“I think it’s time MacNamara and I had a chat.”
“I figured you’d want to eventually.”Liam pulled a card out of his jacket pocket.It was blank except for a number scrawled across it.“I took the liberty of tracking down his contact information.”
“I don’t pay you enough.”
“You’re welcome to give me a raise.”
He snorted.“Consider it done.”There was no point in waiting to contact MacNamara.If Sloan was back in Boston, he doubted the man was far behind her.They wouldn’t have extracted themselves from Teague’s grasp just to go their separate ways.
He dialed, half expecting the man not to answer.Instead, a gruff voice came onto the line.“Who the fuck is this?”
No point in beating around the bush.“Aiden O’Malley.”
“Jesus Christ, you O’Malley men are like cockroaches.How’d you get this number?”Jude cursed.“Scratch that.I don’t give a fuck.What do you want?”
“Tell me why you’re in Boston.”
“Or what?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose.Aiden had known it would come down to this.Sloan had left of her own free will, even if she’d had Teague’s help.Aiden wasn’t Teague.He didn’t see the best in people, and he sure as fuck didn’t have a white knight complex.Which is why he believed his sister when she said she chose Jude MacNamara.Sloan might be sheltered, she might be as innocent as one of their family could get, but she’d soundedalivefor the first time since Devlin died.
He had a feeling this man’s presence in her life had something to do with that.“My sister chose you.”
A hesitation.“You tapped Teague’s phone.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
Jude snorted.“I would have whupped his ass for going behind my back and stealing my sister.”
He should have.But then, Aiden’s life would be a lot simpler if that wasallTeague had done.“Answer the question.”
“You didn’t ask a question.But yeah, your sister chose me.I’m not letting her go without a fight, and I’m willing to bring that to your front door if you fall in with your idiot brother.”
He wasn’t who Aiden would have chosen for Sloan.But he’d done his homework.Hit man or not, Jude MacNamara had an honorable streak.“They say you never kill someone who doesn’t have it coming.”
“You seem to know a whole hell of a lot for someone I’ve never had a fucking conversation with.”The background noise seemed to indicate he was in a city, which only supported Aiden’s suspicion that Jude had followed Sloan back to Boston.They’re planning something.
The question remainedwhat.
Before he could ask again, Jude spoke.“If your sister told you that she chooses me—that she wants to leave the life she had with your family behind—and that she’s happy with me, would you believe her?”
His first instinct was to react the exact same way Teague had—instant denial.But Aiden took a step back and tried to think beyond his instinctive desire to protect Sloan.She’d come back to Boston on her own.She was outside this man’s influence, and even if he didn’t see eye to eye with Carrigan and James, Aiden had no doubt they were more than capable of protecting Sloan if the situation called for it.“If she tells me face-to-face that she chooses you, I’ll believe her.”He’d read the truth on her face, one way or another.
“Then you better leave pretty fucking fast.She’ll be at the Sheridan house within thirty minutes.If you let her walk, then we’ll talk.”
Aiden hung up and stood.“Get four men.We’re going to the Sheridans’, and we’re going now.”
It was time to get his house in order.
***
The Sheridans had a decent perimeter set up and regular patrols who mostly managed not to look like patrols, but Jude had been casing the territory for years.He knew how to get in and get out without being seen.The house whose window he watched from had been earned with the blood of his first hit.He hadn’t visited it more than a handful of times over the years, not wanting to risk drawing attention to himself.
A car pulled up to the front of the Sheridan house, expelling a nervous-looking Sloan.Oh, she looked calm on the outside, but he could recognize the set of her spine and the way she clenched her hands.She was scared shitless, but hell if she’d let them see.Pride warred with fear, one wanting to kiss her, and the other wanting to charge down the street and scoop her up, taking her anywhere but here.
She trusted him to do the job and not get killed.
She’d asked him to trust her to get in and out of Sheridan hands without issue.
