Unshackled

I’d bought myself some time by saying I was looking forward to meeting up with him again, but that I would have to get back to him with a date because I was on a business trip. To which he’d kindly but firmly requested that I didn’t reveal anything personal about my life.

He wasn’t budging an inch on the anonymous part, and to be honest, I kinda dug it. Partly because it would allow me to keep seeing him, but mostly because I’d hate to get jealous of myself if he suddenly found it a good idea to get closer to a stranger in the dark.

I was sufficiently screwed in the head for that jealousy to burn like acid.

I parked next to Eric’s truck, already missing my R8. But it was wise to let that car stay in the garage for a while, in case I showed up on any surveillance. Just as a precaution. I drove with fake plates most of the time, and Eric didn’t think last night was going to turn into a big investigation. It was the nightclub that’d reported a suspected assault, but we knew how to make evidence disappear.

Lighting up a smoke, I noticed that both Finn and Colm were here too. The building wasn’t very big. It had just enough space to accept minor shipments, and there were two smaller offices.

I knocked on the door, and it was Connor, Finn’s driver, who opened it a few inches before he saw it was me. Then he let me in and nodded in greeting.

My gaze was already glued to the two men at the center of the room. They were tied to their chairs and had bags over their heads.

“The others are in the first office,” Connor said.

“Cheers.” I took a drag from my smoke and walked toward the offices, hoping the plan was for us to move the Italians ASAP. Not only did the place lack proper soundproofing, everything in here echoed, from the smallest scrape of my shoes against the concrete floor.

It was a good thing we didn’t have any neighbors nearby, though people still walked by here and there.

I knocked twice before opening the door, and Finn, Eric, and Colm all looked over at me.

“There’s our stabbing victim. You okay, mate?” Finn asked.

“Good as new.” I patted my side. “I stole lidocaine from your pop.”

He smirked. “He told me.”

Well, shit.

There were no chairs in the room, but there was a rickety old wooden desk that Finn was leaning against, and I was tired. So fucking tired. I joined him and jumped up to sit on it properly, to which it creaked and protested.

Finn cleared his throat. “Guys, I want a moment alone with Ford.”

Why did I feel like I’d done something wrong?

Eric and Colm left without a word and closed the door behind them, and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.

“Am I being punished?”

He appeared too tired to go full-blown WTF on me, but his forehead creased kinda like Shan’s did when I’d said something that made no sense at all.

“No? Dumbass. I just wanted to talk to you alone.” He left the desk, which only meant one thing. He was gonna pace. Finn was a pacer. “I’ve been thinking about our next move.”

I was all ears for that. I’d been wondering and thinking myself.

“Eric says he’s got a lead, but that it can take months to get something solid to go on,” he started by saying. “In the meantime, we obviously gotta act.”

“Please tell me you’re moving this shitshow to Europe,” I replied. Because I agreed with him. We had to act—before things got worse. Right now, not even all the Sons knew we had another Italian issue. Wives and other family members were oblivious, including inner-circle women like Emilia, Luna, and Viv.

We should keep it that way.

“I am,” he said firmly. Thank fuck. “We need a diversion that signals for all the Avellinos to retreat back home, and it has to last until Eric finds what he’s looking for.”

I liked where this was going.

“We can’t make it look like we’re shooting in the dark,” I said. “We have to hit targets that actually mean something to them—and last time I checked, we already took those out.”

“Not family homes of associates,” he pointed out. He was right. “Eric has plenty of names to go on from last year. We can send warnings. Make sure everyone’s out of the house and then blow it up.”

Old-school. I liked it.

I blew out some smoke.

Finn came to a stop and faced me fully. “I also wanna get proactive and ice Gio’s eldest in prison.”

I raised my eyebrows, surprised he was gonna make that move already, but maybe it was the best way to show we meant business. On the other hand, that was more than issuing a warning.