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“And if it starts a war?”
“If loving you means war, then so be it.”
“No,” I whisper. “I need space, Briar. We can’t do this until I’m certain it’s worth it.” He tries to argue, but I end the call. Tossing it aside, it immediately lights back up.
I ignore it.
The past is repeating itself, and I know in my soul I need to pay attention to it. Otherwise, it’ll spell doom for us both. Turning my phone off, I crawl back onto my bed and slowly unravel my mother’s life.
24
BRIAR
“You really need to stop watching her on your phone,” Killian mutters into my ear, hand on my shoulder. “Especially if you don’t want anyone to know you’re in love with the enemy.”
Elbowing him, I slip it into my pocket. Valentina has been ignoring my calls for fucking days. The hollow hole in my chest is a sinkhole, taking everything I am into it, leaving a shell behind. She hasn’t left her bedroom, bent over a box, and I’ve been watching from the camera.
I thought she’d yank it out once she realized, but it’s still transmitting. It’s a small win.
“Say it a bit louder, Reaper. I don’t think Hayes and Maeve heard you.”
He gives me a dry look. “I could still tell.”
“Fuck you.”
After leaving Valentina, I spent the last seventy-six hours at my computer, throwing myself into tracing Roman’s funds. It was a better option than losing my fucking mind over her and her self-imposed space. What a bullshit concept.
My theory was the sooner we fucked with his money, the sooner he’d fall. Valentina took away his trophy for Marco’s New York connections, but I needed more. I wanted Roman destroyed and pitiful before I took his baby sister away from him.
Learning I was an O’Brien would change nothing between us. Valentina is mine.
It wasn’t easy to hack through his finances. The program I built ran into a few snags that needed my expertise to crack manually. They were long nights, a lot of hot cups of tea, and bleary eyes, but it was worth it.
And it’s so fucking confusing.
Roman had a shell company where he was withdrawing money. If someone were to look at his personal finances, they’d find a mess. He was barely staying afloat with all his purchases, the clubs, and the nonexistent money laundering. Marco paid for him to keep a business going, but he had nothing.
This past month, Maeve chipped into his routes out of the city, hijacking deliveries and setting girls free. He can’t expand a business or change out tired, drugged-out girls without product to replace them. He was losing revenue and people, and had no allies. A normal person would have failed by now.
Yet this company—offshore, secretive, hard firewalls—was funneling money into him. Enough to stay afloat. I couldn’t figure out who it was—or why.
I only had a name. Amore. And it wasn’t a name—only a word, at that.
When I brought it to Maeve, she decided on a trip to see Lex and see if his Italian background could decipher it. We knew it meant love, but… it’s suspect.
The sooner this was done, the sooner I could get back to Valentina and break this separation. Who the fuck does that? Days apart, no communication. I’m ready to throw caution to the wind, storm the castle, and take the princess by force.
“Breathe, kid,” Killian whispers, following me into the penthouse. Roses attack my nose, and I sneeze. “If you act this high-strung, your sister is going to notice.”
Can’t have that.
Cracking my neck, I exhale harshly. “Just on edge.”
“Problems in paradise?”
“Not problems,” I intone. “Family politics.”
Killian stops short, grabbing my T-shirt. He hauls me aside, letting the other two continue into Lex’s office. His dark eyes scour my face, and he growls.
