“She hated him.” He ran his tongue along his lips. “We bonded over our hatred.”
But he killed her, killed all of them, and for what? Money. “You left a trail of bodies for money?”
“People have killed for less,” he said. “After that twenty million slipped through my fingers, I needed another plan.”
He was fucking high on the reveal, getting off on showing his fucking genius, and I just let him talk, because he was putting the nails in his own coffin. “Cents add up. You launder money, you manipulate the cents, just enough to not cause suspicion, and you can stockpile a lot of cash with no one being the wiser. Takes time, need to be in it for the long haul, but the reward is sweet.”
“You’ve been skimming from the mob?”
“I didn’t start it, but I stepped up.” Declan was being smug now, too caught up to realize the danger he was in. It explained why he was leaking the information to the cops. When he was ready, he could detonate the bomb, and while Dominic scrambled, Declan could disappear like a fucking rat.
I thought I was beyond the rage, but it rushed through me, all of it, everything, losing Cedar, her parents…all of the shit because of fucking greed, the goddamn privileged upper class.
I wanted to kill him. Wanted to pull out my gun and shoot him in the face, but a deal was a deal.
“You got what you needed?”
Killian stepped from the shadows, Anton and Dominic with him. Never saw someone go so white, so fast. Fucker even pissed himself. “What the fuck?” Declan looked at me then Dominic then back at me. “Man, you can’t let him take me. He’s going to fucking kill me.”
“And what the hell do you think I would do to you?”
“I think we need to have a little talk,” Dominic said, his boys dragging a screaming Declan away. Dominic looked at me, studied me a second, then said, “Consider the twenty million payment.”
I nodded my head.
He followed his men. I turned my attention on Anton. “Thanks, man,” I said, offering my hand.
He took it. “When a brother calls in a marker.” He nodded to Killian then strolled from the warehouse.
“You know Anton?” Killian said, looking to where he’d disappeared.
“Yeah, the underbelly of New York is a diverse place.”
“Your plan all along,” Killian guessed correctly.
“Yeah.” It was all how you looked at it. If I asked Anton to hook me up with Damian, my crew would take that as a sign of weakness, but if we’re called to help, then we’re the added strength.
“You knew I’d call Damian.”
“I counted on it.”
“Anton is how you knew about the twenty million.”
“Yeah.”
“So, you knew I was a former agent and were in Little Hill for me?”
I grinned. “Yeah, but I wasn’t going to reveal my hand, and it wasn’t just for you. But a marker is a marker, and now, I owe you one.”
“Yeah, you do,” Killian said, then walked away, before calling over his shoulder, “I’ll be in touch.”
I sat in the clubhouse with a bottle of Jack. Hard to believe it had only been two days, but no longer being fueled by vengeance felt pretty fucking good. With the twenty million free and clear, we could make some changes to how things were run. We’d never be on the right side of the law, but we could straddle that line, working in some legit businesses. Maybe even doing something a bit like Damian’s crew, helping those who couldn’t help themselves. I had some things to think about, but what I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about was Cedar. I hadn’t seen her before she went back to Wyoming. What she’d said to me in New York and being back to what was now my home, it wasn’t enough. Seeing her again, knowing we’d survived the ugly of our past, and that life was too fucking short…I wasn’t sure how the hell Killian was going to take it, and being indebted to him, it was likely the marker he’d call was for me to stay the hell away from her, but I never did listen too well.
I’d gotten word from Anton. Declan had joined his father. Fucking poetic, buried in the same grave. A chill moved through me; Dominic was a sick bastard. For all eternity, Declan would be resting next to the man he despised more than life. I made a note to tread lightly when it came to Dominic and the mob in general. There was a reason they'd been around for so fucking long.
It was thinking about Dustin that stirred the thought. One I was going to dismiss, but as I sat there, the pieces slowly started to fall into place. Fuck. How the hell had I missed it? I jumped from the sofa, pulling out my cell, and called Killian, but the call went to voicemail. “We had it wrong. Declan isn’t the head of the snake.”
I signaled to Moby. “Call Anton. I need his plane.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Cedar
“That’s it. Relax your legs.” I tried and moved into the motion.
“How’s it feel?” Killian asked.
“A little sore, but I understand your love of it.”
Lady galloped around the paddock. Killian stood in the middle of the space, watching me.
“You think you’re up for a ride?” he asked.
Riding him absolutely. He knew what I was thinking when he said, “Count on that later.”
It should be later. There was a lightness about Killian lately. He was still quiet, but he seemed happier. I knew I was. It was over, everyone came home, and hopefully, Brock would find his way and maybe that would, in part, be him coming back into my life. When Killian returned that night, he said his goodbyes. I barely got to say mine, and we were on the plane home. It had been two days, and we’d spent all
