Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
* * *
Aiden barely waited for his SUV to pull to a stop next to the town car before he jumped out of the passenger seat and rushed around the front of the car. It didn’t matter that they were at a red light in the middle of the street. All that mattered was the fear he’d heard in Charlie’s voice when she’d called him to tell him what happened.
A drive-by.
All he could think when he heard was, Not again. He yanked open the back door and stopped short at the sight of Charlie covered in blood. She blinked. “Get in the car before people start honking.”
He slid onto the seat next to her and slammed the door shut. “Doc Jones will meet us at the house.” Carrigan and Keira were in the front, clearly visible, since the tinted glass was retracted. Carrigan seemed to be doing okay, since she was driving, though she was covered in as much blood as Charlie was. Keira alone looked unscathed.
He gently took Charlie’s hand, his chest tight as he turned it to see the cuts littering her arms. “Did you see who it was?”
“It was Romanov,” Carrigan said. “It had to be.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Keira turned fully around to look at him. “I know you hate him, but it wasn’t him. If he hadn’t warned me, we’d all be dead.”
He’d circle back to how Romanov had managed to warn her once they were safe and patched up. Right now, he had bigger priorities. “He could have set it up so you would think that.”
“No, really?” She rolled her eyes. “But if he was behind it, he would have called it off the second he knew I was back in that room.”
They were definitely going to have a conversation once things settled down.
“You’re delusional.” Carrigan turned onto their block.
Was she, though? A drive-by on a public street was hardly Romanov’s style. It was too…blunt. He had no reason to strike. By all appearances, Aiden was setting him up to get exactly what he wanted. Taking a shot at Carrigan would sever any alliance—and it would ensure that all three of Boston’s families turned their fury directly at him. To say nothing of Keira’s reaction.
It’s something the Eldridges would do.
Alethea and Mae had let him and Charlie walk out of the warehouse alive, but that didn’t mean that they were going to play right into his and Romanov’s hands.
This whole thing had started when Romanov turned down a marriage alliance with Mae in favor of Keira. Put Charlie in the same room—another woman Mae couldn’t stand—and it was practically waving a red flag in front of a bull.
He’d assumed that because they were in Boston and surrounded by O’Malley and Halloran men that Charlie and his sisters would be safe. He’d obviously been wrong. It was something he’d have to deal with. Later.
Right now, all he could see was the blood on Charlie’s pale skin. Even though they were obviously all surface wounds, he couldn’t help connecting the sight with the night Devlin was killed. She could have died. If things had played out differently, she would have—the same way his youngest brother did on that night three years ago, shot down like a dog in the street.
A shudder worked its way through him, and he tried to fight it off. Now wasn’t the time for his control to waver. There was never time for his control to waver. He realized his hand was shaking and went to let go of hers, but she tightened her grip. Charlie shifted closer, lowering her voice. “I’m okay, Aiden. We’re all okay.”
Twice now, she’d dodged being hurt severely. Who was to say she’d be so lucky if this happened again?
“I’ll find who did this and I’ll put them in the ground.”
Carrigan snorted. “You’re going to have to arm-wrestle James for the right.” She parked, and the man in question appeared as if by magic at the side of the car. He yanked open the driver’s door and stopped short. Carrigan held up a hand and then seemed to realize that all the blood made it look worse. “I’m okay. I promise.”
“Lovely, we need to have a conversation about what okay means. This?” He pointed at her. “Not okay.”
She climbed out of the car, glaring at him in the same way she used to glare at Aiden when she was a kid and would skin her knee, almost daring him to make an issue of it. “If you try to carry me, I’m not going to take it well.”
Aiden half expected James to override his sister’s protests, but he just cast a critical eye over her. “You collapse, I’m carrying you.”
“Deal.” She turned back to the car. “Hey…Charlie.”
Charlie smiled, as if sharing some joke Aiden wasn’t party to. “Yeah?”
“We’re having a fundraiser tomorrow night. I’ll make sure you and Aiden are on the list.” Then they were gone. Carrigan might be an O’Malley still, but she was now a Halloran first. James would have his own doctor on staff to get her checked out.