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“You’re my job.”
“Then you’re a fool.”
I swallow this down bitterly. “I don’t need the job to make me happy.”
“It’s not about needing anything, boy,” Eddie scoffs. “If this is a means to an end, then I pity you. But if you want something more, then you’re a fool.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know the Reaper doesn’t usually get this close to his ‘job.’”
Eddie turns to me then, a dark glint in his eyes, unsettling against his weathered skin. The cigarette in between his fingers burns out.
“Are you going to kill me, Arnold Knight?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Roisin
The apartment is empty when I get in.
Arnie had texted me to say he was called in for a job, but honestly, the taxi ride home was needed. Just so that I could clear my head after the conversation with Eda.
What she was saying about him and Connor really messed with me. I’ve never felt like I couldn’t trust my family until a few weeks ago, but to imagine the lengths they might go to in order to get what they want…
I try not to panic. I’m back at Julliard, surrounded by friends. Whether Arnie chooses me over my brother… or my brother uses Arnie’s weaknesses against him, I have an advantage now.
All I need to do is get my head in gear and figure out a plan to get out if it comes down to it. Arnie seems to think Julliard is safe enough for us to stay for a while. But would the security here really be enough to stop someone who really wanted to get in?
I look at the closed doors of Bella and Felicity’s room and shrink a little. Would they be in danger if I stayed here?
Needing a rather large distraction, I open the fridge, looking thoughtfully over the bottle of wine inside. I reach for it out of habit and have to stop myself.
It’s funny how quickly Arnie’s face pops up in my head. It’s not that I think he’d be disappointed in me; it’s just the reminder that he’s also trying sobriety for no other reason than to support me. A fondness for my fiance swells within me. No, I don’t need to be dealing with alcohol right now.
Instead, I turn on my heel and head to the shower.
It’s a shared bathroom situation, with each surface and storage space laden with every beauty product conceivable. It’s a mess on the best of days, but somehow, we’ve been able to make it work… for the most part. It takes me a second to identify my shampoo in the litter of bottles on the rack.
With the shower warming up and the steam starting to fog up the mirror, I begin to breathe a little easier.
Things have been turbulent the last few weeks, but there are a few things I know for certain. I list them in my head as I go through the motions of cleaning myself.
My family founded one of the largest Irish mobs in New York.
My sister is going to marry the son of our greatest rival.
My brother is marrying me to his ally so he can afford to get my sister back… by any means necessary.
My fiance is an assassin and vows to keep me safe.
Whatever his motives, the fourth in my list repeats itself in my mind more than the others.
It’s a truth that resonates with me more forcefully than I think I ever realized before. Because,of course,Arnie will keep me safe. He’s been doing that since the moment he convinced me to leave the scene ofhiscrime.
I let the warmth of the shower release some of the tension in my shoulders. Whatever Eda was trying to imply at our meeting, Arnie has only ever done what’s best for my safety. And that… That I can live with. Even if the safest thing is to be taken back to my brother.
But God, do I hope it never comes to that.
