"She's worth whatever upheaval she's brought to the table, and we both know it."
Raking my hand through my hair, I paused to think about my wife. She and Finn were safe, which was the most important thing. They were with men I trusted with my own life, and it gave me reassurance enough that I could relax.
Except I didn't relax. I thought about them every minute of the day, about how I should have told her how I felt about her before I left. The idea of saying goodbye nearly killed me, so I fled while she slept. I wasn't a tough-as-shit mob boss; I was a fucking coward. I couldn't even tell her I loved her before I went off with the possibility of dying.
"So we find out where they'll be and pay someone off?" Logan said, sitting down and continuing the earlier conversation.
I shook my head to clear it. "Maybe they can dine and die at the dinner club. That place owes us, anyway."
The smirk on Logan's face could only be described as evil. "Perfect."
"I still want proof, and I'm sure you want the waiter to pay."
"Of course." Sitting back, Logan propped his ankle on the opposite knee and let the tumbler dangle from his fingers. "He may have sung like a canary the second Oliver began questioning him, but he hasn't exactly given us tangible proof. I want a solid trail from start to finish."
"Have fun, then."
"You know it."
When I was alone, I poured a whiskey and took it with me on a walk through the house. There wasn't a room Kinsley hadn't touched in her own subtle way, from the hallways to the stairs. It no longer resembled a mausoleum, as she used to call it. Now, I had a home. A castle missing its queen.
Though I was loathed to admit it to anyone but myself, Kinsley had made me a better person. At my job, at my friendships, and my marriage. What was once a matter of convenience and a means to an end morphed into something I was proud to claim as my own. Initially wanting her for the baby she carried had swiftly turned into a love so deep she could have let me drown in it. That she chose to reach her hand down to save me minute by minute, hour by hour, was a miracle.
I was itching to go back to Connecticut, but I knew I had to take care of a few things first. Namely, hearing back from Logan about exactly what went down and who was responsible. The rumor mill was often helpful, but I hated to use it as evidence, and I wouldn't deny Logan the satisfaction of torturing the man who claimed a dark-haired woman paid him with sex to poison the champagne at the Gallagher wedding. The dumbass admitted he used too much thallium in his exuberance to please her and kill everyone quicker. Supposedly, his promised reward was a fat wad of cash neither Carson nor Anna had access to at the moment.
Pausing in the doorway to my bedroom, I studied the changes Kinsley had made in there. The sand-colored walls, the black furniture, and the white bedding were design elements I wouldn't have thought of in a million years. Her decorating choices were a metaphor for our life; I'd been content to muddle through with the same things day in and day out, never bothered by the need to change. And then she'd come along and knocked me on my ass.
As though she knew I was thinking of her, my phone rang. Fishing it from my pocket, I glanced at the name on the screen first to be sure. "Hello, Kinsley."
"Hi."
"How's Finn?"
When she answered, her voice sounded thick with trapped emotions. "Growing like a weed. He's so close to walking."
Pain gripped my heart and tugged like a dog with a rope. "I'm sorry I'm not there to see it."
"So come here instead of being sorry."
"I can't."
"You won't."
I sighed. "Did you call to fight with me?"
"No." She sighed too. "It's tough being apart, Burke. Apparently, you don't feel the same."
"I didn't say I don't feel the same." I hated that our conversations were reduced to this back and forth each time now. "It's merely that I have to resolve this immediately, before they think they've gotten away with it. I can't allow what they did to you to go unpunished."
"I would say I'll come home and we can deal with it together, but I don't want to waste my breath," she grumbled. We'd had that conversation already. I wanted her safe and far away from death for a change, and she wanted to help.
"Is Daisy still there?" I asked to change the subject.
"Until tomorrow, and then Danny and Brenda will be here."
Protectiveness and, yes, jealousy, surged through me. "Noah knows they're coming. I've approved them for the highest level of security clearance."
"Fantastic."
