by Katee Robert
“Save your strength.” Aiden stripped off his own shirt and adjusted Liam’s hand so he could press the fabric to the wound. Aiden pointed at one of the nervous men. “Call 911. Now. Tell them we have a gunshot wound and that he’s lost a lot of blood.” He leaned closer to Liam and lowered his voice. “I’m not losing you, damn it, so if you see a light or some shit, you stay the fuck away.”
“Yes, sir.”
He watched for coughing up blood, his memory of the night when Devlin died trying to superimpose itself over this one. One of the Halloran bullets had pierced his little brother’s lung, and Devlin had drowned in his own blood. He tried to judge where Liam had been hit—and what vital organs there were in that part of his chest—but he couldn’t be sure. Liam’s breathing was labored but not wet-sounding, which had to be a good thing. If Aiden could keep him from bleeding out, they might have a chance.
Sirens cut through the night, and Liam grabbed Aiden’s wrist with a surprisingly strong grip. “Mae took her. Dark car. Didn’t get plates.”
“You were a little busy being shot.” He’d deal with the ramifications of Charlie being in Mae’s tender care as soon as the paramedics loaded Liam into an ambulance. He couldn’t leave one of his oldest friends here on the street like a piece of trash. He just couldn’t.
An ambulance screeched to a halt next to the curb and dispatched two tired-looking paramedics, a man and a woman. They knelt on either side of Liam and looked at Aiden. “Sir, you need to step back. We can take it from here.”
He didn’t want to. Some part of him believed that if he let go of his shirt—now soaked with Liam’s blood—that it would be the end.
“Sir.” The female paramedic gently touched his shoulder. “Please. Every second counts.”
That got him moving. He nodded and forced himself to move back a few feet. He watched the paramedics with an eagle eye, but they were above reproach. They took Liam’s vitals, muttering to each other in a language that might as well have been Greek for all he understood it.
Within five minutes, they had Liam on a stretcher and loaded into the back of the ambulance. The woman paused long enough to say, “We can’t say for sure yet, but barring complications, he should make a full recovery.” She hesitated. “Are you going to ride in the ambulance with him?”
“My brother will meet him at the hospital.” He’d send Cillian to wait with Liam.
He had to figure out where the fuck Mae took Charlie. Aiden turned and backtracked to the house, shoving through the back door loud enough to send it banging against the wall. Mark, stationed in the kitchen, started to draw his gun, then seemed to register that it was Aiden and not an enemy. His gaze went to the blood on Aiden’s hands and the fact that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. “Trouble.”
“Trouble.” He started to rub a hand over his face but stopped when he realized he’d just be making a bigger mess. Aiden strode to the kitchen sink and started scrubbing at his hands. “Charlie was taken, and Liam was shot trying to stop it. He’ll be okay, but he’s on his way to the hospital.”
“Who did it? Romanov?”
“The Eldridges.” He never thought he’d long for the days when Romanov was their only enemy—or, hell, when the Hallorans were—but he was getting there fast. Certain rules applied to their world. They weren’t always upheld, but sacrificing innocents or near-innocents was almost always avoided. Even Romanov balked at killing women and children. Mae’s problem was with them, so he or Dmitri should be her target—not Charlie. That was how every other player in this game would operate.
Not the Eldridges.
He’d been a damn fool not to realize that, and he’d put two of his sisters and Charlie in danger as a result. He never should have let Charlie walk away tonight, but it honestly hadn’t crossed his mind that she’d be in danger in the middle of O’Malley territory, not two blocks from his home with a protection detail on her heels.
Idiot.
“What do you need?”
He took one breath and then another, but the buzzing of his thoughts didn’t abate. When all he could see was Liam on the ground, bleeding out, it had been easier to ignore the screaming in the back of his mind that Charlie was in the hands of a monster. Now, he didn’t have the distraction.
He was the leader of this family now, and that meant he had resources. He didn’t have to go charging into the night alone. He would call in every single fucking favor owed him to see her safely back. Aiden closed his eyes for a long moment, and when he opened them, he felt more in control. It was a lie, but he’d take what he could get at the moment. “Get Cillian and as many men as we have in the house. Keep it quiet so we don’t panic Keira and Olivia and Hadley.”
“Got it.” Mark disappeared, and Aiden belatedly realized that he should have been more comforting. Mark was Liam’s fucking cousin. He’d send him to the hospital and take someone else to lead the attack-and-rescue mission.
First, he had to figure out where Mae had taken Charlie. He flipped through his phone to find the last person he wanted to call. But pride and old vendettas had no importance when Charlie’s life was on the line.
“Da?”
“Romanov.”
“What can I do for you at this hour?” He didn’t sound like he’d been asleep, but then the man seemed to possess the supernatural ability to stay ten steps ahead of the rest of them. Maybe he knew what had happened already.
Aiden wasn’t going to waste time playing games, though. “I need information.”
“I’m listening.”
Every instinct hammered into him by his father demanded he avoid putting himself in a position of owing favors to an enemy, but he had bigger things to worry about right now. “Mae took Charlie. I need to know where she is.”
“That is unfortunate.” No emotion in his voice, no concern that Mae was most certainly going to make Charlie suffer before she killed her.
He fought down panic. It wouldn’t do anyone any favors. “What do you want for your help?”
“Always the tit for the tat with you.” Romanov sighed. “My Keira seems quite fond of your Charlie.”
“She’s not your Keira.” The words were reflex, but he didn’t try to take them back. They were the truth as far as he was concerned, and no temporary alliance would change that.
Romanov continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I think that riding to your rescue and saving your fiancée would be the perfect wedding gift.”
He gritted his teeth. Working together or not, that didn’t mean he was willing to go along with the Russian’s intention of marrying his baby sister. Now wasn’t the time for that argument, though—not with Charlie’s life on the line. “Can you find her?”
“I suggest you start for New York. By the time you’re here, I’ll have pinpointed her location.”
That wasn’t a distinct confirmation, but if Romanov was half as interested in Keira as he let on, there was a good chance he’d follow through on helping Aiden find Mae. “How can you know where she’ll go? She’s barely an hour ahead of me.”
“The Eldridges are nasty creatures, but also habitual. Mae has several locations where she likes to bring her victims. She’ll have planned this and set up the appropriate one. I suggest you start driving, because I doubt she’ll want to wait upon arrival.”
He was already heading for the door. “I’ll see you in three hours.” It would require some creative driving to cut the time that much, but at least there shouldn’t be much traffic at this time of night. He hung up and stopped short when Mark appeared at the bottom of the staircase with one of Aiden’s shirts. “You should go to the hospital.”
“I already called. The bullet was a through-and-through. It didn’t hit anything vital, so he doesn’t even need surgery.” Mark gave a brief smile. “I imagine he’s pretty pissed she got the drop on him.”
He would be. At least he’s okay. He couldn’t think about that yet, though, because Charlie was in danger of worse than a gunshot wound. Mae could hurt her in ways t
hat would make Devlin’s death look like a blessing. Yet another thing he couldn’t dwell on. “If you’re coming, let’s go. We don’t have time to waste.”
“I have a contingent of men already waiting in the garage.”
“Good.” Aiden yanked on the shirt and strode out the door and into the night. Three hours to New York, and they were almost a full hour behind Mae. The woman could do a lot of damage in sixty minutes.
Hold on, bright eyes. Just hold on. I’m coming for you.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Charlie woke up in the trunk. She wasn’t even sure how she got there to begin with. One second, she was eyeing Mae’s gun and considering how best to attack, and the next, she was waking up here. She moved, realized her wrists and ankles were zip-tied together, and cursed. Apparently, Mae was taking no chances when it came to her. Damn it. She tested the ties, but they weren’t in a good spot to try to break them and she didn’t have enough range of motion to even attempt it.
Her heart beat harder despite her best effort to remain calm. She’d been in sticky situations before, but she couldn’t remember one this sticky. As tempting as it was to pretend Aiden or her dad would ride in on a white horse to save her, she couldn’t plan on it. She’d just gotten done telling her dad off, and as far as she knew, Aiden was still waiting for her to get over her snit and come back.
She was beginning to understand why Aiden wanted to eliminate Mae altogether.
Shouldn’t have been so single-minded. Should have stayed and talked to him—talked it through.
It was too late now to worry about making the crappy decision to walk away from Aiden. She suspected that Mae had been just waiting for the right time to swoop in and take her. If it hadn’t been tonight, it would have been the next time she and Keira ventured out, and then there would have been another potential victim in the mess.
Like Liam.
She pressed her lips together against a sob. I hope he’s okay. So many mistakes, all hers. But she couldn’t focus on that. If Liam survived, she was going to do something to make up for being the biggest pain in the ass in the world—just as soon as she got out of this trunk. If I get out of this trunk.
As if on cue, the car rolled to a stop. Charlie listened hard, picking out the sounds of the door opening and shutting, and heels on pavement circling around to the trunk. She tensed, ready to spring out as best she could, but when the trunk opened, she once again found herself facing down the wrong end of a gun.
Mae flicked her a glance, not looking particularly impressed. “At least you didn’t piss yourself.”
“How about you let me out of these restraints and we fight it out like real women?”
“Do you think you’re funny?” She cocked her head to the side. “You’re not. You know what you also aren’t? A dim-witted gold-digging slut. I checked up on you, Charlotte Finch. What’s a dirty cop doing with an Irish mob boss?”
A man appeared at Mae’s back, his whole bearing translating to “hired muscle.” He lifted Charlie out of the trunk as if she were a paper doll and tossed her over his shoulder. She couldn’t see Mae as they headed into what appeared to be a warehouse identical to the one they’d met in several days ago.
She didn’t know if she should be more terrified by their location or the fact that Mae Eldridge apparently knew her real name. Neither of the implications was good. Have to figure out a way out of this. She didn’t have a lot of options.
The muscle dropped her into a chair and shoved her shoulders back. She tensed, waiting for him to cut the ties and maybe try to attach new ones. As soon as her hands were free, she’d attack.
But he didn’t give her the opportunity.
Mae stepped up, wielding the gun almost casually. “Don’t make trouble.”
“You know, if my options are to get shot in the brain or to let you tie me to a chair and torture me … I think you can guess which option I’m going with.”
Mae shook her head. “What makes you think I’m going to shoot you in the brain, Charlotte? All I have to do is shoot you in the kneecaps and you’d have to drag your body out of here. I don’t imagine you’d get far enough to call for help before you bled out, even if you miraculously managed to kill both David here and myself.”
“I think I’m up to the challenge.” It was sheer bravado, though. Charlie knew a helpless situation when she saw one. She’d lived through one before, but that was only because those cops wanted to hurt her badly—not kill her. Mae was most definitely planning to kill her.
That didn’t mean Charlie was going to give up. It wasn’t her nature, and she couldn’t help but think that Aiden would never forgive himself if she died on his watch. Stupid reason to keep living … There was so much she wanted to say to him that she wouldn’t get to if Mae went through with whatever she was planning.
“David, secure her.”
He struck Charlie in the head almost casually, but the blow stunned her long enough that he was able to cut her zip ties and retie her to the chair. She blinked and shook her head, but the pain blossoming from the point of impact wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. “Cheater.”
“What winner isn’t?” Mae finally lowered her gun. “You and I are going to talk, and at the end of it, if I’m satisfied, I’ll kill you quickly.”
“Painlessly, you mean.”
“Did I say that?” She smiled at David as he brought over a low tray filled with tools that made Charlie’s stomach try to wrap itself around her spine in fear. Mae selected a scalpel and held it up so that it gleamed in the low light. “Torture is an acquired taste, I’m afraid. My mother started me young, and it turned out that I had a knack for making people divulge their secrets.”
Charlie tried to swallow past her dry throat. “Secrets given out during torture are suspect as a general rule.”
“Indeed. Which is why I always verify the information before I finish the job.” She stepped forward and caressed Charlie’s face. “You really are beautiful. Unfortunately, that’s going to be past tense.” Mae forced Charlie’s chin up and ran the scalpel along her cheekbone, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. “Now, Charlotte, let’s have a nice little chat. Just us girls.”
* * *
Aiden made it to New York in record time. It didn’t matter. All he could think of was the wasted hours and how much danger Charlie was in. Before he left Boston, he’d called Carrigan to inform her that shit was going down faster than expected. She sent James to follow them and offer what help he could, but there was no telling whether he’d reach New York in time. After a rapid mental argument with himself, Aiden also called Teague to warn him that this might all be misdirection. Teague had his men up in arms, and all three families were prepared for any kind of attack.
Knowing that his people were as safe as they could be left Aiden to focus on the only thing that mattered—Charlie.
He followed his directions to the Romanov residence. Aiden knew where the man lived, of course—everyone did—but seeing the place in person was something else altogether. The O’Malley town house had been designed to create an impression, but this massive building was in another realm. It was a town house, but Aiden had it on good authority that Dmitri Romanov owned every one on the block. His father had purchased them when he first settled in New York.
He couldn’t imagine Olivia, one of the most down-to-earth women he’d come across, growing up in a place like this.
Mark parked the car, and Aiden barely waited for it to stop moving before he had the door open and was striding up the steps for the front door. There was an honest-to-God gargoyle as the door knocker, the little creature’s face twisted as if daring someone to use it. Aiden raised his hand, but the door opened before he had a chance to touch it.
Dmitri himself stood on the other side, looking as unruffled as he always did. “Come in.”
“Where is she?”
“I’m working on it.”
“You said you’d have the site nailed down by the time we got here.”
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“Yes, well, the Eldridges have a horrible habit of complicating the best-laid plans.” He moved deeper into the house, forcing Aiden to follow or be left standing outside. He kept his focus on the man in front of him, but he still got the impression of tall ceilings and a staircase that would look at home in a castle.
Romanov led him into a study, and Aiden stopped just inside the door to take in the room. It was masculine in the extreme, all dark wood and cool colors, with a fireplace that matched the rest of the house completely. There were also shelves and shelves of books, though he didn’t move close enough to pick up the individual titles.
“If you’re done with your perusal …”
“Tell me.” He moved to the desk—very similar to the one in his office—and looked at a map of the docks that Romanov had laid out. There were two spots marked on nearly opposite ends of the docks. “What’s this?”
“I have my people surveying the area for Mae and her people.” He pointed to first one location and then the other. “Mae has been to both in the last hour and she’s got a perimeter in place for both. It’s impossible to know which location contains your fiancée, and it’s likely that as soon as we attack one, there are safeguards in place to kill Charlie before we can get to her.”
Aiden fought against the fear trying to take control, but he could only hold it off for so long. There had been too many close calls lately. Fate wasn’t kind, and it was only a matter of time before he arrived too late.
Not this time. Not with Charlie.
He couldn’t think about what pain she might be facing while they delayed. His grip on the edge of the desk went white-knuckled. “We have to hit both spots at the same time, and we have to do it stealthily.”
“Agreed.”
A man poked his head into the room and nodded.
“Thank you, Mikhail.” Romanov sighed. “James Halloran has arrived.”
Sure enough, the big blond strode into the room a few seconds later. There weren’t any men with him, but he wouldn’t have come alone any more than Aiden. I would have if Mark wasn’t on top of things. Aiden pushed that thought away. “We have a problem.”
