He hadn’t told Lyse that, though. Did she still worry that he held a grudge? Was that stain on her soul still there under all the passion and pleasure? Maybe it was time to talk about the past and lay it to rest once and for all.
“Then how are you doing it?” Deacon was saying.
Dog with a bone, that was his best friend. Fionn grinned this time as he caught a glimpse of impatience in Lyse’s eyes.
“The cartel, like any underground organization, is run under the cover of legit businesses,” she told him, barely glancing away from the screen. “Technically Ferrina owns a string of high-end foreign car dealerships. Exotic models.”
“Luxury cars.” Perfect for high-dollar money laundering—and high-volume smuggling. Why hadn’t he considered that? Fionn shook his head.
Lyse grinned. “Yep.”
“And…?” Deacon asked.
“And I’m issuing him an invitation to check out a model worth its weight in gold, tomorrow evening at a location in northern Ireland that will be disclosed to him in time for the meet up. Said model has been in North Quigley recently, but has since been moved.”
Deacon groaned at the gold crack. “That’s so bad, Lyse. So bad.”
“What can I say? Puns are good for the soul.” She winked at Fionn, making certain Deacon couldn’t see.
That wink, this moment sparked a sense of déjà vu. They were slipping back into old patterns with each other, joking, teasing. That lightness had been missing from his relationships for the past two months, until he’d found Lyse. He hadn’t realized how much the anger had consumed him, burning away every good piece of him, until it was gone.
As he watched them, something light and totally unconnected to the shit storm they’d found themselves in rose into his throat. Here, in this room, was the friend who always had his back. They were keeping his mam safe. And he had a clever wan. Life was back on the road to good.
“Giving Ferrina a specific date and time should get him off Siobhan’s back,” Lyse said, completely unaware of the shift Fionn was experiencing. “We’ll have more freedom of movement and a set expectation for when the next encounter will be. Hopefully. If he takes the bait.”
Her fingers paused on the keyboard, something he couldn’t read crossing her face. Or maybe he could. Lyse knew better than anyone that expectations and guarantees were two very different things.
Mack entered the room, his expression going tight as he caught Lyse’s words. That look… Mack was as worried about Siobhan’s safety as Fionn was. Maybe more. When Fionn looked at Lyse, thought about her being the target of a crime boss with nearly unlimited resources, his heart did that squeezing thing that took his breath.
“My commander is willing to take Siobhan and Lyse in,” Mack said, arms crossed over his chest. “I’ll be dropping them off, then Deacon and I will follow you north. I have a friend in a nearby town that we’ll stay the night with, stay off the radar until time for the meet. My captain agreed to contact the local authorities to come in and help at the right time.” Mack rubbed a hand down his face. “I didn’t let him know they’d be cleaning up a mess.”
Mack hadn’t liked keeping his boss out of the loop. And unfortunately, the other guest Fionn had reached out to would make sure of the mess part. It was Fionn’s job to make certain Ferrina was no longer a problem after this. Ever.
Definitely a mess to clean up.
He hadn’t realized the clicking of the keyboard had stopped until Lyse spoke. “I’m not going with Siobhan.”
That jerked his head around. “What?”
“Lyse—”
Deacon’s protest was echoed by Mack, but Lyse zeroed in on Fionn, ignoring the other two. Intensity shone from her eyes, burning into him, slamming his mouth shut when he normally would’ve shot down the idea as ridiculous. Deacon and Mack were stumbling over each other in their objections, but Lyse didn’t answer. She didn’t look away, and he found he couldn’t either.
“Gentlemen,” he finally said, cutting them off, “could you be waiting in the hall?”
The words broke the moment, and Lyse’s gaze dropped to the hands twisting together in her lap.
He waited for the door to close behind Deacon, who gave him an unreadable look through the narrowing space, then clicked it shut. Fionn took a deep, calming breath.
It didn’t help.
“Fionn.” Lyse looked up again, and he could see her fear, her need to help. Sometimes he wondered if Lyse hadn’t come to love his mam almost as much as he and Mack did. “I’m going with you. Think about it—you can’t search the entire house and grounds on your own. The acreage alone… You need the extra set of eyes. And you need me to monitor Ferrina’s response. His movements. Send the second message. Keep up communications with the team. I can do all of that from anywhere on the estate. We’ll know where the gold is, where you need to meet by then. I’ll stay far away from any fighting.”
Damn right she would.
She stood, easing closer as if he was a wild animal she needed to tame. “I can help you.”
He stood for a few minutes, arms crossed over his chest, thumb stroking the rough stubble on his chin over and over. Thinking. Weighing the odds. She was right, in a way. If things went as they expected, there would be time to move Lyse well before the meet up. But when do things ever go as expected?
And yet he found he was wantin’ her with him. Something deep inside
