He left me…
He left me but sentthem?
Apprehension must show on my face, and surprisingly, it’s Aidan who speaks up, leaning forward to look in my eyes, “Listen, you have no reason to trust us, I get it—I do. But you have my word; no one in this car is going to hurt you or your daughter.My niece.” His green eyes drop to Remi in my arms, and I shift uncomfortably under the weight of his statement—and hisclaimto her.
“Mommy, I’m cold,” Remi whines. She’s only wearing her pajamas. No jacket. But I spy her comforter and Rainbow Cupcake, her pink unicorn, on the floor of the SUV.
I sigh, ignoring the smirk on Liam’s face when I reluctantly climb in the back, shutting the door behind me. Immediatelythankful to Alex when he subtly turns up the heat, having not realized my teeth are chattering.
But instead of reversing back out onto the main road, Liam continues forward, taking us deeper into the woods.
A few more minutes of rough terrain, and the woods thin out, and I see a house, backlit by the orange glow of the sunrise just starting to peek over the mountains. A large frozen lake stretches out for what must be miles just behind it.
“Where are we?” I ask, reaching for Remi’s blanket.
“Somewhere safe.”
73
IMPOSE
KOEN
It’slate at night by the time I pull my bike up to the lake house, every muscle in my body aching and raw from the freezing ride.
I’d been doing recon with Mac and Jace all day, trusting Aidan, Liam, and Alex to keep shit locked down here. My father purchased this cabin years ago as an escape from the violent chaos back home. It’s a secret—one of our safe house locations.
The house itself sits perched on the edge of a lake, nestled deep in the woods of northwestern Massachusetts, far away from everyone and everything. As kids, we spent summers cannonballing off the dock, and winters playing hockey out on the ice until our toes went numb.
We have other safe houses, but this one will always be my favorite.
Word hit the streets that the Irish Devils,the O’Rourke brothers,are dead. That the warehouse blast took us all out.
I let it ride for now. It buys us time;nobody goes hunting for ghosts. My uncle Seamus is doing a good job holding things down, stepping up in our absence to keep everything running.
Someone had to have given up our warehouse location. We chose an industrial park outside of Boston for a reason. No one outside of the Irish should know about it. But yet, someonehas been feeding the Russians intel for weeks—months even. Whatever information Briar gave Giovanni, he’d turned around and sold it to the Volkov, but even she didn’t know about the warehouses.
And the Volkov aren’t wasting any time.
The house is quiet.
It’s been a while since the last time I was here, but the familiar scent of cedar and wood smoke is an instant comfort, and I feel a little bit of tension ease out of my shoulders. I spot the massive stone fireplace as soon as I walk in. Someone’s lit a fire, casting the entire floor in a warm glow.
Alex looks up from the book he’s reading on the couch, giving me a silent nod before his attention falls back to the pages. His relaxed stance tells me he clocked my arrival minutes ago when I first pulled up the driveway. He must’ve drawn the short straw for first watch.
I make a beeline for my room on the lower level, exhausted, in desperate need of a shower, and ready to pass the fuck out for a few hours. I tread lightly down the stairs to my room. It’s tucked into the back corner, where the sliding glass doors open right out onto the stony back patio overlooking the lake.
I shove the door open, ripping off my shirt, only to stop dead when my eye catches on the dark hair spilled out across my pillow.Briar,passed out, asleep in my bed—she and the kid, curled under my blankets likethey belong there.
Briar looks like she fell asleep attempting to keep up her own version of a watch, half propped up on the pillow, her face to the door, her body curled protectively around her little girl.
I stare at the two of them for another beat. The unexpected sight hits me deep in my chest, sharp and unexpected, before anger flares.
My bed.
I know without a doubt this is Liam’s doing.My brother knows better.I clench my teeth, quietly turning and stalking back out of the room while cursing under my breath.
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
