All this blood around me, all this death, and it always came back to my mother, how when I lost her all those years ago, I really lost a part of myself.
I lost a possible future, a life I’d never have back.
Several feet from where I sat, Gian and Trent executed three of Uncle Roy’s men. The rest were allowed to rejoin the family.
The dead men’s blood leaked across the floor and pressed up against my sneakers.
Dean crouched down next to me. “It’s okay,” he whispered through the ringing in my ears. “It’s going to be okay. We’re all finished now.”
“Yeah, we’re finished,” I said, and he helped me to my feet.
The room smelled like copper and death. My footprints were red and sticky as Dean guided me to the door.
“Torch it all,” Dean said, and his men started smashing alcohol bottles. Trent poured a red cannister on the ground, and the reek of gas fumes hit me in the face.
Dean helped me out onto the sidewalk. The light felt blinding. He kept an arm around me as he led me back down toward the car.
“Is he really dead?” I asked.
“Dead and gone,” Dean said. “We’ll loot his office before we burn the place.”
“What are you going to do now?”
He stopped me before I reached the car and pulled me against him. He touched my cheek, brushing my hair from my face.
“Whatever I want,” he said, and kissed my neck, then my lips.
I let him help me down into the car. He left me there for a while, and I stared up at the blue sky.
My uncle was dead. My father was gone. I was alone in the world now, truly all alone.
And it felt good. I felt untethered and free, like the final chains holding me to that old existence were broken for good.
I could walk. I could run. I could fly, if I wanted.
And all because Dean took a chance on me.
How I’d survive what was to come, how I’d figure out what it meant to be me in this new world, I couldn’t begin to guess.
But I wanted to find out.
21
Dean
I rolled through West Philly at a creeping pace. People were out in crowds, wearing shorts and tank tops. A few young guys skated in the street and I didn’t mind going slow for them.
Roy was dead. Half his crew went with him. But the other half stuck around, and we got a big influx of cash from Roy’s safes upstairs, along with the deeds to multiple different properties all over the city. His lawyer wouldn’t be a problem, since his lawyer happened to be Hector.
The bar burned fast. All that wood. It was fun to watch, but we didn’t stick around. Mags seemed sleepy, like she was only half there. She slept for the rest of the day and into the next morning when I dragged her ass out of bed and made her get into the car with me.
She didn’t argue. I was surprised. Part of me figured she’d get away as soon as her uncle was gone. No reason to stick around anymore, though I’d still pay her, if that was what she wanted.
“The place is right up here,” I said, nodding toward a house a little further up. Big white awning, bars on the windows.
“Who lives there?” she asked.
I parked the car and killed the engine. “Your uncle was just the start,” I said softly. “I’m still at war, you know.”
Mags stared at me, then looked at the house. “Dean, what are we doing here?”
“Just watch.” I reached out and grabbed her hand.
I wanted her to see this. I needed her to understand, after all this, what sort of man I am and what sort of life she’d have if she decided to stay.
Because I wanted her to stay more than anything else.
Two cars pulled up, both black vans. The doors rolled open and guys jumped out wearing black masks and bulletproof vests. They used a small, military-grade battering ram to bash open the door and piled into the house like a fucking SWAT team.
Gunfire popped off. The windows flashed like a photographer was going nuts. The shots sounded like fireworks, except fireworks didn’t make men scream in agony.
Silence followed. Mags looked at me with terror in her eyes then stared back at the house.
I leaned toward her, lips close to her ear. “The Healy family’s got to pay,” I whispered. “I won’t let them hurt you. I won’t let them get anywhere near you.”
Another gunshot, then more silence. Mags reached over and took my hand. She squeezed it hard but she couldn’t seem to stop staring at that house.
I knew what was happening inside. I’d gone on raids like that before. Fast and dirty and bloody. Leave nobody behind and nobody alive.
The first guys came out, my guys, splattered in blood, duffel bags filled with whatever they could grab thrown over their shoulders. I guessed drugs and cash. Maybe laptops and phones. More guys followed, more full bags. I grinned and felt a thrill run down my spine.
Everyone accounted for.
Mattias gave me a thumbs-up before he hopped into the back and the vans drove away. They left the damn front door open. I guessed it didn’t matter.
“What the hell was that?” Mags whispered.
I put the car in drive and pulled out again. I turned left, going the opposite direction as the vans, heading back out to the house.
“That was the first of many attacks,” I said. “Now that I have the family in line, it’s time to finish off the Healys once and for all.”
She sucked in a breath and slowly let it out. “Sometimes I forget you’re still at war.”
“I needed you to see that,” I said. “Things are going
