Soon one will be joining the other.
“One night, Elias took all the younger new recruits up to thestables.” Neil’s jaw clenched, his grip on his glass tightening. My stomach clenches painfully at the thought of what is coming next. Elias thought boys should be men. Even if they were too young to be. “He stood us in a corridor and told us to pick a door.”
Tears gather at the corner of his dark eyes, his gaze dropping to the table as he tries to put distance between himself and the memory.
“They made us…” Neil lets out a small sob, a few tears dripping onto the wood of the table. “They watched, Ava. They fucking watched and laughed, and I couldn’t let that go.”
He lets out a choked sigh as he rubs at his eyes to clear away the tears. The weakness. The vulnerability. Everything he’s learned to bury has rushed to the surface, and now he is forcing it deep beneath the ground to rot and fester.
“What happened after?” I ask after he’s downed the rest of his second beer and goes to grab a third.
Neil huffs out a breath. “I betrayed them. TheFamiglia.I waited a few days before going down to the 85thPrecinct. One that neither Elias nor Dante had control over. I thought if I could find a detective not associated with either of them, I’d get lucky. Give my testimony in exchange for witness protection or some bullshit. Instead, I got Detective Moreno.” Neil scoffs. “A fucking dirty cop working for Dashkov. He told me we were goingsomeplace without so many ears, and like a goddamn idiot, I believed him.”
“He took you to Matthias.” It isn’t a question. I know that was what had to have happened. I am just a fan of stating the obvious, apparently.
“Yep.” Neil pops thepgratingly. It’s where I learned it, and I can’t help the small smile that graces my lips at the memory. His answering smile tells me he is thinking of the same memory.
“He didn’t threaten me or beta me. He and his men simply offered me an opportunity. If I spied for them and helped them take Elias down, I could leave scot-free and never look back. He said he’d give me money, a new identity, everything I needed to start over.”
“That was a risky deal,” I tell him. “What would have happened if you got caught? You would have just been dead.”
Neil shrugs. “I died the moment they made me pick a door,” he admits. “And each time I was forced to look the other way just killed me a bit more. A small pick chiseling away at me inch by inch, and then when he took…”
“Maleah,” I breathe. Neil’s face darkens at my best friend’s name.
“Yeah.” He took another gulp of his beer.
“Are you out now?” I ask. “Did you get what you were promised?”
“He offered it to me,” Neil admits with a shrug. “But I’m waiting.”
My brows snaps together as I tried to analyze what he is telling me. What is he waiting for?
“On what?”
Neil’s lips twisted into a cruel smile. “To fucking kill Christian for what he did to Maleah. Then, and only then, will I leave this city behind. I don’t care if I have to burn everything tothe ground. I’m going to find her, and I’m going to rip him limb from limb until there is nothing left.”
fourteen
A few days later, I find myself pacing anxiously outside of Liam’s car on the edge of one of the old shipping docks Dante uses to secure his more illegal goods. It’s a small port that rarely sees any traffic outside of fishing vessels, but it’s the best place to hit.
I’ve managed to piece a few of my more lucid memories together. I didn’t spend my entire time in that cell. Christian dragged me to a few of his meetings in the main building not far from the stables. Parading me around behind him while I was nearly naked seemed to keep him in less of a foul mood.
“They’re five minutes out.” Seamus pulls the phone away from his ear.
Matthias is almost here.
“How many men?” Liam asks. His own men shift uncomfortably in the background. Some of them have made their dislike about working with Matthias known, but that rebellion was squashed quickly.
The Irish are still growing in the Pacific Northwest, and unlike the Bratva, they don’t have large numbers to draw from.They are, for all intents and purposes, still considered a gang by most standards. Limited in number and assets.
In order to pull this off, we need the skills and men that Matthias can provide.
“Fifty on site, plus two snipers and a hacker with infrared.”
I smirk. Mark. Vas informed me that Matthias grounded him after his stunt at the bar and is still on thin ice after working with Archer. Which means he isn’t leaving the compound anytime soon and is being heavily monitored.
Better than dead.
