Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“Then make the trade,” Cormac says with a soft snarl. “No more games. Do this easy.”
“But Kieren!” Vera ignores him and keeps going. “Daddy does love your jokes, drinking that nasty bourbon stuff, and smoking cigars, but I hate all of that. I find you tedious, self-absorbed, and not that good in bed.” She looks at me and winks. “Right, girl?”
“Fuck you.”
“Don’t be mad at me, I’m not the selfish lover. Ten rough humps and boom, he’s done, go ahead and finish yourself off. What a joke.”
Kieren’s response is muffled by the gag. He rolls away from the car, looking livid.
Vera’s description of his abilities in bed are exaggerated, but not by much.
“His life for the dossier,” Cormac presses. “He’s still worth something.”
“Worth what, exactly? He got me what I wanted. I would’ve married him, if at least because I knew I could control him, but what’s the point now? He’s tapped out. I don’t want a ruined husband. No, thank you, please keep him.”
Cormac seems utterly at ease. “Then why are we here? You knew our terms.”
“I wanted to see her.” Vera’s attention turns to me. I feel chill and strange as I shuffle closer to Cormac. That says a lot: I’d rather be near the psycho ghostman than that bitch. “How are you, lovey? Are you doing well? Sorry about stealing your man and all, it really wasn’t personal.”
“Go to hell, Vera. You’ve been sleeping with him behind my back for years.”
“He told you that?” She laughs daintily. “God yes, it’s true. Can you imagine dealing with him for that long? It was exhausting. But here we are.”
“Dossier for his life,” Cormac says flatly.
“Not accepted. But how about this?” Vera points at me. “You give me her, plus Kieren, and I’ll give you half the dossier. No more though. We need the other half to make your life miserable. What do you say? Hand them over and let me play? Pretty please?”
“The full dossier,” Cormac says.
“Hey!” I round on him in outrage. “I’m not part of this bargain!”
Vera laughs, delighted, eyes sparkling with excitement. “No, thank you, but this is really fun. Truthfully, I don’t have any of the dossier with me. You’re only here for one reason—“
Cormac shifts forward, moving in front of me, as the Baranov soldiers raise their weapons.
“This was a trap,” Vera says, sounding hungry and eager. “How didn’t you see that it was a trap?”
CHAPTER 32
LIAM
The house sits several yards back at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. From what I learned, the other homes aren’t involved with the Baranovs at all. They’re innocent, and I wonder what they’re going to think after what’s about to happen. They’ve got to know nothing good is going on here though, not with the high walls around the property and the armed guards patrolling the exterior.
Finn watches the guards walk across the front, timing them a few times before nodding. “Thirty seconds between. Should be easy.”
“Hit hard and go?”
“That’s the plan.” He checks his watch and sends a text to the other team leaders. “Heard from Regan?”
“I won’t until it’s done.” I try not to think about my wife. This isn’t how I wanted this to go, but I knew sending her was the only way I’d get anyone important from the Baranov family to show up.
Cormac will keep her safe. If there’s anyone in the city who can protect her, it’s the Whelan ghostman. He’s a beast, truly a monster, and I have to trust that he’ll get her through.
I have my own part to play.
“Two minutes.” Finn puts his phone away, sitting still and quiet.
“How do you do it?” I ask, settling back against a tree. We’re fifty feet away, hiding along a ridgeline at the edge of a forested area.
“Do what? Maintain my skin despite my age?”
“No, I mean, Caroline, marriage, all that.”
“It’s hard, but it’s good.”
“That’s some Hallmark shit. Tell me the truth. How do you do it? How do you do all this… and still go home to be the man she needs you to be?”
He narrows his gaze. For a second I’m afraid I overstepped. “Truth is, this never gets easier. She hates when I go on jobs like this. It happens less now that I’m taking on more of a leadership role, but it can’t be helped. This is the life, right? She accepts it, we both do, but there’s always a chance it goes sideways.”
“I keep thinking about a future with Regan, about fucking kids, all that, and I don’t know how I can do it. How do I keep my edge while driving my fucking children to soccer practice?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“And if I don’t?”
“We’ll find you an office job.” He checks his phone. “Thirty seconds.”
“Fucking hell.” I go over my gear one last time. Gun loaded, armor strapped. I’m oddly calm, despite what we’re about to do. “Do me a favor. If I ever ask you to sit at a desk, put a bullet in my head.”