"Says he can't wait for you to join him," I assured her.
She knew him too well, though, because she shot me a sheepish smile. "I'm sure." Her gaze darkened as she cupped my chin, and her thumb traced over the line of my jaw. That was when I realized she wasn’t the only one with chemical burns. "Be safe for me," was all she said.
"Of course," I rasped, but I couldn’t leave it like that so I pushed my forehead against hers. "I'm sorry for getting you into this, Savannah."
"Don't be. I prefer reading about it, but as long as you get the bastards, I'll forgive you for ruining our Sunday night."
"You’re too kind." I found myself able to joke, kissing her smirk before I pulled back. "Go on, go. Let me get you the answers you need, hmm?"
Slowly, she nodded before she strode over to Lucas’s car which was blocking the front gates.
Time wasn't our friend, but there was no way in fuck I could let her head home without that kiss.
I watched her go, our eyes entangled as Lucas reversed and pulled out. She stared at me until she couldn't anymore, and I knew that if Savannah cried later on, it wouldn't be for herself.
It'd be for me.
But I didn't need her tears even if she needed to shed them as she decompressed. My brothers were here, they'd saved our asses, and I was going to cement our family at the top of the tree so that no one dared question my leadership ever again.
I didn’t know who was involved in this shitty attempt at a coup, and I didn’t know what was planned so there was danger ahead, but she was right about one thing—this wasn’t how we were going to go out.
With her gone, I turned and strode over to Brennan's SUV. My knee was weaker than I'd like from, I assumed, the crash, but it wasn't that bad as I made it over to the passenger door and jumped in.
We made quick work of getting the hell out of there, but at the next turn, I told Brennan, "Circle the block."
He cast me a look but did as I asked until he had to reverse because the riverbank was on the farthest side.
As he did, I held up a hand and climbed out so I could stare at the operation from the shore.
"Heard rumors about this place," Brennan muttered. "Didn't think it was true though."
I hummed. "Think Lyanov knows about it?"
It was only a minuscule operation. There were bigger marinas in the area, but this one was beyond simply small fry. Didn’t mean a lot of shit couldn’t go down here. Sometimes, the smallest of spots could house the most lucrative of businesses. Especially when twenty million dollars of product could fit in the palm of your hand.
"I'm not sure," Brennan admitted. "Lyanov was distracted when I called him, and afterward, he was cursing in Russian—"
"You have that effect on people, Bren."
"Fuck off," he groused.
As I lowered myself into the bucket seat, my smirk was absent as I said, "Thank you for coming for us."
He rolled his eyes as he reversed into the road so quickly the tires squealed. "What else was I supposed to do, dipshit?"
And that was the long and the short of it, I guessed.
We went to war for each other.
That was why there were no Five Points without the O'Donnellys.
My mind wandered as we drove over to the cement factory. I'd admit that though the pain was manageable, I'd knew I’d hit my fucking head somewhere along the way because it was difficult focusing on the task at hand and not those goddamn burns on Savannah's cheeks.
Thank Christ she'd been wearing a turtleneck that had covered half the skin there.
Whoever had been behind the wheel would pay for each of those fucking marks.
I just wished I'd seen who it was.