“This shit has to end,” Dean hissed to me, grabbing my shoulder. I shook him off and shoved his tattooed arm away.
“It will end when everyone is home safe,” I snapped back. He pushed me back into the wall, gripping my t-shirt with both fists. We struggled, fighting for power. He pulled me away and slammed me back into the wall again.
“Listen to me, Jer. He isn’t going to come back from this, and when we do get the girls back, when this shitdoesend...he won’t be able to come back. He won’t be himself. He won’t be the man Haley fell in love with,” he reasoned.
Part of me knew he had a point, but the other part of me, the part housed my darkness, didn’t give a shit. I was selfish. I wanted my sister back. I wanted Haley back, no matter what the sacrifices were going to be. They could figure out their shit when everyone was back home and safe.
“He’s a big boy, Connors. He can handle it,” I huffed before I pushed the man away from me. He staggered back, his boot landing in the pool of blood coming from the dead man. He cursed and looked back at the victim, taking in the scene.
I watched Dean, studying him as he weighed his options. Dean Connors wasn’t the type of man to walk away. Much like his fiancée, he would fight for the people he loved until the very end.
“Let’s go,” James demanded, reemerging from the hallway dressed in black slacks and a baby blue shirt. He was folding up his shirt sleeves as Dean spoke.
“Alright, enough.” He turned around to face James, folding his arms over his chest. His long hair was up today, and the scar over his left eye seemed darker than before.
“I don’t have the time to listen to your bullshit, Connors,” James sighed in annoyance.
“I’m in.”
James’ dark eyes shot up from his arms, his jaw jumping underneath his fair skin. “What did you just say?”
“You fucking heard me. I’m all in. Whatever we have to do to get the girls back, so be it. But let me make myself clear,” he said, taking a step forward, jerking his thumb back into his chest as his other arm dropped down to his side. “You let me handle the dark shit. I will be the one to carry that burden, Garner, not you.”
“I don’t need you shooting the bad guys for me, Connors,” he hissed.
“No, but you will need to carry the guilt. So, I will do it. My hands are already blood stained, but yours are still somewhat clean.”
He had a point there. I grunted in agreement, tilted my head to the side as I widened my stance. “Not to break up this little bestie talk, but that door is kicked in and the body will start to sink soon. We should bounce,” I said.
Dean pointed to the faceless man. “That cannot stay here.”
James chuckled darkly, his white teeth flashing. “I’m not in the mood to clean up my messes.”
Dean looked to the ceiling and then back to me. “You know how this shit works.” He shook his index finger at Tipponi. “That needs to be a message to Stevens and Romano.”
“I'm pretty sure the twenty-eight dead men we left on the streets were a pretty clear message,” the agent returned.
“Nah, that just told them not to fuck with us. Those men were sent here before Haley was taken.”
“Stop saying her name,” he growled.
“We need to put this fucker’s body in a place that will send the right message, Garner. This isn’t some low-level goon you killed. This is the leader of the West branch," Dean explained.
I tipped my chin to him. “Where do you want to drop the body?”
Dean walked to the windows, his boots tracking Tipponi’s blood, and looked down at Busch Stadium.
“In the middle of his lucrative business.”
A smile broke across my face. This was going to befun.
Chapter Two
Kay
The bedroom door opened swiftly behind me, the golden light from the hallway oozing into the darkness of my room.
Every night, like clockwork for the last three weeks, my blue-eyed demon had come to me.
