing all they’ve got at each other.”
“But they know it’s you.”
“Won’t matter. They’ll still turn on each other. And Brian will watch everything that ever mattered to him implode.”
“You’re insane! My father, Jack, Brian…they’re all too smart for that!”
“We’ll see, won’t we?”
“We will.”
I closed my eyes again as he turned his back on me and sent up another prayer.
Please, God, let me be right!
Chapter 15
Ian
My first instinct was to charge into the hotel alone and take Mia back without any backup. But then I was behind the wheel of my car, directing it out of the parking garage, and I realized what a mistake that would be. I would be playing right into Kevin’s hands. That’s exactly what he would expect me to do. He’d be waiting, maybe with people watching, waiting too. I couldn’t be that stupid.
I went to Killian’s instead.<
br />
Brianna was a blubbering mess, sobbing against her mother’s shoulder. Pops marched over to me the second I came through the door, grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me off to the side.
“He wants to run way with her. Told her something about bringing her passport so that they could start in Spain?”
“What else did he say?”
“That his final plan was in motion and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. That’s why she’s so upset. She blames herself for what happened at the reception hall because he told her he’d done it so that they could be together.”
I shook my head, glancing over at Brianna and Cassidy. “It’s not her fault.”
“What do we do? Were you able to trace the emails?”
“He’s been hiding out in Orlando, but I don’t think that information is going to do us any good right now. Besides, I know where he is.”
“Where?”
“The hotel. He has Mia.”
Pops paled as he studied me. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Fuck, Ian…what do you want to do?”
I shook my head, panic rising in my chest. But I had to push it down and keep calm. We had to go at this the smart way, not halfcocked. We had to get out of this without anyone else dying.
“Where is everyone else?”
Pops shook his head, turning slightly as he tried to recall. “Killian and Stacy and the baby are upstairs. Kyle and Amelia are in the kitchen, throwing some food together. Sean and Delaney are headed back to their place—”
“No. Everyone needs to be in one place. Call them and tell them to get back here.”
“Why?”
“This place…it’s behind a gate. Kevin couldn’t get in here without someone seeing him. But Sean and Delaney’s place? How do we know he hasn’t planted another bomb somewhere?”
“I didn’t think of that. Should we be doing a sweep?”
“It wouldn’t hurt. And we should probably move everyone to a neutral spot until we’re sure. Carmine and his family, too.”
Pops nodded his agreement, tugging out his phone to make the calls.
I went over to Brianna and knelt in front of her, taking her hands in mine.
“Listen. I need to ask you something and you’re going to want to slap me when you hear it.”
She wiped at her face with the back of one hand. “Ask.”
“Would you be willing to work with us to lure Kevin out? It could be dangerous, but—”
“Anything to stop him.”
“Brianna…” Cassidy began, but her daughter shot her a look that was filled with so much determination that she shut her mouth with an audible click.
“He trusts you. He believes that you love him. We can use that to our advantage.”
She nodded. “Anything.”
Killian came into the room as I climbed to my feet. I pulled him aside and explained briefly what I wanted to do. He stared at me as if I was insane, but then he nodded.
“I’ll do anything to stop the son of a bitch! This thing has gone too far.”
“We need to get everyone to someplace safe. Do you think the farmhouse in Connecticut?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. Stacy can get everyone there.”
I nodded. “We need to rent some cars. We can’t trust that Kevin hasn’t planted bombs or that he doesn’t have people watching our houses, our cars. Our office buildings…we have to do this smart.”
“I’ll get on that.”
“No, have Sam do it. I need you here. Do you have more guns?”
“Of course.”
We went down to the basement and searched through Killian’s impressive armory there. I’d never realized what a gun hound my brother was, but I was grateful for it today. This was going to have to go off like a well-planned military operation if it was going to work. Kevin knew us inside and out. He knew how to predict our next move, knew what we would say or do in a moment of danger. We had to outthink him, make sure we were the ones who were always a step ahead this time.
It took time, but we got everyone shuttled off to Killian’s farmhouse in Connecticut. We waited a good hour before we made our move, just to make sure they were safely on their way. Then we headed to the hotel.
The hotel was owned by MCorp. It was fully staffed by trusted MCorp employees. But some of those employees were not aware that Kevin was no longer considered a trusted member of the family. For that reason, we weren’t sure whom we could trust and whom we couldn’t.
Sean and I walked through the main doors with Brianna between us. If I was going to hold someone hostage in a large hotel, I would have eyes on all the doors. I was making the assumption that Kevin had the same thought. He would see Brianna and make the assumption that she was here to reunite with him. He would see Sean and me with her, and he would assume that I wanted to make a trade.
We made our way—undisturbed—across the lobby and boarded the elevator. So far so good.
Brianna was shaking. I took her hand and squeezed, reassuring her even though I was shaking just as hard on the inside.
The elevator doors opened on the appropriate floor. There was no one in sight. There should have been a man outside Mia’s door, but there wasn’t. Kevin must have paid him off or stashed him in a closet somewhere. Not that it mattered at the moment. The empty hallway made it safer for whoever might wander into the crossfire.
The door to the room opened before we approached it.
“About time!”
Kevin gestured for us to enter with his gun, reaching for Brianna as she tried to pass. I saw her grimace as he came in for a kiss, but he didn’t see it. He was so pleased to have her there that he didn’t see anything but what he wanted to see.
For example, he didn’t see the syringe she had hidden up her sleeve. And he likely didn’t feel it when she jammed it into his side.
But he certainly felt it when the anesthetic went to work.
He stumbled back, exposing the interior of the room. Mia was on the bed, her wrists handcuffed to the headboard above her head. There were bruises forming on the side of her face and her lip was swollen and crusted with dried blood. But she was awake and aware, tears streaming down her face as I rushed to her, taking her face between my hands and kissing her like I’d never kissed her before.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Are you? He wanted to kill you. He was going to make it look like a murder-suicide. Then he was going to kill Delaney.”
“It’s okay now. Everyone’s safe.”
“Are you sure? He might have planted more bombs—”
“He did. We found three. But everyone’s safe and on their way to a safe house.” I brushed the hair out of her face. “Everyone’s okay now.”
She leaned into me, sobbing against my shoulder for a moment. Sean brought over keys to the handcuffs and released her. She flopped into my arms, and I gathered her up, holding her as close as I could. I wanted to hold her like that forever, to never let her out of my sight again. But Carmine and Pops were coming through the door, guns drawn. It was time to move on to the next step of this little operation.
“Is he dead?” Mia asked against my neck.
“Just knocked out.”
“It can’t be that easy, can it?”
I brushed my lips against her temple. “It was that easy, baby.”
I lifted her up and carried her to her father who quite happily carried her out of the room and down the hall to another. There were people swarming the hallway now, mostly Carmine’s men there to sweep the entire hotel and rid it of anyone loyal to Kevin. They’d already taken out two guys down the hall who were watching video monitors covering the entire hotel. Kevin had known we were coming, but he hadn’t seen Pops and Killian and Kyle identifying his men from across the street and taking them out with sniper rifles. All of them but the two idiots now babbling about their innocence. They would be quite helpful in finding out what else Kevin might have been planning.
“You did good,” I said to Brianna, pushing her gently out into the hallway and handing her off to one of Carmine’s men.
“I was afraid it wouldn’t work.”
“But it did.”
“What’ll you do to him now?”
I hesitated, touching her cheek like I’d often done to Stacy’s when we were young. “You don’t worry about that. Just know he won’t ever hurt anyone again.”
She nodded, very little regret in her eyes.
Chapter 16
Ian
Kevin came to several hours later, tied to a chair in the middle of a dark, dank warehouse. It was like a scene from a movie, only it wasn’t. This was reality and this was my brother tied to the chair.
He looked around, confusion slowly leaving his eyes as he took each one of us in. Killian. Sean. Kyle. Me. Pops. We were all there, all in a place we never thought we’d find ourselves.
“Where’s Brianna?”
“Halfway to Connecticut,” Kyle said. “Far away from you.”
“She loves me.”
“Yeah. That’s why she shot you up with a syringe filled with ten cc of a sedative.”
Kevin shook his head. “She loves me.”
“You fucking kidnapped her!” Kyle kicked his shin as if they were little boys arguing over a ball. “You nearly killed her mother. Her brother. Tried to send her father to jail. Do you really think she could love a monster like you?”
Kevin looked up and spit at Kyle, missing his face by less than an inch.
“She loves me.”
“Why’d you do it, Kevin? Why would you turn on us after everything we did for you? After everything Mom and Dad did for you?” Killian wanted to know.
“What they did for me? You mean taking poor, pathetic me off the streets and giving me a proper family?” Kevin laughed. “The only person who ever cared for me was Abigail—and he took her away!”
Kevin tested the bonds holding him to the chair, nearly knocking himself sideways in the attempt. He glared at Pops as if he was the devil incarnate.
“Pancreatic cancer killed Abigail.”
Kevin shook his head. “That’s just what you wanted everyone to think. But I was the first one there that morning, remember? After you called us all in, after Sean called you. I was the first one there; I saw the coroner look at her. I saw the concern in his eyes. I snuck down to the morgue later that day, and I saw his report. ‘Foreign fibers in the airway. Fibers in the nose and around the mouth. Petechial hemorrhage in the eyes.’ You fucking suffocated her!”
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