Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Fucking ambush,” Julien snarls, looking around with wild, rage-filled eyes. “God damn it, they murdered my men.”
“How many are out there?” I didn’t get a good count. I spotted at least three positions, but there must be more.
“Impossible to say.” Niall’s face is white and his jaw works. “What’s the plan?”
“Tell the uncles to back off.”
“Fuck that,” Julien snarls. “They’re trapped on those catwalks.”
“Do you want to storm them? There’s no cover in that fucking warehouse. We’re lucky we’re alive.”
“My men weren’t lucky.” Julien turns around like he’s going to rush back out there at any second, but he doesn’t move. “Fuck. Fuck! We were played.”
“You can deal with your dead soldiers and that lying informant when we get out of here.” I turn back to Niall. “Tell the uncles to stand down and keep the perimeter locked down.”
Niall types it out in our secure messaging app and sends it. The responses are immediate confirmations. I stride back down the hall and through the side door, pausing only to make sure that there aren’t any men stationed outside ready to pick us off as we try to get out.
Uncle Joseph jogs over, looking grim. “We heard the shooting.”
“Ambush,” I confirm. “Killed Julien’s men. We barely made it out.”
“What’s the plan?”
Julien shakes his head and walks off, heading around the edge of the building, angling toward his vehicles and however many men he left outside.
I watch him go before making up my mind. “We sit and wait.”
Uncle Joseph’s eyebrows raise. “They tried to kill you in there, Ronan.”
“And if we rush inside, more of our guys will die. Spread out and watch the building. If anyone shows up, kill them. If anyone tries to leave, take them prisoner. Kill them if you can’t.”
“We can’t watch this place forever.”
“No, we can’t,” I agree. “But they’ll have to come out eventually.”
Uncle Joseph doesn’t look happy, but he jogs off to start handing out orders. I storm back to the truck and get behind the wheel, but I don’t drive off yet. Niall climbs in next to me, and we brood together in silence.
“That was a shitshow,” he says finally. “If Julien’s men hadn’t gotten killed—” He stops midsentence, staring out the window at something.
“Yeah, I get it, you don’t trust Julien, but you’re right. It’s his guys that died. I don’t think he had anything to do with what happened.”
“Ronan.”
“He was just as surprised as we were. You saw him in there.” I squint at the warehouse, not looking over.
“Ronan.” It’s the fear in his tone that finally makes me turn.
There’s a gun aimed at his face, the barrel against the glass. I focus on the man holding the weapon, and Seamus’s grim stare finds mine.
We don’t move. Niall’s frozen in place. Seamus’s jaw ticks and the gun dips up and down like he’s not sure what to do. Uncertainty and discomfort play across Seamus’s face, and I think of that fight we got in, that boxing match and the conversation after. I think of all the years I’ve known him, and even though he fell in with the wrong crowd, I can’t bring myself to hate him.
This is what’s wrong with a family fighting itself.
Finally, Seamus takes a step back. The gun barrel moves away from the window. He’s still looking at me, but there’s sorrow in his eyes now. I can’t move, and I’m pretty sure Niall’s not even breathing. Seamus keeps backing away, gun not wavering, until he reaches the overgrown field. Then he turns and runs into the overgrowth, disappearing into the bushes.
“Fuck,” I say, letting out a long breath.
“Fuck,” Niall agrees and groans, head tilted back. “I thought we were dead.”
“He couldn’t do it.” I speak very softly. I should be terrified, but I’m not. A strange glow builds in my chest and spreads throughout my body.
It’s pride.
I’m fucking proud of Seamus.
He did something hard. He got the drop on us and could’ve ended everything right here and now. All he had to do was pull the trigger, and we’d be dead.
Instead, he didn’t do it. I don’t know what he was thinking or why he decided to back down, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to murder two of his own cousins.
Seamus and I might not agree on everything. Hell, we might sometimes get into shit.
But Seamus didn’t pull the trigger, and that shit matters.
Our family can come back from this. It can come back because a part of them must understand what they’re trying to sacrifice for one man’s ambition. Even if they don’t realize that’s what they’re doing, they still have to know on some level.
I start the engine. Niall laughs, a wild and harsh sound.
“Spread the word,” I tell him. “Seamus is off limits.”
“Ronan—”
“Don’t make me say it again.” I pull out of the overgrown lot. “He didn’t do it. Seamus is still on our side, even if he doesn’t know it yet.”