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But that unique link was fragile. Not between them, but in relation to the rest of the world. How would they ever be together? Be more than what they were. There would always be naked women in his lap, kneeling at his feet. If she let herself slip too deep into him, she’d be hurt every time those other distractions showed themselves.
“Conn,” she gasped in a whisper when climax consumed her.
The broad blanket of gratification soothed, even as he sped up to spend himself inside her.
He hadn’t said a word. Didn’t say a word even as he rolled to the side, taking her body with him to nestle her against him.
A tear slipped from her eye. The scorch of inevitability stole every illusion.
“Dorsey led the feds to their evidence,” he said, his mouth in her hair. “Silvio wanted to kill her. They came to an understanding. So long as Hell is imprisoned, Dorsey is too.”
“She was a child.”
“Yeah, it was an innocent mistake,” he said, his fingers combing her hair from her temple, back behind her ear, over and over. “The Manzanis keep her alive. She lives by their rules. We’ll get her back… someday.”
“What do they do to her?” she asked, relaxing her open hand on his chest. “Is she kept safe or do they… hurt her?”
“She lives better than Hell, by all accounts. She’s kept in line. They’ve had her since she was four years old. They’ve indoctrinated her. She is what they want her to be. Completely compliant.”
“That’s why the cops stopped looking. Clancy told them to stop.”
“Aye.”
“He knows where she is… You didn’t ever want to go get her?”
“The arrangement keeps the peace. We don’t know exactly where she is, and they move her regularly. Finding out where, busting her out, it’s risky.”
“And why take the risk when you know she’s safe?”
“Safer where she is than on the street.”
“Especially after being locked up for so long,” she said. “God knows what kind of contact she’s had with the outside world. If any.”
“We don’t make waves. Don’t reveal the arrangement and they keep her alive.”
If she’d printed anything that even hinted at McDade cooperation with her investigation, Dorsey could’ve been killed in a second.
“I’m sorry,” she said, turning her head just enough to rest her lips against him. “For your loss and for my interference.”
“You didn’t know,” he said, still finger combing her hair. “Now you do…”
“I’ll leave it alone. I already told Steeple I would.”
“Without getting answers?”
“You said you’d tell me,” she said. “I trusted you would.”
He kissed her head. “Vex wants out from under his father. He believes Silvio’s weak and wants to be more aggressive.”
“Hence his Russian dolls,” she said. “He’s trying to build his own base.”
“Aye, to ultimately challenge Silvio… or kill him.”
“That’s why he was in your office?”
“I give him cover for certain things, sponsor some of his operations, and we get a cut of the bigger pie… when there is one. He’ll give us intel and sabotage his father’s attempt to block the Harvest deal.”
“So you and Evander are allies now.”
