Hawk tensed, probably realising for the first time we had left them alone with people we didn’t trust. One of us should have stayed.
“We’re good,” Ace said, issuing us with a warning to keep our fucking mouths shut. Enzo was making his wayback, a parcel in his hands. He tossed it over to Ace who looked down at it. “What is it?”
“Take this back to Ireland,” he said without so much as an explanation. The look of it made me think bricks of coke, but I didn’t think the Rabid Wolves were drug runners, and they definitely wouldn’t trust a rival MC to deliver this.
Hawk shot me a look that told me just how much he didn’t trust this either, but we knew better than to go against Ace. He would give us orders, and we would do what was asked. That’s how it was.
The ride back was made in silence.
My hackles rose when Enzo killed the engine as we got into the compound.
“Your ride is waiting for you,” he said. “Take the package back to Ireland and give it to our contact there.”
“Why aren’t you giving this to your chapter over there?” Ace asked finally.
“You owe us a favour,” Enzo said with a deathly cool that brought a chill to my bones. “You do this and we’re even.”
“Once only.”
Enzo nodded, but he wasn’t confident. Before he opened the doors, he turned to us, each of us getting a meaningful look. “Dario doesn’t repeat himself and hedoesn’t explain his reasoning. Take your people home. The flight will be safe, no regulations.”
He got out of the car and left us all reeling.
We could quite possibly be walking into one of the biggest traps known to man, and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it.
I needed to get Orla home safe.
“Watch your sixes,” Ace said before he exited the van and headed down to the cabin to round everyone up. I followed after him, and Hawk did too.
It was time to get out of dodge.
Orla
I’d been sleeping when I heard his boots on the floors before he opened the door to the room. Jumping up, I realised I wasn’t back in that place and it wasn’t Matteo at my door to degrade me a little more. Bear seemed to realise what he’d done and softened.
“Pack whatever you need,” he said. “We’re leaving.”
“What’s happened?” I asked him, sensing the urgency in his voice.
“We need to go,” he replied. “I can’t explain. Not yet. Please.”
I found myself nodding, but the Bear that had been inside of me before, the Bear that I recognised was gone. He was back to being this cold, detached Bear I’d known since he had returned. My hope was dashed, and I realised that earlier he’d just done that because he needed me to feel safe, to feel normal again. Pulling myself together, I got changed into some of his clothes and followed him out of the cabin. Sheridan and Ace were huddled together, and Hawk had Wolf under his arm since he could barely move without assistance. Jesus, what the fuck had they done to him?
Bear grabbed my hand and we followed the others up to the compound parking area where Enzo was behind the wheel. We jumped in the van and were driven as if we were evading the law.
Oh god.
They’d shot up at the crime family here to rescue us. I had shot Matteo Barone.
They were probably coming for me.
I shook with fear, wondering what Italian women’s prisons were like here. Would I be someone’s bitch or would they be intimidated by my ink and make me their leader?
Sheridan put her hand on mine and squeezed, seeming to realise where my head was at. She hadn’t really spoken,had only really been glued to Ace since we had been rescued. I was okay with that because I knew she wasn’t as tough as me, but I wanted Bear to squeeze my fingers, to pull me under his arm and make the demons disappear. He wouldn’t though.
He was the same as he was earlier.
Detached.
