That knowledge didn’t make her feel the least bit better.
Carrigan’s phone rang before she took a step. She frowned. “Yeah?” Whoever it was didn’t have good news. Her gaze cut to Charlie. “We’ll go out the back and meet you at the O’Malley house. Take care of it.”
Even though Charlie was certain she didn’t want to know, she had to ask. “What?”
“The two men working your security detail didn’t makeit. I’m sorry.” She glanced at the front door. “We have to leave now.”
“But—” She cut herself off. “You’re right.” There was more than her guilt to think about right now. Carrigan could clearly carry herself just fine in a crisis, but Keira’s adrenaline was obviously running rampant. She had to get the girl to safety.
She pulled her own gun from her ankle holster.Should have pulled it before now.Apparently, her instincts weren’t as great as she’d thought. She took up the rear position in their little group.
The back entrance let out through the kitchen. A chef and two servers were huddled near the walk-in freezer. Carrigan ignored them, but Charlie stopped. “Stay here until the police arrive. You’re safe.” They didn’t look like they believed her, but she couldn’t do much about that. She’d tried.
Carrigan’s town car was two blocks over, and they made it there with no trouble—though everyone they passed gave them a wide berth.
Not a single person asked if they needed help.
Anger rose, pounding in time with Charlie’s heart. Three women, two covered in blood and limping, and…nothing. She jumped when Keira took her hand. “Deep breaths, Charlie.”
She didn’t want to take deep breaths. She wanted to rail and scream at how fucked up the universe was. The longer she was on this earth, the harder time she had convincing herself that people defaulted to good. They didn’t. They defaulted to selfish.
Every. Single. Fucking. Time.
“I’m fine.”
“I know.”
Carrigan pulled a key out of her purse. “It pays to be paranoid and carry an extra key. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Charlie took one last look down the street in the direction of the restaurant and then climbed into the car. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
***
Aiden barely waited for his SUV to pull to a stop next to the town car before he jumped out of the passenger seat and rushed around the front of the car. It didn’t matter that they were at a red light in the middle of the street. All that mattered was the fear he’d heard in Charlie’s voice when she’d called him to tell him what happened.
A drive-by.
All he could think when he heard was,Not again. He yanked open the back door and stopped short at the sight of Charlie covered in blood. She blinked. “Get in the car before people start honking.”
He slid onto the seat next to her and slammed the door shut. “Doc Jones will meet us at the house.” Carrigan and Keira were in the front, clearly visible, since the tinted glass was retracted. Carrigan seemed to be doing okay, since she was driving, though she was covered in as much blood as Charlie was. Keira alone looked unscathed.
He gently took Charlie’s hand, his chest tight as he turned it to see the cuts littering her arms. “Did you see who it was?”
“It was Romanov,” Carrigan said. “It had to be.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Keira turned fully around to look athim. “I know you hate him, but it wasn’t him. If he hadn’t warned me, we’d all be dead.”
He’d circle back to how Romanov had managed to warn her once they were safe and patched up. Right now, he had bigger priorities. “He could have set it up so you would think that.”
“No, really?” She rolled her eyes. “But if he was behind it, he would have called it off the second he knew I was back in that room.”
They weredefinitelygoing to have a conversation once things settled down.
“You’re delusional.” Carrigan turned onto their block.
Was she, though? A drive-by on a public street was hardly Romanov’s style. It was too…blunt. He had no reason to strike. By all appearances, Aiden was setting him up to get exactly what he wanted. Taking a shot at Carrigan would sever any alliance—and it would ensure that all three of Boston’s families turned their fury directly at him. To say nothing of Keira’s reaction.
It’s something the Eldridges would do.
