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He groans in pain, and I chuckle cruelly. “Oh, I’m just getting started,” I snarl. “You’re not gonna be able to make a single fucking noise by the time I’m done with you. You came for what’s mine. You got near my girl! I should take your whole fucking hand for that.”
Easton’s hand lands on my shoulder, and I inhale deeply, understanding his silent signal. I need to cool it. If I lose my shit right now, we’re not going to get any of the answers we needfrom him. Like who the hell he is and what the fuck he was doing here.
With Easton keeping me in check, the real interrogation begins.
“Who are you?”
Through a broken tooth, thanks to my knuckles, the man whines like a pathetic animal. “Quinn.”
“Who do you work for?”
When he doesn’t answer, Easton gives him a kick to the gut, prompting him to start talking.
“Nobody!” he cries out, sneering up at us through blood, snot, and tears.
“I don’t believe you,” I taunt, shaking my head.
Finally, after some more coaxing,Quinn gives us some proper answers.
He wasn’t entirely lying. He doesn’t work for anyone, not anymore. But he did work for Rossi up until this morning.
He and his friend, the now-dead man who Rossi shot for fucking up our meeting, disagreed with the truce. While his friend delayed the meeting, Quinn was supposed to take advantage of this safe house being “empty” to break in and steal whatever he could. Except it wasn’t empty. Kacie was here. And he got more than he bargained for with my fierce little doctor.
“Are you gonna kill me now?” Quinn spits, bruises blossoming on his skin.
I consider it, I really do. But then I hear Kacie’s voice filtering in from the other room, murmuring something I can’t make out from here, and reconsider.
“No,” I say, surprising both Quinn and Easton. “I’m not gonna kill you. See, despite your efforts, the Italian and Irish sides have a new understanding. No more violence between us. So, I think I’ll give my new ally a gift, huh?”
If it was possible, Quinn pales more. “What?”
I grin and pull out my phone to call Rossi. He answers immediately, and I give him a short explanation, saying I’ve got one of his wayward traitors here that I thought he might want back. He thanks me, and ten minutes later, there’s a knock at the door.
Quinn struggles as Easton and I drag him out the back door, so Kacie won’t have to see him or be interrupted, and round to the front of the house where Rossi’s waiting.
“Much appreciated,” he says to me.
“Consider it a show of goodwill about our new agreement,” I answer, shoving Quinn between us. The man falls to the ground, shaking. I don’t know exactly what Rossi is going to do with the traitor, but I know it won’t be good. He deserves it.
None of us hang around. The second Rossi’s car pulls away, Quinn in the back seat, I turn on my heel and head back inside. I need to see my girl. Need to reassure myself that she’s not hurt once again. To promise her that nothing like this will ever happen again.
I keep my footsteps light as I enter the room where Darragh is laid out on the medical table, Kacie’s eyes trained on him.There’s significantly less blood now, thank God, though from the full trash bag in the corner, I assume our towels were sacrificed in the process.
Kacie looks up, meeting my eyes and offering me a smile. “It’s all right. He’s knocked out, you can come in,” she tells me, peeling off gloves as she steps away from Darragh.
“Is he okay?” I ask, glancing between her and Darragh. I can’t help the worry working through my body still. In our line of work, being injured isn’t unusual. But my men are my family, and seeing Darragh so torn up was … well, fucking shit.
“He’ll be fine,” Kacie assures me. “Bullet’s out and missed any major organs or arteries. He lost some blood and will be in pain for a while, but with rest and medication, he’ll be just fine.”
Relief soars through me and I sigh heavily. In two long steps, I cross the space between us and pull Kacie into my arms. She melts against me, and I hold her tight, savoring her warmth and the scent of my soap on her skin.
I pull away faster than I want to because we’re not alone. Darragh is out for the count on the table, and we need to get him to an actual bed.
I start to help Louis and Easton carry him to a room, but Kacie stops me, tutting her tongue off her teeth.
“Sit down,” she snaps, glaring at me in a way that makes my heart beat faster and my cock jump in my pants. I love her fierce streak. “You’re still bleeding.”
I’d forgotten entirely about the graze on my arm, and now that she mentions it, I realize it’s been slowly bleeding this whole time.
