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“O’Connor — out of New York?” Cole pressed.
Bran grinned. “The very same. Come visit Hell’s Kitchen some time. Now, if we’re done here, I have two men to torture and maim, before killing… the cheerleaders’ orders.”
He saluted us.
“The younger Fitzgerald isn’t in a good state. He might not be answering any questions, ever again,” I admitted as the Irish guy swaggered past us.
Bran just chuckled. “His own fault, I’m sure. I suppose I don’t need to tell you kids to keep your goddamn mouth shut about them, if the pigs come calling.”
“I won’t say a word. I don’t even remember your name,” I lied.
Bran clapped me hard on the shoulder and grinned approvingly. “That’s right, you don’t. Shoot, I should have gotten an autograph. My godson loves the team.”
Just like that, he was gone.
Cole stared at his brother. “You have no idea who you just dealt with, do you?”
Marcus shrugged. “A hockey fan?”
Cole shook his head and looked around at the carnage. “There’s enough evidence to put a lot of shitty people away for a long time. Of course, we tip the police off, and they want to know who fucked everyone up. I suggest a little evidence tampering, and we can all go about our days. Get the cash from the casino,” he told his men, then looked toward me, Winter, Marcus, and Selena. “You four, get back to Hade Harbor and make sure you have alibis.”
Winter opened her eyes just then, blinking up at me. “What’s happening?” Her voice sounded raw. She struggled to get down and I let her, reaching into my pocket. I took the knot ring I’d made sure to bring and slid it onto Winter’s finger.
“Here. This needs to go back where it belongs,” I told her firmly. I smoothed my finger over the metal. “Don’t even think of fucking taking it off again.”
She managed a nod. “I wouldn’t dare.” She looked around at the carnage of the room. “What now?”
I swallowed the hard knot of relief that gripped my throat. “We’re going home, Ice Queen. I’m taking you home.”
Winter
I was in the hospital for a few days, and my mom practically moved in. Between me and my dad, she had plenty of visiting to do. Thanks to her, Asher, and Melly, I hardly had a moment alone.
It might have been the best week of my life, if not for the bad dreams plaguing me at night.
When I was finally discharged, I went to see my dad. Mom was already there, sitting in silence beside him. He was asleep. I closed the door quietly and sat beside her.
“Are you sure you’re okay to go home, honey? You still look tired.”
I couldn’t tell her about the nightmares I’d been having every night about The Cove, so I just shrugged. There was a blank space in my knowledge about the Fitzgeralds and my family, and that terrifying place upstate. The mystery was driving me crazy.
“Why do you think Duncan gave me Aunt Ruth’s bracelet?”
My mother shuddered. “Who knows why that man did anything. You look just like her. I suppose you reminded him or her.” She stroked my hair. “I should have stopped it. I didn’t want to be rude.”
“Do you know where the inscription comes from?” I wondered. I rubbed my finger over the spidery Latin phrase on the white gold bracelet. In Tenebris Prosperamus.
My mom thought a moment and shrugged. “Ruthie used to say it was from social club that Duncan belonged to in New York. She didn’t look happy when she said it. I never pressed her further on it. I wish I had. Maybe she would have felt like she could have come to me.” My mother sighed sadly. “At least now, she can rest in peace. That awful place has been exposed and the police are looking for Duncan and Trent.”
“I don’t think they’ll find them,” I said absently.
“And you know that because?” she wondered, raising an elegant eyebrow at me.
I backpedaled quickly. “I don’t know. Just being pessimistic, I guess.”
“Well, I have to hope that men like that will get their just desserts,” Mom said firmly.
I nodded, a grim grin coating my lips. “I didn’t say that they wouldn’t get what’s coming to them…just that I don’t think the police will catch them.”
