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When I peer at Hudson, once again, I’m met with coldness.
That day exploring Rome really did mean nothing to him.
I follow closely behind Enzo’s blacked-out car, gripping my steering wheel so hard that my hand hurts. Every situation I watch Briar be thrown into, the worse it fucking gets to me. I don’t know her—I have no reason to care what happens to this girl. But she’s an innocent fucking woman, and no one is protecting her.
Including me. Because when it comes to the job I’m here to do, she isn’t my problem.
So, why the hell do I wish she were?
“You seem really fucking tense, bro,” Rossi says, but I don’t look his way. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I mutter. “Not a fucking thing, Rossi.”
From the corner of my eye, I see him throw his head back.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he bites. “Why the hell are you snapping at me, Hale?” he says, surprising even me because he never uses my real last name on a job—afraid he might mess up in front of the wrong people. “This is about that girl, isn’t it? You’re getting too fucking personally involved with work, aren’t you?”
My gaze snaps to his for a second, and I frown. “No. It’s not about the girl,” I growl, looking back at the car. “It’s that we’re doing a job and watching people get fucking hurt.” I bark out the words before I can stop myself. “It’s that we’re here, witnessing as Beckett fucking Benson forces his niece to marry into the fucking Mafia.”
I suck in a breath, telling myself to calm the fuck down. “What the hell are we doing here, Rossi? Seems like it’s not a goddamn thing, to be honest.” I swallow, looking at him once more. “And tell me, how the fuck are we going to get out of here alive?”
I wave my hand toward the car in front of us, where I’m sure Briar James is sitting in the passenger seat, scared to death. “How is she going to get out of here alive?”
I drag my hand down my face. “I don’t know how much longer I can fucking do this. The longer this goes on, the more fucking people we’re going to watch get hurt. Or worse.”
He doesn’t answer right away, and when I look at him, he’s deep in thought.
Finally, he sighs. “I get it, man. I do. I can’t tell you how many days I wake up, get dressed, and think to myself, Why the fuck am I here? I could be at home with Lila and Lanie.” He stops. “My kid is two, and I’ve missed half her life. Trust me, I get it. But we’re so close, Hale. We’re so fucking close to having enough evidence to bury the Romanos and Beckett Benson—Dr. fucking Sugar Tits—alive.” Reaching over, he pats my shoulder. “When we put them away, it’ll all be worth it.”
“Do you really believe that?” I utter.
“I have to.” He shrugs. “If not, that would mean that I’ve missed so much of my baby girl’s life and I haven’t been there for my wife for nothing. I can’t let myself believe that, man. I have to believe we’re making a difference here. Making the world better.”
I stare at the back of Enzo’s car, wondering what the fuck is going on in it. “And the girl?” I don’t say her name—Briar James. I don’t need to.
He sits silently for a moment. “When things go down, we both know it’s going to get bad—really quickly. We will do everything in our power to get her out of here before that day comes,” he says, though I know him enough to know that even he doesn’t completely believe it.
Every day we’re here, we risk the Romanos finding out we aren’t who we say we are. We can’t control when shit goes down. It’s out of our hands.
And that’s why I wish like hell I could get that girl the fuck out of here. Before she gets seriously hurt.
We pass the road that leads to the crew complex, and I know right away that he’s taking her to his house. It’s our job to make sure he gets there without being followed, but once he’s there … we can’t go in. And that will leave the pair of them alone.
Over my dead. Cold. Fucking. Body.
“Looks like he’s taking her to his place,” Rossi says with a groan. “I don’t like that. Not one bit.”
“Gotta call in reinforcements,” I mutter, glancing at him to see if he’s going to stop me.
Instead, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and brings it to his ear.
“Enzo left the meeting with the girl in tow. We have reason to believe he could hurt her.” He pauses. “We’re about ten minutes from his place.”
Rossi listens before he inhales sharply. “Yeah. You know what to do.”
Within seconds, his phone is back in his pocket, and he stares straight ahead. “Winthrop is on it.”
It’s just four words, but I know within a few minutes, she will be away from Enzo and safe with me.
