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Tony looks down at the floor. I don’t hesitate to grab him by the hair again, this time much, much harder. “Shit. Fuck! Okay, okay . . . He got my number from someone. Called and told me he needed to buy s-something from me.”
“What did he need to buy, Tony?” I growl. My voice is practically unrecognizable.
“He needed roofies.”
“Rohypnol?” I fist his hair tighter, feeling strands break free from his scalp.
“B-but he said he needed to be able to inject it. So I sold him a few doses and some needles.”
I take a deep breath through my nose before asking my final question and holding up a third finger. “Three, did you know Logan worked for us?”
“No! No, man, I swear, he said his boss was some guy in Ireland! I never would have met him if I knew he had anything to do with you guys. I swear on my fucking life, man!”
I let go of him and move back toward Dante. “You guys hear that?” I ask into the coms, hoping Ronan and Finn heard what he just said.
“Yeah, we fucking heard,” Ronan snarls.
“You guys think he knows anything else?” Enzo asks.
I look over my shoulder to see Tony curled into a ball. “No. I think he’s just a low-level piece of trash. He sold Logan the drugs used to knock Harper out. That’s it.”
Heavy sighs fill the coms. “I agree,” says Finn, “But that still doesn’t explain how Declan found out about Harper in the first place, what exactly he plans on doing with her, or where the fuck she is!” Finn’s voice grows louder with each word. I know it’s becoming harder and harder for him to keep it together. Every day we can’t find her, we all seem to be slipping further and further into the darkness. I listen as he takes another deep breath.
“I mean, the more that I think about it, if he just wanted her dead, why didn’t he have Logan do it? Why take her and hide her away? Just so he can come here and kill her himself? I know Patrick said he wants her dead, but the way Declan’s going about it doesn’t make any sense.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t,” Luca agrees. “There’s something that we’re missing.”
“Mac, get that shit taken care of and meet us back at the cars. We’ll regroup at the apartment. I think we need to give Patrick another call.”
I slide back the barrel of my handgun and load one last round, pointing it directly at Tony’s ugly fucking face. “I told you everything you wanted to know! P–please, please, please! Don’t kill me!”
I crouch down again so I’m right in front of him. I want to be able to see the light leave his eyes. “You helped them take her. My Pretty Girl is gone, and you’re partially responsible. For that and that alone . . .” I press the barrel between his eyes, “you die.”
The bullet leaves the barrel before Tony even has a chance to blink. And just like I wanted, I watch as the last bit of life leaves his eyes.
Dante and I leave all five bodies exactly as they are, walk out of the house without a backward glance, and make our way through the shitty neighborhood back to our cars, where the rest of the guys are waiting for us. Ronan, Finn, and I climb in one car, and Luca and his guys get in the other. The three of us don’t say another word, surely all trying to figure out what the hell we’re missing because Finn’s right. This doesn’t make any damn sense.
Sure, we got answers from Tony, but none of them were overly helpful. All we did was confirm that Declan hired Logan, and Logan drugged Harper to get her out of the apartment. But those weren’t the answers we’ve been dying to get. And I mean it, I feel like I’m literally dying.
Without Harper, I. Am. Dying. Lost in all the red.
9
Ronan
Once we return to the apartment, Finn immediately joins Sebastian at the computers, and Dante and Mac get cleaned up. Luca calls to update Pascal—who has offered more than once to come back to the States to help us, to which I immediately told him to stay put and keep our mother safe—and Enzo calls to order us some dinner. None of us have had a home-cooked meal in weeks, as the only one of us who can cook worth a damn is Mac, and I know my brother doesn’t have the energy for such a menial task. Hell, he is barely eating as it is.
I snuck off to my office, needing a few minutes to myself before we gave Patrick a call. The weight on my shoulders is unbearable. I’ve spent my entire life taking care of everything and everyone. Trying to live up to the impossible expectations Liam set for me, taking over the empire he built and turning it into something better than he could have ever even imagined, keeping Mac safe from the world—our father, and at times, himself—ensuring Finn has a place, and protecting our mother. All of it was already more than one person should ever have to handle. Then Harper came into our life, and the weight doubled with the uncontrollable urge to keep her safe. Now she’s gone.
She’s gone, and I have to get her back. For her. For myself. And for my brothers.
And that weight, it’s almost more than I can bear.
But I have to bear it. There is no other choice.
I will not fail her again.
It’s the same mantra I’ve been repeating to myself over the last two weeks. Yet, as each day passes, each hour, each minute, each second, I’m terrified it’s becoming less and less true.
