“Ouch,” the other twin said on a huff. “And after all I did for you.”
“Is that how you think of it?” Evans challenged darkly. “You murdered my dadforus?”
“This is going well,” I muttered to Briggs just as Kieran shot Evans a cold look and said, “Like Einstein said, we’re happy to leave. Let us know now if you don’t need us.” His tone was soft and even, but somehow held a suggestion of a threat.
“You haven’t even told us why you’re here,” Briggs countered.
“Because you surprised us,” Maverick offered, then slanted his head when he added, “which isn’t easy. Einstein gave you information on what she found. Information that would prepare you and also make it so we wouldn’t have to come back and take care ofanothertrafficking ring that isn’t located anywhere near us.”
“Einstein won’t admit it, but she didn’t know about the people they planted near you until after you’d killed them,” Kieran added, and Einstein sighed dramatically.
“I had no reason to be looking for them,” she said as if defending herself, and not for the first time.
“Still, the way you took care of the situation surprised us,” he continued, echoing Maverick’s words. But the way he phrased them was different, as if they wereimpressedwith us, as if we’d passed some unknown test.
From the way Briggs tensed even further beside me, he heard the slight difference too.
“We don’t care aboutsurprisingyou,” Briggs said, as if just the thought of impressing the mafia left a bitter taste in his mouth.
One of Kieran’s eyebrows ticked up, but it was the other twin—Diggs—who wryly murmured, “Oh, of course, you do, Sunshine.”
“Regardless of what you care about or want,” Kieran went on, “we know what comes next.”
“Retaliation,” Briggs cut in. “We’re aware.”
From the irritated sound that rumbled in Briggs’ chest, he saw the responding amusement and expectation on the twins’ faces, as if they were waiting for Briggs to realize he was stillsurprisingall of them, and he hated it.
“What you just went through was a retaliation,” Kieran argued. “You might find yourselves in a mafia war next. Which is why we’re here.”
“The fact that you don’t have police swarming down on you for all those guys you took out says a lot about how closely they’re connected to law enforcement here, or they’re just cleaning up their own messes,” Einstein said with a sigh, like she was already tired of having to explain things to us, even though we’d already figured as much. “But since you aren’texactlyin our world yet, it would?—”
“At all,” Briggs said over her. When she lifted an offended brow, he explained, “We aren’t in your worldat all.”
“But you are,” she said slowly, surely. “You might only have loose connections to us, but you’re still connected. Not only that, but you have another family who’s had it out for you for a long, long time.” She lowered her voice to a mocking whisper. “That means you’re in.”
Her husband dipped his head in a nod as the other twin added, “What E’s saying is that, since you still have a foot in what we call the civilian world, these Wrecker freaks could bring theirlaw enforcement down on you all too easily, and that would be the end for you. In our world, it’s very rare that law enforcement gets thrown at another family, because we know it won’t stick anyway.”
“Convenient,” Briggs said under his breath.
“Again, why we’re here,” Kieran said, slipping back into the conversation. “Because you’re about to find yourselves in a mafia war and, even though you’ve proven you’re not above killing people, you’re going to need the full cover of our family.” He tipped his head toward the entryway. “The others will be here soon.”
“Others—what others?” Briggs began, only to lift his hand in a silent plea for them not to respond as he backtracked. “We didn’t do what we did to prove anything, and we aren’t joining your family.”
“Told you he’d want to start his own,” Einstein mumbled from where she was back on her tablet.
Briggs let out an infuriated-sounding breath. “We aren’t starting anything. We’re doing what we’ve always done. Helping people. Protecting them. And, right now, protecting our families.”
“And what is it you think we do?” Maverick asked with a challenging slant of his head. When Briggs went to respond, Maverick spoke over him. “Help people. Protect them. Protect our family—always.”
That time, the sound that left Briggs was undoubtedly a laugh, but it was edged with frustration and warning. “Except you’re?—”
“Also ex-special forces,” Maverick stated, subtly gesturing between himself and his twin. “Also married with kids. Do you want more similarities? We’ll find them.”
My stare shot to Kieran at the wordmarried. To the emotionless mask that had fallen over his features that wassomehow more chilling than anything we’d witnessed before. Somehow, in the absence of everything else, a cold ruthlessness that begged for vengeance poured from him and seemed to fill the room.
“The difference is we accepted who we were long ago,” Einstein finished for her husband.
“No, see, find similarities all you want,” Evans began, his tone echoing Kieran’s presence, “we’re still nothing like you.”
