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“How long have you known about him?”
“Since I worked for the Russians.”
I frown at her. “That was over ten years ago.”
“I know. Alexei always knew he had a son, but he had no interest in him. He was only ever focused on finding that slut of a daughter of his,” she cackles.
Conor slams on the brake, bringing the car to a screeching halt as he turns in his seat.
“You ever call her that again and I will cut out your fucking tongue,” he snarls.
Erin rolls her eyes and leans back in her seat, giving me a smirk. I take a deep breath and squeeze my fists together. She will pay for every slight against my wife soon enough, but right now I want information and she is so damn arrogant and pleased with herself, she’s going to give it.
“So you always knew about Jessie then? Who she really was?”
“Not at first, no.” She shakes her head. “Not until you came to my office with her and asked me to start looking into the Ivanovs.”
“So it was you who told Alexei where she was?” I snarl at her.
“He already knew anyway. One of his men had recognized her. So bloody careless of her to work against the Bratva when you’re supposed to be hiding from them.”
“Well, she didn’t know she was supposed to be hiding from them,” I snarl, unable to stop myself from defending her.
“Hmm,” Erin sniffs as she looks out of the window.
“And the brotherhood? What were they getting from all of this?”
“Power, of course. I met one of them while I was doing some work for Alexei and when I told them that there were not one but two Ivanov heirs out there, they were more than happy to help me rid the world of one of them so they could use the other to take over.”
“So your grand plan was to replace Vlad with Hayden so that the brotherhood had someone at the top they could control?”
“I don’t care what the Bratva do. Whether Vlad or the brotherhood are in control is of no consequence to me.”
“You did all this just to get rid of Jessie?”
“Bingo!” she says with a cackle and I stare at her. She must be having some kind of psychotic episode. “So what is your grand plan now, Shane? Kill me and bury me in an unmarked grave?” she laughs.
“Bingo!” Conor pipes up.
“Shane could never kill someone he loves,” she replies coolly.
I swear she is unhinged. “I don’t love you, Erin,” I remind her.
“But you did. And a part of you always will, Shane. You can’t deny that no matter how much you want to.” She flutters her eyelashes at me and I shake my head in bewilderment.
Chapter 49
Jessie
After Hayden had told us about Erin’s plans to assist the brotherhood to take back control of the Bratva, Mikey and Liam bundled him into the SUV. Liam drove while Mikey sat in the back with my half-brother, because we both agreed that Liam couldn’t be trusted not to kill Hayden on route. I have never seen him so angry. He is a ball of pent-up rage and aggression and if his brothers don’t get back here soon, then I don’t know if Mikey and I will be able to control him.
Liam parks the car in the basement of the apartment building and jumps out, opening the back passenger door and pulling Hayden from the car. He pushes my half-brother toward the far side of the basement while Mikey and I climb out of the car.
Hayden’s hands are tied and he stumbles to the floor. He is still crying. He has cried all the way here. At first he kept telling me how sorry he was, how much he came to care for me, how terrified he was that Erin was going to have him killed. I have no doubt that she would have, too. Evil bitch.
I knew something was off about her from the moment I met her. If everything had gone to plan and the brotherhood had managed to get me that day in the ice cream store, I have no doubt she would have pinned everything on him. He would have been killed anyway, but by the Irish Mafia instead of the Bratva.
My heart hurts a little as I look at him cowering on the floor. He was right when he said this is not his world and while he has no experience of the struggles that I’ve endured, I am glad about that. If my brothers were still alive, I would want them to live a life free of pain and fear. Hayden was broke and all alone in the world when Erin found him and offered him an easy way out. Who can say what we would do if we were in a position like that? And I do believe he has a good heart in there somewhere.
