As she moved, I kept an eye on the bar and sushi restaurant, monitored the roads and the vicinity to make sure no one registered what was happening. For all that time, I didn’t look at her once.
I wouldn’t say I was nervous, because the butterflies of fear that existed in everyone’s stomach had long since burned to ashes in mine, but when she was safely ensconced beside me, I’d admit to being relieved.
She’d had a close call.
Eying her purse, seeing it had some bulk to it, I asked, “What’s in there?”
“T-The dress. It’s bloodstained.”
Jesus. “Okay. I’ll deal with that later. Well done for bringing it with you.”
She gulped. “I didn’t want to leave it there to be used against me.”
Smart thinking.
Christ, could she get hotter?
“Drop your cellphone out the window,” I instructed her, pleased when she immediately obeyed. As I drove away from a phone that was probably hooked up with tracking devices, I took note of how few cars there were on the road. That put me more on edge than anything else.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
“No one knows yet.”
Her words were a whisper that wrapped around me like silk, making my dick hard and my body tense. I didn’t like my reactiveness to her—her voice, her scent, her looks—but my cock apparently didn’t agree.
Just the sweet perfume of her shampoo filled the small cabin of the Maybach, and the fact that I hadn’t even glanced at her once pissed me off because her beauty should have me responding like this, not her goddamn smell.
That kiss had amped things up to a degree that put me on edge, but I couldn’t find it in me to regret it.
Tension bracketed my neck, making my shoulders hunch up as I tightened my hands on the wheel.
“No one knows as far as you’re aware. Maxim might have told one of his men by now.”
“I doubt it. I think he’s setting someone up.” She cleared her throat. “I heard him on the phone. He didn’t know I was listening.”
So, she was sneaky.
It would be wise for me to remember that.
Of course, we all grew to be sneaky in this world. Listening in to information that people didn’t want us to have was free, and it could keep our asses safe and sound. I didn’t blame her, even as I registered that she had skills if a motherfucker like thatboyevikcunt didn’t hear her spying on him.
“Best to be safe,” was all I said, and I didn’t relax until we hit South Slope, allied territory, and made our way onto the Hamilton Avenue bridge.
Her tension was just as high, and her silence was just as loaded.
I knew we were both waiting for the shit to hit the fan, and though ordinarily I’d have done my level best for her to feel safe, in this instance, she wouldn’t be that until we shared a last name.
When the Brooklyn Bridge was in the distance, Two Bridges, the Lower East Side, and Rose Hill all memories, I took a deeper breath because I was on home turf.
No one would touch her here.
They wouldn’t fucking dare.
My reach was far, but when she was unclaimed, its power was dulled. Just not in my territory.
Everyone in this motherfucking city knew the O’Donnellys were rabid where family was concerned. They’d learned that hard lesson when the Aryans had kidnapped Ma.