Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“Do you choose Jude?”
That, at least, she had no confusion about. “Yes.”
“He’s the one you want—truly want? It’s not some Stockholm syndrome like Teague claims?”
She picked up her pace, reaching the end of the block and crossing the street. “I love him, Aiden. I won’t have anyone but him.”
Aiden cursed long and hard. “If you change your mind, you call me. I don’t care what time it is, or what I’m doing—I will come for you and I will get you out safely.”
Hope burst in her chest, and she found herself grinning like a fool. “You’re letting me go.”
“Yes. I can’t speak for Teague, though, so you need to get your ass to Carrigan’s. She’ll protect you until Jude comes for you, and then you two need to get the fuck out of Boston. Don’t come back, Sloan. I won’t look for you, and I’ll have Cillian erase any path you do leave, but that’s all I can promise. You won’t have a safety net to fall back on.”
“I don’t need one.” She’d miss Boston. She already knew and had made her peace with that. She even understood why Aiden was only offering this much. In the grand scheme of things, a sister’s happiness ranked lower than the safety of the family. She didn’t want to be the thing that pushed the situation in Boston into a full-blown war any more than Aiden wanted her to be. “I love you.”
“I love you too, little sister. Be safe.”
“You too.” She hung up and flagged down a cab. Sloan dropped the phone in the trash can on the corner and slid into the backseat. “Southie.” She rattled off the address Carrigan had made her memorize after they landed in Boston, and patiently waited for the cabbie to stop trying to talk her out of it. “I’ll pay double if you get me there in half the time.”
“You got it, lady.” But he shot into the street and headed for Southie.
She sat back and wished she had taken the time to call Jude before she threw the phone away. It was too risky, though. The longer she had the phone, the greater the chance one of Teague’s men would track her down. She had to trust that Jude would come back to her safely.
Worry battled with the hope still trying to take hold. She forced herself to set both aside. It could wait. Everything could wait until Jude was back with her. He was safe.
He had to be.
* * *
Jude walked into the O’Malley residence without knocking. Aiden knew he was coming and he didn’t have the time or patience for a pissing contest with the hired muscle. He stopped in the foyer, taking in the place. Dark wood dominated the room, bold accents creating a look of understated elegance. It wasn’t in-your-face, but the whole place reeked of money.
A man stepped out of the hallway leading deeper into the house. “Aiden is expecting you.”
Jude nodded and followed the guy into the shadows. He led them to an office that was decorated in much the same way as the rest of the house, though the walls were a dark green that seemed to be present in every high-powered office in the country. Aiden sat behind a large desk, and he didn’t stand when Jude walked in. “Sit.”
He waited for the muscle to leave and close the door behind him before he tossed the file he’d brought onto the desk. “There’s everything I know about Dmitri Romanov.”
Aiden didn’t touch the file. “I could pay you a significant amount to remove him from the equation.”
There was no way in hell he’d touch that with a ten-foot pole. His only priority was keeping Sloan safe. The rest of the world could go to hell for all he cared—that included both Aiden and Dmitri. “Do you think that would solve your problems?”
He sighed. “No. Someone else would just rise to power, and they’d be an unknown quantity. At least I can roughly gauge where Romanov is going at any given time. He’s not exactly predictable, but he’s known all the same.”
That just went to further show that Aiden was smarter than Jude had given him credit for. “You have a plan.”
“I have a plan.” Aiden smiled, and it was the coldest fucking thing Jude had ever seen. “Do you know who John Finch is?”
“Yes.” Jude had made it his business to know everyone connected to the Sheridans, and that included the feds who investigated them. John Finch had his fingers in every organized crime family in both Boston and New York.
“Romanov was instrumental in Finch’s daughter being wrongly branded a dirty cop.”
Jude sat back, a little in awe despite himself. He’s going to use the daughter to take both Finch and Romanov out at the knees. It didn’t matter how Aiden would accomplish it, only that he was devious enough to use this woman to accomplish his goals. “That’s cold.”