“He has a cat?!” I sputtered.
She snorted. “Sure does. Black as night. Neev calls Dubh?1 his familiar.”
“I’m sure your very Catholic mother appreciates that.”
Her chuckle was music to my ears, especially considering how prickly she could be about Red. “Oh, she’s a hypocrite. She came up with the name.” She leaned on tiptoe and pressed her hands to my chest. “You’ll be safe?” Her fierce tone filled me with relief—she hadn’t stopped caring. Despite my, well…everything.
If this whole goddamn mess did have anything to do with my creation, then…
Did I mention I felt like Frankenstein?
I deepened the kiss. “I have you to come home to now.”
Her eyes sought mine, and after endless moments of studying them for only God knew what, she whispered, “You do.”
FIFTY-FOUR
STAN
When Kitty headed back to Lucas’s, I waited for the elevator doors to close and snatched at the farewell kiss she shot me with a goofy grin. Still wearing that same grin, my fist pressed up against my heart, I grabbed my cell.
“What?”
“I need to see you.”
“Two minutes.”
I put the phone down then turned my back on the bank of elevators, purposely exposing a weakness. Conveying, I hoped, my trust.
When the doors opened, I turned around and found Star leaning against the wall.
I heaved a sigh when I saw the other occupant. “Conor.”
He dipped his chin at me.
“‘Sup?”
“What do you know of Ilya Levin?”
“Right-hand man of the Krestniy Otets’ Ilya Levin?” Conor inquired.
“Nephew,” I corrected, amused when they blinked at me. Simultaneously.
“What about him?”
“The Bracktons present us with a problem,” I replied instead.
“We overheard your call with Eva Martinez,” Star remarked.
“Star!”
“What?!” She clucked her tongue at Conor when he scowled at her. “I told you I like this one. He’s good people. His brain gets him into trouble just like ours does.” Though her fiancé grimaced, she carried on, “If the Bracktons, Deveres, and Korhonens are in cahoots with the Albanians…”
“Well, the Bracktons live in the city.”
“Gotta love easy access,” she concurred.
“Precisely.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I don’t think we need a Summit. I think we need to break Brackton Jr.”
