“I can help you deal with Rick. I have a connection to a U.S. Marshal. One who’d love nothing better than to get your testimonyto shut down that counterfeit ring. To put him away in jail for attempted murder, put Wayne away, and make sure they’d neverfind you.”
Her hand fisted at her heart. “I . . . I don’t want to go to jail.”
“No, sweetness, you wouldn’t. I promise you. I have her word.”
“Whose?”
“The marshal.”
A little of that absolute trust leached out of her gaze. Disbelief—the first of what he figured might be a metric shit-tonby the time he got done—seeped in to replace it. “Why would a marshal make you a promise like that for a person she’s nevermet and has no reason to trust?”
“Because she believed me when I vouched for your innocence.” Here we go, he thought. “Because she’s my handler.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s the marshal assigned to protect me. All three of us, actually.” Damn it, he was easing into it like a ninety-year-oldinching into a bathtub. Flynn stalked in a small circle. Shook out his hands like he used to before each fight to loosen upand get ready. “I’m in WITSEC. The United States Federal Witness Security Program.”
“Oh, no. You witnessed a crime? You were a victim of a crime? Or Rafe, or Kellan was? Are you safe?”
Her obvious concern for his well-being, first and foremost, just showed how big a heart Sierra had. Flynn hoped he didn’tbreak it with what came next.
“We’re safe. The U.S. government has invested considerable time, money, and resources to make damn sure of that.” Flynn evenbelieved that a lot of the time.
Well, no, he’d give credit where it was due. He believed they’d done their due diligence. Made sure to stick the Maguiresin a town where the Irish mob would never think to look for them. Made certain their fake IDs, cover stories, and pretty damn intricate online trails all rang true.
What he didn’t believe in was people.
People could be bought. Bribed, blackmailed, threatened, promised . . . you name it, Danny McGinty found a way to twist peopleto do what he wanted. And Flynn had no doubt that, even with his organization all but dissolved, his reputation shattered,his health disintegrating and his family under constant surveillance, that Danny McGinty wanted his revenge on the men who’dtoppled his empire.
Sierra gestured at his torso. “I don’t . . . you have scars on your body, but nothing that looks like you survived an attack.Why are they protecting you?”
“Because Rafe and I are helping them to bring down the Irish mob in Chicago.”
She gaped at him. “You’re from Chicago?”
Funny how she’d zeroed in on that. Guess the little stuff was easier to tackle first. “Yeah. The Cubs, deep-dish pizza, anda deep-seated belief that anyone who gets scared to drive in anything less than full-out named blizzard is a pansy-ass.”
Sierra shook her head, the tail of her brown hair slapping at her cheeks. “Why . . . how . . . are you bringing down the mob?”
“Because we used to be in it.”
Aaaaand there it was. Sierra physically recoiled. No, not just recoiled. She skittered back several steps like a frightenedforest creature.
Not that Flynn blamed her in the least.
“You’re a bad guy?”
“No.” Damn it, he’d never been altogether good, but he wasn’t bad, either. “Sierra, I promise you’re safe with me. Hear meout. Please. Don’t run, don’t cut me off, don’t do anything until I tell you the whole story.”
She pulled her phone out of her pocket. Punched in two numbers. “I’ve started to dial 911. You give me any reason, any weirdeye twitch, and I’m calling the police.”
Didn’t she realize that just made him love her more? That strength and bravery that Sierra never gave herself credit for,but made her a freaking Atlas compared to some of the hardened criminals he knew? “Smart girl.”
“No sweet-talking, either. Just the facts.”
Flynn shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “Our father was in the mob. I didn’t know it, but Rafe did. Dad sucked Raferight into it when he was just a kid. And by kid, I mean he was seven when they started him running errands.”
Eyes as big as the plates for the Nachos Supreme at the Gorse, Sierra breathed, “That’s appalling.”
“Our mom died, and then Dad not too long after. Danny McGinty, he ran the Chicago mob. He made sure that we were taken careof, that we didn’t get split up and put into foster homes.”
“What do you mean, ‘taken care of’?”
“I mean he gave us money, doctored the paperwork, used his people on the inside, and Social Services never came around.”
A long double blink went by before she spoke again. “So you and your brothers lived by yourselves?”
“Yeah. They made Rafe quit high school and run with the crew full-time. I got a full ride to college. The only catch was thatI had to take the courses, do the major that McGinty picked. This wasn’t out of compassion. And it sure as hell wasn’t outof guilt for killing our parents. He was grooming me to run one of his businesses.”
“Guilt for wait . . . what?”
Rage had him fisting his hands in his pockets. He’d only lived with this knowledge since Halloween, and it still burned likefresh acid in his throat. “Our mom was collateral damage in a mob shoot-out. That’s the phrase that got used by the Feds.But McGinty himself killed Dad. Rafe discovered the evidence when he cased McGinty’s office right before he went to the Marshals.It was a punch to the gut. This man who’d been a father figure to him, raised him to be his right hand in the organization,murdered our real father.”
“And you didn’t know? Didn’t have any clue?” The hand brandishing her cell phone as a potential weapon dropped down to herhip.
Flynn hoped that small gesture meant she was less scared. Because he hated the thought that he was causing her even a fewbad moments as he spilled his guts.
“I wasn’t happy about being in the mob.
