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My brother has a long history with Irish crime networks. It doesn't mean he stood outside a door and knew I was behind it. It doesn't mean anything.
I'm also aware that I'm sitting in a room full of McCarthys. That one is harder to put down.
Torin is talking to Seamus. He cuts his eyes to me, then looks back at the laptop. I'm not angry with him. Anger can be useful. It got me through captivity, a freight elevator, and a stage in a room full of men buying women like cattle. I know what to do with anger.
But this feeling inside isn't anger, and I don't know what to do with it.
It's because I've been stupid. It's because I let myself fall. It's because I was dumb enough to fall for a man who bought me at a goddamn auction.
“Valentina.” Bronwyn holds up a finger. “Question for you.”
I nod.
She turns a laptop toward me and shows me a photograph. “Do you recognize any of these cars?”
I look, then nod. “That one there.” I point to a white van with a dent above the rear wheel. “That looks like the one they brought me in.”
She writes it down. “Impressive.”
Not impressive. I survived. Not everyone does.
There's another side to this, isn't there? One day, I'll be back in my own apartment. I'll call Lorenzo from my own kitchen on my own phone, and then I'm going to sit in my own shower until the hot water runs cold. I'm going to get a manicure, a haircut, and new clothes. After that, I don't know.
I don't know how this ends. It's hard to imagine walking away from Torin after everything, after how close we've been. I've been useful to him, just as I've always been useful to my father. We seduced each other, used each other. There's nothing real between us. I know that.
I can't look at what comes after this.
First I need to get there.
Chapter Twenty-Four
TORIN
Valentina’s riding beside me in black tactical gear, staring out the window at something I can't see.
“You alright?” I ask her, squeezing her knee.
She turns back to me, a chilling smile on her face. “Just running through every way we practiced to incapacitate a man.”
Declan’s driving, with Seamus sitting shotgun.
“Where’s Cavin?” Valentina asks.
“Made him stay home. His wife’s due in a few weeks.” I don’t tell her the real reason.
We need to make sure he comes home to her.
“Who else is going?” she asks.
“Ashland, Colm, Lorcan, and Daire.” I name off the cousins. “Cormac and Nolan are back at the house.”
Seamus is flipping through files on his tablet, frowning. I know him well enough by now to know he’s concerned.
“What is it?”
He shakes his head. “It feels too… obvious. We baited them to Ireland. They sent a scout, and then we spotted all of them.”
“How did you know where they were?” Valentina asks.
