Once I’ve finished, he stands, holding out his hand to me. Wordlessly, I take it. He flips off the light, leading me out of the kitchen and up the stairs to his bedroom. I don’t have any sleep things up here, but Connor hands me one of his T-shirts and a pair of cotton boxer briefs, gesturing to his bathroom.
I dress on autopilot, and when I emerge, he ducks in, coming back out in sweats, his chest gloriously bare. Connor nods to the bed, and I obediently crawl in, watching as he flips off the light, sliding in beside me.
In the light from the nightstand, I look over and study Connor. I’m underneath the coverlet, but I’m sitting up, hugging my knees to my chest, while he lies beside me, one hand underneath his head while the other lays on his bare chest. Taking a deep breath, I ask the most important question.
“What did the Italians want with Low?”
Connor’s eyes fix on my face, and he hesitates, blowing out a heavy breath.
“Her brother Josh refused to take a fall in a fight, which cost the Italians a lot of money. So they killed him. They wanted Lauren to work off her brother’s debt.”
Uh. Okay. But before she met and married Paddy with all his mafia money, Lauren was just as much of a broke bitch as I am.
I stare at Connor, uncomprehending as he raises his eyebrows. Oh my god. I realize what he’s saying, blood flooding my cheeks as I mouth furiously at him.
“Lauren wouldneveragree to be a prostitute!”
He nods slowly. “Aye, lass. But they wouldn’t have been asking her.”
I pale at the implication. Oh my god. Thank god for Paddy Flynn.
“Paddy would never have allowed it,” Connor smirks at me. Well, I’m glad he can smile about it because I feel faintly nauseous.
“What does this have to do with Moldovans and Disney toys?” I finally ask once I have moved past the fact that the Italians looking for Lauren wanted to force her into prostitution against her will.
Connor’s fingers beat a staccato against his chest, and he chews his tongue for a moment before replying.
“Clearly, we weren’t going to hand over Lauren,” he snorts. “Paddy was head over heels for the lass, even then.”
As appalled as I am, I have to bite back a smile at his statement. Paddy and Lauren are so cute.
“So we asked the Italians for their shopping list.”
Their…what?
CONNOR
After staring at me, bewildered for a long moment, Andie hugs her knees tighter to her chest.
“They wanted you to buy groceries for them?” she speaks slowly, sounding doubtful. I chuckle at the absurdity of her words, pokering up quickly when she glares at me.
“No, lass,” I sigh, lifting my hand off my chest and reaching over, running my fingertips along her bare arm until they get to her hand where it is gripping her leg.
Andie lets me take her hand, resting our clasped hands on the bed between us.
“A shopping list is a list of things they wanted us to do to get them to leave Lauren alone. Relinquish their claim to her, so to speak.”
Andie pales again like she knows it will be an unpleasant list.
“What kind of things?” she whispers, looking faintly ill and a little scared.
Jesus fuck. I don’t want to tell her this. Andie’s not cut out for mafia life. She deserves a happy, light-filled life where the worst things only happen on the telly.
“Paddy had to take a fall in a fight.” I start with the easiest one. Andie nods, looking at me expectantly. “Niall, one of the other lads in the crew, had to carry out four hits.”
Her fingers flex where I’m holding them, but she doesn’t tug her hand away.
“Niall?” she asks softly, but I’m pretty sure she knows the answer to the question that she’s asking. “From the wedding?”