“The best,” I told him, in full-on sales mode.
Eyes alight with satisfaction, he clicked his fingers, and ordered, “Bring me the money for my main man, Jack.”
Jack, like he usually did, appeared from the shadows, but as he did, I heard the faintest of sounds. The slightest creaking of the door as it was pulled open.
All three of us froze and, after shooting each other looks, I knew I needed to own this situation before one of them got trigger-happy, blamed me, and decided to put me down.
“You got someone waiting on me, Reggie?” I ground out, my tone dark. So fucking dark I knew I sounded like my da.
“No, man,” he whispered, eyes wide, and I knew I’d shoved the suspicion onto him. “I promise!” Then he grabbed a gun from the back of his jeans, and hollered, “Whoever the fuck that is, get your ass over here now before I send Jack to get you for me.”
No answer.
I squinted into the shadows, wondering why the fuck we were in the dark when this was a business deal. Then, before I could grumble too much, the lights blinked on, cluing me into the fact that Reggie did have other men in the warehouse as I’d expected. My eyes strained, but I reached for my gun just as Reggie knocked his elbow into Jack, silently ordering him to make a move.
With the lights on, I saw a fuck ton of crates, the contents of which I’d never know—and from how he kept this place in jet-black darkness whenever I rolled around, I figured Reggie didn’t want me to know about their existence either—but when Jack dragged someone out from behind one, and my gaze grazed over Deirdre’s scared face, my nostrils flared in surprise.
My tail.
Fuck.
A thousand scenarios flashed before me in the space of ten seconds, but most of them ended up with me dead, and there was no way I was going to die for this cunt.
I saw a chance at freedom, so I dove for it.
“Who the fuck’s this?” I snapped, and watched her eyes widen as her skin blanched. “This some fucking Fed or something?” My fingers tightened around my weapon and I turned it on Reggie. His eyes were blown, something I could see now that we were in the full light, and I growled, “Who the fuck is this?”
A squeak escaped Deirdre, and I knew I had a handful of minutes before terror gave way to self-preservation. I’d been on my own for years, working hard to make my place in the family, so very little scared me. But for her? She was cosseted, not just by her family, but my position. By the position I gave her as my future bride.
She was terrified.
I had to take advantage of that.
“I-I don’t know, man,” Reggie rumbled, before he screamed, “Who the fuck are you?”
Before she could even say a word, Reggie’s drugged brain made the leap for her. And for me too.
His gun went off, and a scream escaped Deirdre just as she crumpled to the ground. Death rattle noises slipped from her lips, and I watched as blood blossomed over her heart.
I turned to Reggie, eyebrow cocked high, and murmured, “Good shot.”
He blinked a few times, licked his lips, and rasped, “I ain’t never seen her in my life, bro. You gotta believe me. I didn’t bring her here or nothing.”
“Who is she then?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, man. I don’t fucking know.”
I strode over to her, then, in a role that would see me win a goddamn Oscar if I was an actor, I released a shaky breath. “Sweet fuck.”
“What? What is it?” he demanded, grabbing my arm, but I jerked it from his grip.
“It’s Deirdre.”
“Who the fuck is Deirdre?” he bellowed.
I let out a scream as I dropped to my knees and hauled her dying, soon-to-be corpse into my arms. Rocking her against me like I gave a shit, like I wasn’t happy the cunt was dying, I rasped, “My fiancée.”
Pulling back so I could watch her take her final breath, I kept my eyes fixed on hers, hoping she saw my satisfaction, my malevolent pleasure in her death because, for the first time since I was a kid, I was free.
And not only did freedom taste mighty fucking fine, it came shaped like Aela O’Neill who, if I had my way, would soon be Aela goddamn O’Donnelly.