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Then hits the ground.
Chapter 40
Elio
Fucking Mad Darragh. These don’t look like Sev’s guys. They’re Irish. At least three of them. I crouch down beside Deirdre, keeping my gun ready in one hand while I pass my other hand over her. They shot the bouquet right out of her hands, and I frantically count every slender finger before I let myself take a breath when I get to ten.
“Are you hurt?” I ask her. She shakes her head, her eyes as big as dinner plates. “Good. Stay here.”
I rise, breathing hard, scanning the graveyard.
But I don’t see anyone else. At least, not yet. I call Curse, telling him to get Enzo and Robbie down here. Just as I hang up, I hear a groan from behind the grave.
Motherfucker ain’t dead yet.
After making sure Deirdre isn’t going anywhere and that nobody else is coming for her, I vault over the gravestone. The guy is writhing and choking on his own blood, his gun out of reach. He tries to get it anyway. I press my boot down on his fingers and don’t let up until I hear bones crack.
“Did Darragh send you?”
“We weren’t gonna kill her,” the man wheezes. “Darragh wants her alive. Fuck!”
I press down harder on his hand.
“Just give her up. She’s not one of yours. She’s Irish. Ours.”
The ticking in my head is so loud I swear it makes the gravestones move.
“She is not fucking yours,” I hiss, cocking my gun and aiming it at his head. “She is mine in every conceivable way. And if Darragh wants to take her, then he will be starting a fucking war, because he won’t be coming after one of his own, he’ll be coming after a Titone.”
It’s all become so clear. What I need to do. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. Parading Deirdre around at the gala and at school wasn’t enough.
But this will be. This will make her completely fucking untouchable, unless Darragh wants to bathe this entire city in blood.
Even though the guy at my feet won’t live to pass this message on to his boss, I tell him anyway, because it just feels so fucking good to say it.
“Her name won’t be Deirdre O’Malley for long,” I say quietly, crouching down. “Because I will fucking marry her. And just fucking see what happens when you come after my wife. Just see what happens when you try to hurt Deirdre fucking Titone.”
The man’s eyes bulge. He understood me, I have no doubt. He’s the first one to hear my glad tidings, the lucky bastard.
I put a bullet in his head just to fully sanctify that honour.
Chapter 41
Deirdre
I stay huddled in the snow in front of my mother’s grave, clutching the ruined flowers. My ears ring, and every breath I take sounds far too loud inside my own head. I think Elio’s talking but I can’t make out any of the words. Another shot, and then the speaking stops.
Dead.
Once again, Elio’s shot someone. Someone who threatened me. He and I are caught in an endless, terrible loop. No matter what I do, I can’t claw my way out to something normal. Not while Elio’s with me. And not while my father hides from what he’s done.
I’m not even afraid now. Just numbed to it all. Emptied out by all the violence, the death, and the destruction. I barely register when Elio scoops me up into his arms and jogs back to the car. Just as he’s hauling the door open and helping me inside, another dark vehicle swerves towards us. Curse and Enzo jump out, and Elio bites out orders at them. I only catch some of the words. Irish. Make sure… No others… Bodies…
Elio slides into the driver’s seat. He starts the car with quick, sharp movements, but doesn’t drive until he’s fastened my seatbelt. Thank God he does it, because I’m not sure I have the strength to. My arms, no, my whole body is shaking. Torn and crushed rose petals fall from my hands as the car finally gets into motion.
“We shouldn’t have come here,” I whisper.
“Yes, we should have. They shouldn’t have,” Elio bites out.
