Eoghan:I can confirm it ISN’T cool.
Conor:I know that. But the lifelong James Bond fan in me doesn’t agree.
Conor:I also know that if I was looking at you right now, you’d be frowning at me.
Eoghan:You’d be right.
Conor:It’s hard being me.
Eoghan:Harder being your brother.
Conor:Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did the handler say?
Eoghan:He told me there were links between the Pauks (I assume you know they’re Russian hacktivists) and the United Brotherhood. I figured The United Brotherhood funded them.
Conor:Shame you don’t have more info than that.
Eoghan:You know me, Kid. I live to be your font of information.
Conor:Jesus Christ, Eoghan. Go for a run or something. You need the dopamine.
Eoghan:I already ran fifteen miles.
Conor:Go and have sex then. The oxytocin will do you a world of good.
Eoghan:Was I right?
Conor:About the Brotherhood funding the Pauks? Yeah.
Eoghan:Hmm. Did you think they approached me to be a member?
Conor:No. I just wondered how you knew about them. Anyway, say hi to Inessa for me.
Eoghan:Will do. Keep in touch or I’ll get on a flight to Dubrovnik.
Conor:Family reunion. Baltic-style.
Eoghan:Uh-huh. Stay alive, deartháir.
32
CONOR
“How the fuckcould you let her run away, Maverick?”
Rubbing a finger down the bridge of my nose, I watched as Star’s temper hit peaks and troughs throughout the conversation with the biker, where I found myself both amused at seeing the Momma bear in action and turned on by the defense of her kid.
How couldn’t a man like myself react to that spike in temper?
The child in me, who’d been failed, loved to see her fight for Katina. Even as she’d defended Maverick’s inability to corral her kid in the face of her fear for Star, it didn’t stop her from ripping him a new asshole.
“Look, Star—”
“No, I won’t fuckinglook. I left her with you,” she snarled. “You know what that means? She was your mission. You failed, Maverick. You fucking failed her, and you failed me.”
“I know. I’m sorry—”
“Sorry wouldn’t have saved her from some pedophile creep who could have taken advantage of her!”