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“Ve vere… looking-,” Anton pants. He gathers a mouthful of blood in his mouth and spits it off to the side before lifting his gaze to me. “Looking for you.”
“I gathered that,” I sigh, overly bored. “Why?”
“You killed… Grigoriy.”
“Fuck it, kill him,” I state as I stand, taking a step backward.
“No, vait!” Anton yells as Archer descends, grabbing the man by the collar.
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know, Anton!” I snap, watching him struggle against Archer’s hold.
“Please! Please I— I don’t know everything but Grigoriy… He vas everything!”
The weapon in my hand shifts and Archer pauses his dragging of the man.
“Everything?”
“He vas making ze deals, pressuring ze Irish, setting ze traps. He vas organizing everything trying to rip you Italians apart, all of you so ve could be on top!” Anton gasps, his words wet through the mess in his mouth and his bloodied hands wrap around Archer’s wrists for support. “Ven you killed him, everything fell apart. Ve are fighting each other, no one to take his place so Pakhan vants you dead. Eye for an eye in ze hopes zat killing you vould bring ze same internal crumbling zat we suffer!”
So,Iamthe target. By order of the Pakhan? They want high death numbers rather than power plays?
Whoever was watching that night must have seen Cara get out of that car, reasoned we would leave together, and planted the bomb. They didn’t count on a drunken Callahan starting the engine by himself.
I lower my weapon and the Russian sags in Archer’s hold.
“Zank you,” he croaks and goosebumps prickle along my shoulders.
“Thank you?” I ask coolly, “ Did you really think thatanythingyou offered would be payment enough for your life?”
Anton’s eyes dart wide and he begins to struggle against Archer’s grip. I lift my gun and open fire, shooting him clean between the eyes. Archer grunts in disgust as blood and gore splatter onto the sleeve of his suit and he releases the body with another grunt of disgust.
“Little warning would have been nice Boss,” he mutters, shaking his arm and digging his clean hand into his pockets for another cloth.
“You can handle it,” I reply, holstering my gun once more. “Clean this up,” I add to the men standing guard. They nod and I turn on my heel, striding out of the building with Archer following a moment later.
Wrenching open the garage door, a blast of cool afternoon air hits me and I breathe in a lungful of fresh air not stained with the stink of blood and death.
“You gotta be careful Boss,” Archer says, grimly wiping his sleeve as clean as he can while falling into step next to me. “If they’re tryna kill you this badly, we have to up your security. Don’t need some reckless fucker getting lucky.”
“We can’t. Doing so would just raise suspicion that someone talked,” I mutter.
“It wasn’t a suggestion,” Archer stated and the firmness in his voice pulls me to a halt.
“Excuse me?” Heat flashes up my neck and my eyes narrow.
“With respect, Boss,” Archer begins and he takes a breath so deep it’s as if he’s puffing out his chest. “You were run off the road into a ditch and nearly killed, then you and Cara were nearly blown up outside one of my clubs and all of that wasbeforethey got such a hard-on for you. Now they’re openly raiding your apartment. So,with respect,I’ll be upping your security detail because…” Archer clears his throat and my irritation fades slightly.
“Because?”
“Because I’m not letting you or Cara die on my watch.” Archer squares his shoulder, likely preparing for a barrage from me. To his surprise, and my own, a bubble of laughter creeps up instead and the sound brings a wary smile to Archer’s own face.
“Very well,” I decide, “I won’t turn down any extra support to keep Cara safe.” Reaching out, I grasp Archer’s upper arm and squeeze appreciatively before resuming the path to the car. We have one more chop shop to check out before I head home but as we walk, warmth settles in my chest and tugs slightly at the corners of my mouth.
Archer has become one of my closest confidants and it pleases me he sees Cara in the same vein of importance.
He doesn’t know everything though.
I haven’t told a soul about Blair and her claims, but I’m not sure how long I can keep it a secret. As I slide into the passenger seat, I fetch my phone from my pocket and scroll through the messages. Helping Cara through her grief has been my main focus but her news about Blair hasn’t left my mind.
