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Trust your gut, Maddox. Always trust your gut. And Zak, keep your eyes and ears open at all times. Together you’re a force, but if you manage to bring your queen back on side, you’ll destroy them all.
I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk before my time was up, but know this, I never blamed you for walking away. It shows what honourable and loyal men you are.
Take care, my boys.
Theo
P.S. Don’t let Aiden boss you around. His bark is worse than his bite.
I drop the letter to the desk and look to Zak. “Fucking hell,” is all I manage to say.
“No fucking kidding. Rox told me I wasn’t allowed to kill the fucker, and now I’ve got no chance of cutting the cunt.”
I let the laugh come because at the very least it helps clear the lump in the back of my throat. No man in his right fucking mind would admit that shit.
“Maddox, we need to go,” Kavanagh hollers down the hall from the kitchen.
“Put this in the safe. We’ll have to deal with it when we return,” I tell Zak, passing him the folded sheets, including the letter.
In the kitchen, we find Kavanagh checking over some weapons. Bowser left last night after the plan was made. I gave him another job to do. One which will hopefully cause a tiny problem for James.
The cellar door is open, and the groans of someone in pain rumble up from below. They are quickly followed by the voice of Smithy telling Tommy to “shut the fuck up” as they get closer and closer.
Tommy stumbles out first, but he looks like a she with a short pixie cut wig and one of Star’s t-shirts. Smithy brings up the rear, giving Tommy a small shove as he halts when he sees us all standing there.
“What the hell is going on, Maddox? Why am I dressed like a fucking girl?” he whines, stopping again.
“You owe me a debt, Tommy, and now it’s time to pay the fuck up. So, sit your arse down until we are ready to go and don’t fucking talk.” I pull a chair out for him, and he hobbles over and drops down in it with a groan.
The room is silent other than the odd click of a gun as Kavanagh and Zak continue to check and load the weapons. When Star walks in with Roxanne a few minutes later, Tommy’s eyes widen, then he looks down at himself and back to Star, who is wearing an identical top. Realisation finally dawns on him.
“You’re using me as bait?”
“Give the man a gold star,” Roxanne mocks, placing her bat on the breakfast bar and stepping past Star. As she reaches the table, Kavanagh hands her a gun, the same one she had the other day, and she checks it over before holstering it beneath the leather jacket she’s now wearing.
Kavanagh’s phone pings on the table. Looking at it, he raises his head and nods. “It’s time.”
In the last couple of days, Connor has noticed movement in the house next door. The people that live there have gone on holiday, and it looks like Rogers has someone using it to keep watch. There are at least two of them because when we’ve left the house, someone always follows, which is why we had to double back and lose the tail the other night when we met with Laskin, but Connor has seen someone else inside the house at the same time.
We’ve been waiting for his message to say that he’s seen movement inside, giving us the best opportunity for them to see us leaving with Star, or at least that’s what we hope they’ll think anyway.
Everything rests on this. We need them to follow us and tip Rogers off about our location. Meanwhile, Smithy will be moving Star to the real safe house.
Kavanagh finishes with the last weapons and hands the bag off to Zak, who takes it out to the garage. He and Kavanagh are going to take Zak’s car with Tommy, fake Star, while Roxanne and I follow on the bike.
Then a little while after we leave, Smithy is going to leave here with the real Star concealed in the car.
Maria walks into the kitchen just as Zak re-enters from the garage. She’s carrying a bag, which she sets down beside the door to the garage.
“Maria?” I question.
“If you think for one second I’m being left behind, then you’re wrong, Maddox. Besides, Star will be safer with two of us,” she states, her tone determined and leaving no room for argument.
I shake my head at her, then look to Smithy, who simply shrugs. Roxanne steps toward her, and I see the concern in her face.
“You don’t need to do that, Maria,” she tells her.
Maria looks up at Roxanne, reaching out with both hands and laying them on her face. “I know I don’t, Roxy, but this is what families do for one another. Theo always believed that the sacrifices we make for our families are paid back one way or another.” She pats Roxanne’s cheek and then pulls her down to kiss her forehead.
