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“No, because they know they’re fucking dead men walking if they do,” Conor growls, his knuckles white as he grips the wheel.
Chapter 37
Jessie
The giant Russian’s fingertips have barely brushed my skin when a bullet whizzes through the air and straight through his neck. He crashes against the table as he drops to the floor. His colleague spins around, but another bullet brings him to the same unfortunate end.
I sit back in my chair as my heart races faster and I gasp for breath. The four guards surround me, worry etched on their faces.
“Get her some water!” one shouts.
“Are you okay, Jessie?” Chester asks as he crouches in front of me, rocking back on his heels as he stares at me with concern. With their attention solely on me, Hayden scrambles to his feet and makes a run for the door. One of the SEALs, whose name I don’t know, raises his weapon. These four men have been briefed to shoot to kill when it comes to mine and my babies’ safety and I don’t want Hayden dead.
I jump up and grab his arm. “No! Don’t shoot him. Please?”
He turns to look at me and then at his three colleagues, giving Hayden the opportunity to run out the door. “Should I go after him?”
“No.” Chester shakes his head. “We stay with Mrs. Ryan at all times.”
He nods his understanding and holsters his weapon, allowing Hayden to run to his freedom, albeit temporary. I’ll find the little snake before the week is out.
Someone hands me a glass of cold water and I take a sip as my heart rate starts to return to normal. I’m safe.
“You okay?” Chester asks.
“Yes. Thank you all,” I say with a weak smile.
“Any time.” Chester winks at me.
“Is Daisy okay?” I ask, looking around the room for any sign of the store owner who I’m on first name terms with thanks to my ongoing addiction.
“She’s fine. Unharmed and relieved you’re safe. Someone is taking her home,” Chester replies.
“Good,” I nod, feeling a surge of relief that she wasn’t caught up in the crossfire.
Chester looks me over once more before he stands straight, barking orders to his men as they all get to work fast. One of them starts closing up the shop’s shutters while another makes a call. I listen intently to the plan he instructs his men to follow. Once I’m safely in the armored car outside, where another two ex-SEALS are waiting, one of Chester’s team is going to stay behind to organize the clean-up crew to dispose of the two dead Russians currently bleeding all over the floor.
“You ready to go home?” Chester asks.
“Yes, please,” I say with a shaky breath.
“Let’s move,” Chester barks as he takes hold of my arm and the four men escort me to the SUV outside. “I’ll call Shane from the car,” he says to me and my stomach drops again.
God, the brothers are going to be so mad!
They never trusted Hayden, and with good reason it seems. Liam was right. How could I have been so damn naïve? I thought Hayden and I had formed a bond. I can’t believe he could betray me so easily. I wonder if any of his apparent last minute remorse was even real, or simply an attempt to save his own skin.
I sigh heavily as I rub a hand protectively over my stomach. I’m so relieved the brothers designed their protection system and that I actually remembered to implement it. When we came back to New York from Ireland, they would barely let me out of their sights for more than five minutes. But I hated living like that. I felt stifled and claustrophobic. I mean, it’s not like I often spend time without at least one of them, and I like it that way, but I still wanted the choice to be able to come and go whenever I wanted.
My overprotective husbands had other ideas though, and we fought about it for weeks until they devised a system whereby I tell them when I’m going somewhere and I have a very discreet security detail. They’re so good, I’ve never met five of them before today, but I know they are there, and something about that is actually quite comforting. It also stops the brothers giving me a hard time.
I have forgotten a few times and I was subsequently punished for it, which isn’t all bad, but something about Hayden was off today. That ice cream not being in the freezer was off. There was no way I was leaving the apartment with him alone. I shudder as I think about the fact I could be on my way to anywhere, unconscious and in the back of some Russian’s car. But who the hell wants me now? I thought my past was done with. Will I ever escape the burden of being Alexei Ivanov’s daughter?
“Can you ask someone to take some pictures of their neck tattoos?” I ask Chester as we climb into the car.
“Sure,” he replies with a nod.
I sit in the SUV as it makes the short trip back to the apartment. I listen to Chester’s call to Shane and my heart starts racing again for an entirely different reason. “She’s unhurt. Nobody touched her,” he repeats for the fourth time. “We’re on our way back to the apartment now.”
