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I smiled at him, feeling privileged that he felt he could confide in me. “You got family, Eoghan?”
That caught him by surprise. We hadn’t spoken much about his life before the mob. Most of our conversations were playful in manner, and centered around Jack. That was, until now.
“In Louisiana,” he answered. “But we don’t speak.”
“Any hobbies besides tracking my whereabouts?”
He smirked. “I tinker.”
“Tinker?”
“I’ll leave it at that.”
“Whatever.” I shrugged. “Go tinker. I’ll call if I need you.”
He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
“Don’t worry. I’m going to check on Shannon, then I’ll have a driver take me home. I’m sure you can verify it with your stupid tracker.”
Eoghan stood, winking at me. “I’ll be keeping my eye on you, Emma.” He turned to leave, muttering as he went. “…insane…threatening Nicoletti…”
* * * *
Upon entering the penthouse, I waved to Guillermo. The quiet Salvadoran man was cooking dinner with a pained expression. I thought about asking him if everything was all right but froze when I heard the television.
“‘…violence in the city is reaching a new high as Manhattan real-estate mogul and businessman Connor O’Connell was found dead in a warehouse in Brooklyn. O’Connell’s is the fourth body discovered since November. The FBI has been called in to investigate the mysterious deaths, but has yet to comment on whether O’Connell is connected to other slayings throughout the Burroughs… Questions about whether we have another serial killer stalking the streets… Would be the first confirmed serial murders since the nineties…’”
Rushing into the living room, I found Shannon sitting by herself on the sofa. She was a ghost, her wet eyes glued to the news. I found the controller, turned the television off then sat beside her.
She continued to stare at the black screen, unblinking. I watched her chest rise and fall just to be sure she was breathing. Her stomach was looking bigger by the day, or maybe it was just the rest of her body that seemed to be shrinking under the weight of her grief.
“Shan,” I murmured, taking one of her hands in mine. They were unnervingly cold. “Where’s Faye?”
Guillermo walked in from the kitchen carrying a plate of salmon, rice and veggies. He set it on the coffee table in front of Shannon, eyeing her with trepidation.
“Miss Faye left a few hours ago,” he informed me. “She didn’t say where she was going or when she’d be back.”
Sighing, I thanked Guillermo. “If that happens again, please call me and I’ll come right over.”
By the look on his face, he’d been uncomfortable watching over Shannon for that long. I could understand why, with her being so pregnant and in a near-comatose state.
“If you’re finished, feel free to go home for the evening. I’ll stay with Shannon.”
Guillermo inclined his head toward me. “Thank you, Miss Emma. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
Guillermo cleaned the kitchen and gathered his things while I prodded Shannon to eat her dinner. Once I set the dish in her lap and the fork in her hand, she cleared her plate without a word. The penthouse was silent apart from the hum of the air conditioner and Shannon’s utensil scraping the plate.
When she was finished, I wrapped a blanket over Shannon’s thin shoulders and took the dish to the sink. Shortly after, I led her to the master bathroom to run a bubble bath. She stripped and I helped her into it, washing her vibrant red hair as she did her pale body. Her movements were robotic. It hurt my soul to watch.
When we finished, I guided her out of the tub and into a set of soft maternity pajamas.
“Will you stay with me tonight?”
I jumped out of my skin at her crackling voice. I hadn’t heard it in days, not since her guttural scream upon hearing of her husband’s death. That scream—along with Jack’s strangled howl and the image of Kieran kneeling in a pool of blood—continued to haunt my dreams.
Shannon sat upright in bed, hands in her lap, eyes red. She was so fragile in the giant California King. It looked as though it were eating her alive. Her belly seemed to be pulling her down through the floor.
“Of course,” I answered, slipping out of my sneakers and into the bed.
