“That’s not what I heard.” Tripler spoke for the first time.
Harden stilled, all levity gone, boiling away like a bead of water tossed on a hot skillet. “What exactly did you hear?”
Tripler lifted one shoulder. “Your lady friend, Jentry.”
The last word hung in the air like a noose waiting for a neck to stretch. Harden leaned in, crossed the personal space line, and got in the motherfucker’s face. “What about her?” He tapped the gun to Tripler’s temple. “What did you hear?” Tripler watched him like one watched a rabid dog, with respect. “Let me help with your reply. I heard she’s a decent stripper. Knows how to work a pole. Har. Har. Har. That’s what you were going to spout? Anything else you heard?” He tapped Tripler’s temple just a bit harder, made sure he felt the knock to his skull. Better a knock than a bullet.
“I asked you a question. I demand an answer. Anything else you want to say?” Harden waited.
Tripler’s jaw flexed, probably from gritting his teeth. There was more he wanted to say but didn’t have the balls to say it and risk eating a bullet. “No.”
“I didn’t fucking think so.” With a deep breath, he straightened. He caught Bruno’s annoyed expression. Yeah, he’d gone down a rabbit hole, but he was back. Bruno didn’t get it. One day he would. One day he’d meet someone who stole his mind and his breath. Someone completely vulnerable who he’d do anything to protect. Someone he loved. Someone who’d erase the bitter taste Darcy had left behind.
Damn it, where was I? Oh yeah! “Karpovilov tasked you to blow up my warehouse and kick start a war. Fact. Not a question. The question is, who approached who?” He addressed the room.
“Through the Ukrainians, Alezandar approached me. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Getting rid of you was worth it.” Maroni grew a third nut.
Harden snorted and threw back his head and laughed. “I’m still here. In your house. With your life in my hands. They had one job.” He held up a single finger.
Tripler stepped up to the plate. “What do you want, Gage? You went through a lot to be here for this moment. So, do what you came to do and get it over with.”
“You think I came to kill you, all of you? No. No. Well…I want to. I really do.” He glared at the Bratva, salivating. “But too many people go missing all at once and the feds will never leave me alone. The feds, the locals, not enough money to ever grease enough hands. Killing all of you isn’t worth the headache. This is a negotiation.”
“Negotiation! You blew up my processing plant and my money!” Maroni pounded his fist into the arm of his chair.
“I blew up four. Two each”
Maroni choked on his tongue, his face graying from lack of air.
“And unlike you, you parasite, I didn’t steal from you. I burned everything down to the ground. Stock included.” He let that stew for a while. “You know why the Mexicans and I work so well together? Mutual respect. And a shit load of money. I don’t step on their toes and they don’t step on mine. Mutual respect that doesn’t include child brides and pedophilia,” he growled, disgusted.
“I’m interested.” Attention swiveled to Tripler. “In money, not the pedophilia. I came down here for a deal. My club’s gotta eat. You set up the buffet, we can negotiate.”
Harden nodded once. “You and I will get along just fine. You know why?” Harden didn’t wait for a reply. “Because it’s about the business. No need to make it personal. Nothing else matters except the bottom line.” He turned back to Maroni. “My bottom line is quite simple. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, deliver what you promised, and one other thing. Loyalty.”
“You and I were never in business together, Gage.”
“True. But instead of dealing with the devil you know, you partner up with Karpovilov. A man who’s three thousand miles away.”
“A long-distance boss is better to deal with than one who lives around the corner.” Tripler chimed in.
Harden smiled at the man. “Under normal circumstances, that would be true. But we are not normal people. Did you think you could burn down my warehouse and I would do nothing? You think you could work with the Russian against me and I would roll over and show my belly?” His attention was back on the Bratva.
“Alright. I’m ready to make a deal.” Maroni spoke up. “But we’re waiting for another person, and he just arrived.” He held up his phone.
Harden snatched the phone out of Maroni’s hand. The bastard had it on vibrate. But he wasn’t wrong. He did have a text from someone saying they’d arrived. Fine. Harden tipped his head at Nick, who spoke into his head piece.
“The more the merrier.” He tossed the phone back at Maroni, who fumbled it. The old guy’s reflexes were gone. “Who’s coming?”
Maroni didn’t answer. He didn’t need to when the library doors opened and guess who sauntered inside.
“Holy shit,” Bruno muttered, which Nick echoed.
“Hello, Harden.”
“Hello…Colin.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Coffee. How anyone lived without it, she just couldn’t understand. “How do you do it, Gerard? How does your coffee taste so good?”
“Family secret.” He laughed. “I can’t share. Now, when is your father’s birthday?” Gerard asked.
“In four days, this year on Thanksgiving.” As usual, she’d waited until the last minute to get him something. “I never know what to get him.”
“Well, let’s give Google a shot and see if we come up with something.”
Two hours later she settled on a Man Crate designed to appeal to her father’s love of grilling. The season didn’t matter, the man loved to grill year-round.
“There’s a store in the city that sells the same products. It would be my pleasure to procure all the items and you can make your own crate.”
“Gerard, that’s so sweet! I should go with you.”
“No, no, Ms. Jentry.” He patted her arm. “It’s not safe. You stay and I’ll go.”
She hugged the butler. “Thanks, Gerard.”
Gerard smiled brightly. “You’re welcome, Ms. Jentry. It’s my pleasure to help.”
Her phone rang. She snatched it out of her pocket only to have her hopes dashed. It was Jane and not Harden. Jentry had some guilt since they hadn’t spoken since the Denizen fiasco.
“Hey, Jane.”
“Have you heard the news?” Her rapid-fire question screeched through the phone.
“What news?” What the hell was she talking about?
“All the top echelon in the syndicate are gone for a few days. I don’t know where, but they’re not in the city.”
She wasn’t about to volunteer any information Jane shouldn’t know. “How do you know this?”
“Well…I overheard Nicholas.”
Nicholas! “You mean Nick?”
“Um, yeah, Nick.”
Nicholas huh? Something more than just a rescue happened between Jane and Nicholas the night he saved her from the Ukrainians. Jane wasn’t one to share, at least not with Jentry. Almost four years apart, they never had that kind of sisterly relationship where they confided everything to each other. Much of their childhood was adversarial. Jentry could admit to being petty and jealous of her perfect big sister. Before Allie, she had time for petty bullshit. Now, with a child to care for and the family in danger, she didn’t have time or the energy to waste on childhood squabbles. She loved all her sisters and didn’t want to see them hurt in any way, especially not over a man.
Nicholas Wright. Was it a fling or something more between him and Jane? Jentry wanted to know. God, I sound like Mom. “And where did you overhear him talking about this?” In bed, perhaps?
“He stopped by JMI and spoke to Julius and I overheard. Look, I thought you’d have some information. I was worried.”
And so was Jentry. “I wish I had information, but I know less than you.” Which fucking sucked.
Jane sighed, her frustration coming through the phone. “I gotta go back to w
ork. If you hear anything, call me.”
Her sister had it bad. Who was Jentry kidding, she had it bad too. Their night together replayed in her mind. It was passionate, but it was more than the sex. There was a deeper connection growing between them, one she couldn’t ignore. She felt it in the way he held her after he’d cleaned his seed from her body and held her through the rest of the night, spooned into the cradle of his hard body until she woke with his tongue on her clit. She went from dead to the world to shattering within seconds. Then he fucked her into the mattress. She was a boneless, twitching mess when he was done.
Her phone beeped. She glanced at it. Now, Carl responded to the text she sent in the wee hours of the morning. And he’s five minutes away. Sonofabitch!
Well, she did invite him. Now, she wished she hadn’t.
And to top it off, he was early. She said five, it was only four. He did it on purpose. Allie was still down for her nap.
Hmm. That wasn’t like her. She never missed her afternoon snack. She’d ask Ms. Vicki to check on her but today was her day off. Time to get her up and get her ready to meet her sperm donor.
Jentry flipped on the lights in the nursery and went to the crib. Allie was flat on her back, asleep, but…sweat glistened on her forehead and her skin was flushed. Jentry touched her forehead to find it burning. Jesus, she was hot. Really hot.
Teething sucked, but this fever couldn’t just be from teething. Plus, she sounded funny and her breathing was labored, her little chest caving in with each breath. She picked up Allie. Her limp body sagged in Jentry’s arms. Fear stabbed deep into her heart. Limp, her baby was limp. And her eyes were slitted and rolled back into her head.
Oh God! A thermometer, she needed one. Ms. Vicki would know where it was kept, but she wasn’t here.
“Gerard! A baby thermometer?” She rushed Allie into her bathroom to search.
“Did you say thermometer?” His voice closed in on her location with each word.
“Yes,” she screamed, close to losing it as she held Allie’s limp body against her chest.
“It’s in the drawer to the right of the sink.” Gerard appeared in the doorway as she yanked the drawer open. She found the digital thermometer, but it was brand new and still in the packaging, sealed tightly. She couldn’t open it and hold Allie’s body.
“Is something wrong with Allie?”
She fumbled with the thermometer, and Gerard caught it before it hit the floor and opened it without her asking.
“Look at her!” Jentry sobbed.
Quickly, Gerard inserted a set of batteries and pointed the digital thermometer at Allie’s forehead. It beeped after a second and he showed her the readout. 101.8
“That’s too high.” Jentry’s heart raced. “Baby Tylenol and w-we have to call her doctor.” The card, it was in her wallet. Where was her wallet?
“Miss, I think we should take the baby to the emergency room. Presbyterian Hospital is a few blocks away. We can be there in seconds.”
She nodded once. “You’re right. You’re right. Let me give her some Tylenol to bring the fever down, and then I’ll get her coat.”
Gerard opened the new package of baby Tylenol and filled the oral syringe with the proper dosage. Jentry held Allie and let Gerard squirt the medicine into her mouth. Some dribbled from the corner of her mouth even though her throat worked on its own to swallow most of it.
“I’ll let Quincy and Victor know.” He rushed out of the room to tell the guards while Jentry wrapped Allie in a blanket and hustled to the exit.
Everyone waited for her. Carrying Allie, she rushed to the elevator, her heart in her throat, her mind lurching toward abject terror. What if she lost her? What if she d— Her mind lurched away from that horrible possibility. She’d finally stopped worrying about crib death and now this.
Ohgodohgodohgod!
A bodyguard cleared his throat. With his hand pressed to his ear, he said, “Ms. Playne, you have a visitor. Says he’s the kid’s father.”
“I invited him to meet Allie, but now—”
“Isn’t a good time,” Gerard finished.
No. It wasn’t a good time. She couldn’t deal with Carl right now. “Tell him… Tell him…” What should she say?
“Tell him Allie is ill…and it would be best to reschedule meeting his daughter when she feels better.” Gerard took over, and Jentry couldn’t be more grateful.
Later, she wouldn’t remember the rest of the elevator ride or the drive as she held her baby, rocking her as she kissed her hot forehead and whispered “Mommy loves you” in her ear. She did remember rushing into the emergency department and being directed to the pediatric section. “My daughter has a fever. One hundred and one point eight. And she’s limp. I gave her some Tylenol and we rushed right over and…” She didn’t know what else to say. “Please do something.”
Thank God the nurse took over and showed them to a room. Jentry backed away and let her and the doctor work. Monitors were hooked up, an IV started. Her temperature had dropped to 100.2.
Gerard was at Jentry’s side holding her hand while two guards waited outside the door. As she clung to Gerard, she wanted Harden. Needed him here. Nothing against Gerard, but it wasn’t the same.
But Harden was gone, for how long she had no idea. She needed him. If she could just hear his voice. She didn’t want to do this alone.
“Mom, I’m going to order a chest X-ray,” the doctor said after listening to Allie’s chest.
“Okay.” Whatever was necessary. “Can I ask why?”
“Of course. Her lungs sound wet. I suspect pneumonia. An X-ray will confirm it.”
“Pneumonia? How did she get it? No one in the house has been sick.” She didn’t understand.
“Someone could’ve had the virus and brought it into the house. They didn’t get sick, but little Allie did. I’ll order the X-ray. It shouldn’t take long.”
“It could’ve been me.” Gerard sniffled, upset. “I’m always out and about, back and forth, interacting with people. It was probably me,” he said on the verge of tears.
She hugged Gerard. First, to comfort him, and second, to comfort herself. She needed his strength to keep from collapsing. “It could’ve been anyone, Gerard.”
“But—”
“Shh. You’re not going to blame yourself when it could’ve been anyone.” She released him to lean over the lowered railing and stroke Allie’s sweaty forehead. “You’re gonna be okay. You have to be okay,” she whispered and pressed a kiss to her baby’s cheek.
“That’s my daughter in there and I want to see her!”
Someone caused a commotion in the hallway. They picked the wrong time to get rowdy in the emergency department. Quincy and Victor would take care—
“I’m not going anywhere until I see Allison. I’m her father, Carl Jones.”
Jentry’s knees buckled. Not now. Not him. And not now! She couldn’t deal with Allie and Carl. She couldn’t. Unceremoniously, Jentry’s ass headed south.
Gerard gasped and grabbed her before she hit the floor. “Ms. Playne!”
“I-I’m—” Back to the wall for support, before the point of no return, she locked her knees, and turned to the open door with just a curtain shielding her privacy. Like it or not, Carl was here, and he wasn’t going anywhere until she dealt with him.
“We can have one of the men send him away.” Gerard didn’t wait for her answer to move to the curtain.
Jentry stopped him. It would be too easy to huddle in the room with Allie, but that would only make things worse.
Carl was here and he wasn’t going anywhere. The last thing she wanted was him near Allie. No matter how much she wished he wasn’t Allie’s father, he was. And he wasn’t going away. Not until she dealt with him. With that in the forefront of her mind, Jentry steeled her spine, and parted the curtain.
Chapter Thirty
Colin fucking O’Rourke. His brother, Colin fucking O’Rourke. Harden didn’t need to ask because he already knew the a
nswer. “Early parole. They let you loose…under the radar release…a lot of money greased palms…Karpovilov.”
That wily bastard truly did have a long reach. Harden had plenty of connections in the prison system. None on the parole board. He never thought to extend his reach that far. Or higher.
Colin Finn O’Rourke, the apple of their father’s eye, heir to their father’s throne. The resemblance to their sperm donor was uncanny, now more than ever after his stint in prison. Tall, dark, and handsome to a handful. Though with an overly large nose, broad forehead and too narrow jaw, Harden didn’t know many who’d find his half brother appealing.
Harden was taller, broader, blonder, due to his mother’s Norwegian roots. Half Viking, thanks to Lana Gage, his mom. The O’Rourkes were black Irish. Dark hair, dark eyes, some color in their skin. They all looked alike. It was important to them, the ethnic purity. It was reason enough to cast him aside. His mother was good enough to be an occasional mistress, but never a wife and never the mother of an O’Rourke. He was never good enough to be a son.
Until the one time they were in public together. A bullet to the head, a bullet meant for Carrig, ended her life. Still, his father didn’t man up. Four years in foster care. Harden never asked why he suddenly appeared claiming paternity.
None of it mattered, not when he had a mansion in Scarsdale all to himself. Colin showed up. Eighteen and full of himself, his big brother knew exactly who Harden was.
And he didn’t give a shit.
Harden held his own. Colin kicked his ass and it only cost him a broken nose, five broken ribs, and a fractured ankle. Still, Harden’s fractured skull trumped his brother’s injuries. A week in the hospital and he was shipped off to Switzerland.
Colin nodded. “Never said you were dumb. It was Karpovilov. No reason to lie.”
No, there wasn’t. “Prison agreed with you.”
“Thanks.”
My they were polite with an attentive audience, their heads ping-ponging back and forth. In his peripheral, Harden noticed Bruno studying his phone, frowning, then shoving his phone back into his pocket. “Here to reclaim your throne?” He held up his right hand, taunting his brother with their father’s ring.
Plain Jane and Mr. Wrong (Plain Jane Series Book 4) Page 23
