The Ruthless Read online

  Everyone turns to look at the Crow as if he’ll try to reprimand me, but instead he just looks around the room slowly and then says, “I’m also only nominating one person. Luca Veltori.”

  I lock myself down fast so that the shock doesn’t show on my face. I should’ve known Atticus would be putting forward someone to fill a seat who would be loyal to him, but now we have two seats available and three people that we want to win.

  We can’t afford to have them lose, not when the penalty is death.

  No one says another word in protest, the meeting finally coming to a close, and I hold in everything I have to say, all the way down to the BMW. Aodhan catches my eye but when he sees the storm brewing there, he nods at Illi and walks with Jack out to the car.

  I’ll find my way back to him when I’m ready.

  The moment Illi gets in and shuts his door he murmurs, “Is killing the Bear on the planner yet? We need the extra seat.”

  “I need to speak to Atticus.”

  Chapter Nine

  I message Atticus to meet me, and he answers straight away with a location. I’ve never been out to that side of Mounts Bay before, but when I show it to Illi, he just gives me a curt nod and changes the direction of the car.

  I also message Aodhan to tell him I’ll be another few hours. He answers immediately, like he was poised and ready with a reply.

  Tell the Crow I’ll kick his front door in and set fire to the place if he tries to keep you again.

  I want to be able to write something witty and cute back to him, but my stomach is still a riot of nerves. There’s something telling me we need Lucy on our side, that she’s going to be a valuable asset to our family in the Twelve but with only two seats available… Jack cannot lose. There’s no way that Aodhan can lose him and, though we haven’t exactly had all that much time together, he’s been nothing but a loyal family member that I’ve seen.

  I want more cousins for Harley.

  I want him to come home and to find more people who love him and will support him. I want him to find that smiling boy from that photo again and I think Lips has helped with that, but maybe being able to spend time with the O’Cronins will do even more for him.

  I can’t lose Jack.

  But Luca saved Lips’ life. Pushing my own aversion to him aside, he saved her life and was a friend to her when she so desperately needed one. He’s one of Atticus’ most trusted confidants, and I’d wager that he’s his closest friend.

  Three people and two open seats, it’s not going to work.

  We pull into the suburb and it only takes another minute before Illi is parking up at a tiny park with a single bench. Atticus is already here, sitting there waiting for me, and I run a hand down my skirt as though that will fix the uncomfortable outfit I’m wearing.

  “Do you need backup or is this more of a solo mission? Either way I’ll have a gun aimed at his head.”

  I scoff at Illi and open my own door. “Solo, and I have the weaponry covered, remember? I’ll be as quick as I can be; I know you need to get home to Odie.”

  He grins at me, his teeth pearly white under the streetlamp. “The tail on her is already dead. Same with Harbin and Roxas’ guy. The minute they knew about them, they had them tracked down and gutted like rats. Do what you need to do; my girl is safe.”

  Thank God.

  I nod at him, take a deep breath, and then step out into the cold night air. It’s only a few hours before dawn and the grass has a layer of dew covering it, soaking the bottoms of my shoes in the most disgusting way.

  I cringe my way through the short distance to the bench, taking a seat and looking out over the playground equipment in a mirror of Atticus’ pose.

  It’s a quiet night out here.

  “Things are only going to get worse, Floss.”

  I refuse to cry.

  I will not.

  “We need an extra seat, and I know who I’d prefer to lose from the table.”

  He nods slowly and then shifts in his seat, digging around in his pocket until he pulls out a small, black velvet bag.

  A diamond.

  “The Bear handed this over to me before the meeting. Called in a favor to ensure that we don’t have him killed.”

  Motherfucker.

  I look back out over the park because looking at Atticus still hurts too much. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to just look at him again, not outside of the Twelve meetings where he’s not my Atticus anymore, he’s the cold, cruel, and calculating Crow of Mounts Bay.

  Finally I shrug. “No one will ever know about the favor if he’s dead. Illi will have it done by tomorrow night and half our problems would be over with.”

  Atticus cuts me a look, shifting closer to me subconsciously because we’ve always been drawn to each other. “If we don’t hold to the rules of the Twelve, we’re no better than the Jackal. If favors mean nothing then the power the Wolf has fought for years to amass means nothing, and she goes back to being a poor kid from the Bay again.”

  My mouth tugs into a frown but, dammit, he’s right about that. How many times has Lips come in and saved the day with a blood diamond she fought and killed for? Without them she’s still an assassin, a killer, the smartest and most cunning girl in the room, but with no extra backup.

  Only the family behind her.

  It’s not nothing, but twelve people against a whole city… it's not enough. Not when the other members are all recruiting to fill the void the Jackal has now left in the city and there’s been such a shift in power.

  “We have three candidates, and I don’t want any of them dead.”

  Atticus sighs and rubs both of his hands over his face, shifting again until his knee touches mine. That shouldn’t be such a big thing to me, considering he fucked me in a supply closet in a jealous rage, but this Atticus really is the one I’ve missed the most.

  The Atticus who loves me.

  “You really want the Ammoscato girl to survive? I thought you were playing with her.”

  I shrug. “She’s an asset. We need more of those and less pathetic, egotistical, greedy men.”

  “And what if she turns out like her aunt? The Lynx was just as bad as the Bear. She just read the board wrong and ended up dead because of it.”

  I reach out and take his hand. “If she betrays the Wolf, she’ll end up exactly like her aunt. There’s something… there’s something about her. My gut hasn’t been wrong about this before, and the last time I had this feeling it was about Lips. Harley before that. If she wins, I’ll bet that she’ll be useful to us all at the very least. She’s already agreed to help with the skin auctions, and we both know that’s next on the Bear’s agenda.”

  Atticus squeezes my fingers. “I offered to help him get his feet back under himself to get his garages and acid tanks back up and running, but the Feds shook him up too much. Pathetic.”

  I giggle. “How long does the diamond keep him breathing? You’ve only promised yourself, right? It’s not like you can stop me from arranging something with Illi.”

  He pulls me into his body, finally, and rests his cheek on my head. “He handed the diamond back over in front of the Ox and the Viper. It’s for his life until the Games are over with. We can’t kill him, Avery.”

  I’m not so sure about that.

  I could definitely have him taken down in a variety of different ways that wouldn’t even lead back to us. The Ox, the Viper, and God himself could be suspicious, but they’d never figure it out.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket, breaking the moment, and when I pull it out, it’s a text from Aodhan about grabbing us both dinner. Atticus stares at the screen and I have to steel myself for whatever he has to say.

  “I don’t like him, Avery. He showed up out of the blue and wormed his way into your good graces. People from the Bay don’t just… they don’t just fall for girls like you.”

  I arch an eyebrow and stand up. “Your jealousy is coming through a little strong. It wasn’t out of the blue; we survived the Jacka
l together. That sort of thing ties people together, you know that.”

  He stands and looks over to where Illi is waiting, watching his every move with a gun aimed at him I’m sure. “I know too much about that.”

  My heart stops.

  “What the hell did Luca tell you?”

  The moment the words leave my lips, I can see my mistake. All of the calm, strong, protective energy just seeps out of him and the cruel and stone-faced Crow is left behind. “What exactly would he know to tell me? What the hell happened in that room, Avery?”

  I turn away from him, another mistake, but he was my safe place and my strongest, most loyal ally for too long for me to face him right now.

  “I’ll fucking kill him. What are you doing with him if he’s hurt you, Avery, you should have come to me and I—“

  “He didn’t hurt me. He did everything he could possibly do to die in my place, and I did what little I could to keep him alive. I don’t want to talk about it and… I was afraid Luca had spoken to you about it. Please just forget I said anything.”

  His face doesn’t soften at all, and I know he’s going to leave here and go straight to Luca until he gets the answers he’s looking for. I still don’t know if Luca will be able to lie convincingly, but it’s my own fault for panicking and giving him the idea.

  “Atticus, please. If you really want us to be able to work together to survive here or for there to be a chance for us to be together someday, you need to listen to me and just… forget about it. I’ve done my healing from what the Jackal did to Aodhan and I. I’ve made my peace with it.”

  He doesn’t say another word as he walks over to his own car, waiting until I’m back safely in the BMW with Illi before he leaves.

  Aodhan’s arms are tight around me and even though I can’t sleep after seeing Atticus, I have no intention of moving from this bed ever again when my phone pings on my nightstand.

  When I turn it onto silent each night before bed, there’s a list of contacts that I have set to still alert me if they call or text, so I know I can’t ignore it. If something happened to a member of my family while I was moping and ignoring the world, I’d never forgive myself.

  Mostly it’s Ash seething about something that’s happening on tour involving Lips, or Harley checking in on me as though he isn’t getting daily updates from his cousin, so when I see the number, I startle a little, and Aodhan grunts at the movement in his sleep.

  One of the rooms at the Oakridge has been booked out with a flagged guest.

  A flagged guest.

  It could be anyone really, but my gut drops all the same.

  Elijah Blakeley. He’s being taken to the third sub-floor.

  Jesus H. Christ.

  I sit up and hit dial on Lips’ number, sliding out of the bed and scampering across the room into the bathroom. It takes three rings for her to pick up, so she was either asleep or partaking in an orgy that would scar me for life to hear any details about.

  There’s things a girl doesn’t need to know about her brother, cousin, and Morrison.

  “What’s happened? Avery, are you okay?” she whispers down the line, the sounds of sheets rustling and Morrison’s soft snoring coming through clearly as she moves away from the bed.

  “Someone is about to assassinate Senator Blakeley. You’re too far away; I’ll be on a flight over to DC in an hour.”

  I switch the phone to speaker to start arranging everything as she mutters a curse under her breath. “How the fuck did you find that out? Jesus, I haven’t even met him yet and he’s already stirring shit. Is Aodhan going with you?”

  “He will. Illi won’t be able to come, not with Odie so far along, but I have some contacts in DC that’ll come in handy. Don’t worry about a thing, Lips, I have this covered.”

  She scoffs at me and covers the mouthpiece to speak to whoever she woke up crawling out of the bed. I’d put money on Harley.

  “I can be in DC in a couple of hours. Let me come with you.”

  The bathroom door opens and Aodhan ducks his head in, his eyes a little bloodshot after only a couple of hours of sleep. “We’ve got it covered. I have family up there as well if we need it.”

  I smile at him. “I’ll call you if I need anything, Lips, but… I promise I won’t let anything happen to him. I’ve already got eyes on him.”

  I climb into the shower with Aodhan, mostly to save time, but also because he’s too freaking hot for words all soaped up. It doesn’t matter how many nights we fall into bed together, naked and desperate, I can’t get enough of him. I know exactly how Lips felt when she told me back in senior year that she was addicted to all three of her guys.

  We don’t have time to fuck in the shower, no matter how badly I want to.

  I pack a small overnight bag that’s still three times bigger than Aodhan’s. He calls Jack to let him know where we’re going and to give him the details on the next job they’re supposed to be taking for the Boar at the docks.

  Then he drives me to the private airstrip just outside of the city limits as though the car is on fire. There isn’t a cop in the Bay who doesn’t know who this Impala belongs to, and no one stops us. I’m buckled in tightly and managing the barrage of text messages from everyone at our impromptu trip.

  Take all of the weapons, kid. Remember to stab first.

  Tell Aodhan not to let you out of his fucking sight, Floss, Ash is losing his fucking head over this.

  I’m sending backup. You shouldn’t be traveling without security, Avery.

  I sigh at Atticus’ text and reply with a curt, I have more than enough security waiting for me there.

  I have Senior’s private jet fueled and ready for take off at all times for this exact purpose. It’s something that Lips and Harley would chew me out over, because of the expense, but what is the point of being richer than God if you can’t get a flight out of this city in under an hour.

  We park up in the Beaumont air hanger, and the jet is waiting for us, still in perfect condition.

  The pilot looks calm and respectful as he greets us onboard, and the air hostesses are both dressed appropriately with polite smiles on their faces. Neither of them attempt to flirt with Aodhan, even when he grins and thanks them like a typical Mounty, so that also gets them points. They take the bags from Aodhan and stash them away before offering us both drinks.

  I take a champagne, just to take the edge off and hopefully kickstart my brain a little, but Aodhan politely declines.

  He looks sick the entire flight.

  There’s a fine tremble in his hand the entire time we’re taking off down the runway and when the wheels lift from the tarmac, he makes a groaning noise that sounds like he’s trying not to vomit all over us both.

  I sip at my champagne and keep my eyes off of him, even as I slip my hand in his.

  I know there’s nothing worse than having people watch you while you’re feeling desperately out of control like he is right now, so I give him the grace of what little privacy I can while he’s gripping me like we’re both drowning.

  “Fuck this. We could’ve driven.”

  I smirk and pick up my phone, thumbing through the file of information Jackson has sent me. “We’re on a very tight time crunch here and, given that you’re a Mounty, you would have complained at my choices in accommodation along the way.”

  He grimaces as we hit a little turbulence and grunts, “I don’t care about that shit; it’s your money and I’m sure you’re not worried about it running out any time soon.”

  I shrug and squeeze his fingers. “Stop freaking out, it’s only four hours. You could have a nap.”

  “Fuck sleeping. If I’m gonna fall out of the sky and die, I’d like to know it’s happening.”

  I roll my eyes at him, scrolling through my phone. “Are you going to tell me about what you and Illi found now? About the photos?”

  He groans again, looking sick for a whole new reason. “One of the Viper’s favorite fighters had been talking about the extra suits
in the Bay. It’s gotta be connected, how much weird fucking shit can be going on at once? We tracked a couple down, but one of them threw himself at Illi’s knife. Just fucking impaled himself and then lay down to bleed out. It was the craziest shit I’ve ever seen, and the second guy charged us until I had to put him down. It was that or let him kill us, so whoever is sending them down here is picking the most suicidal, crazy fuckers he can find.”

  I frown at him because what the actual fuck is going on?

  He nods. “Exactly. There’s nothing really I can tell you yet, but Illi did get Jackson onto finding the footage. He didn’t say a word about what they were and he was… very clear about keeping his mouth shut about anything he might see. Lips called him too, just to ram that shit home. We’re going to find them, Queenie.”

  I nod because I believe him.

  The alternative is too scary to think about.

  Chapter Ten

  “Charlotte Gamble, the owner and manageress of the Oakridge. The woman who runs the most infamous murder-hotel in the country called you about a senator being assassinated there today and that’s why we’ve flown our asses over here in such a hurry. Am I getting this right?” Aodhan says, his eyes on the partition between the driver and us. The town car was also one of my father’s, but the driver is new.

  I didn’t keep any of his compliant, morally corrupt staff.

  I try not to smirk like a smug bitch. “That about covers it. Problem?”

  The traffic in DC is actually worse than the Bay and I’m starting to worry about not making it to Oakridge in time. There’s only two blocks to go but we haven’t moved for eight minutes and I’m about to scream.

  “Nope, no problem. I’m just along for the ride here, Queenie. Nothing fucking better than watching you destroy everything in your path.”

  I grin at him, shrugging. “You might even get to help me this time around.”

  He huffs under his breath at me as the car finally moves. “I’ll do what I can to stay out of your way.”