“Come on. Don’t slam your doors.”
That warning uttered, I headed out of the car then slipped across the street just as Minerva was following Ovianar down the short path to the villa that Minerva had inherited from her aunt as a child.
I’d known they’d come here. That they’d leave their place in Soho and head for Kensington because it wasn’t as built up and was more residential.
Staying in an apartment might have seemed more logical, but I knew that once they got inside the house, there was a slick alarm system that would have the copsandO’s employers outside within twenty minutes.
I knew because I’d fitted the fucking alarm.
In one seamless move, I seized Minerva from the back, slid my arm around her waist like I was hugging her, and dug the tip of a knife into her side.
“It’s been so long since we last got together, Minnie,” I clipped in her ear before she even had the chance to choke out a warning to Ovianar who was up ahead now, unlocking the front door for us.
Dead To Me drifted along the path as silently as I and made sure Ovianar couldn’t lock us out by grabbing her in a chokehold and dragging her deeper into the house.
As I guided Minerva inside, Conor made up the rear, and he closed the front door behind us.
“You said you’d leave us alone,” Minerva spat, her anger clear, but she knew not to mess with me. She stayed rigid in my arms but didn’t try to escape my hold.
“By meddling with my fucking life, you literally pulled me back inside!”
Ovianar, struggling against D’s strength, dropped to her knees as D knocked her out.
Minerva released a cry at the sight, but Conor shuffled ahead and, calm as you like, asked, “Where are we doing this?”
It was easy to forget sometimes that he was a son of the Five Points.
I was better acquainted with his nerdy side than the O’Donnelly in his genes.
“Kitchen. It’s down the back. The garden is enclosed so no one will see and the place is soundproofed so no one will hear them scream.”
Minerva released a terrified sob at that.
Jabbing her in the side, I muttered, “It doesn’t have to come to that. You know I’ll fuck off again if you give me the answers I need.”
“You’re such a cunt, Lodestar. I wish we’d never met—”
“You and me both, bitch. But you fucked with me first. I’d have stayed away but you had to have the final word, didn’t you? That’s always been your goddamn problem.” I shoved her down the hallway toward the kitchen when I saw that D, Conor, and Ovianar were no longer sharing the space with us.
Seeing they were zip-tying her to a chair, I waited for D to snag a knife from the counter and press it to Ovianar’s throat in a silent warning.
“You’re going to sit down,” I told Minerva, “without any fuss. If you try to fuck with me, D will slice her throat.”
Minerva tensed at that but gave me a nod of assent. Conor grabbed her and zip-tied her to the seat too.
Within five minutes, both of them were under control and that settled me like little else could.
I will not bend.
I will not break.
Nostrils flaring, I spat, “Which of you were a part of Operation: Jorgmundgander?”
Minerva clenched her eyes closed. “Ovianar.”
“What happened?”
She peered at the knife D was still holding to the other woman’s throat then rasped, “We hacked into the Saudi embassy. Thought we got in clean, but we didn’t. I was pregnant.” She tipped up her chin. “Ovianar took the blame and dealt with the punishment.”