AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jack smiles. It’s genuine. “In caseyouweren’t aware, my new job comes with a few perks.”
My face drops. My heart all but stops. I hold my breath, not quite wanting to believe what I think Jack’s suggesting. When he suggested me seeing Mads, I assumed he meant bringing her in here. “What are you saying?”
Jack stands then slowly walks to the door he came in through.
I crane my neck towards him.
“It’s time to go home.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
DEAN
I’m back, babe. Staring at the house, I’ve almost made it. The place I long to be, my home, she’s on the other side of the door. Relief settles deep in my soul. I feel like I can finally breathe easy. Six weeks and yet it feels like I endured eternity to get back here. I should be running to the door, tearing it down until I have her in my arms. But unease keeps me in my seat.
“What is it?”
I slowly look at Jack.
He sits in the driver’s seat of his car, one hand on the steering wheel, his body slightly turned to mine. “Ten minutes you’ve been staring at the door. Why not go in already?”
Looking back to the house, my chest tightens. “When I go in, I’m not leaving her again.” I look to Jack. “I won’t do that to her.”
Jack nods his understanding. “Family.” He half smiles. “They’re our greatest weakness.”
“She’s given me nothing but strength,” I fire back.
“I don’t doubt that.” He raises a hand as if to apologise. “But there’s a reason you’re still sat here. You’re doubtin’ yourself.”
Wrong. I’m not. “Until I know the full plan, I’m wondering what the cost to my family will be.”
“The cost?” Jack questions.
Of course. He wouldn’t understand. I’m new to thesefeelings too. The feeling of loving someone so much you would burn the world to ensure their safety, then realising the world only needs burning when you’re around. “If what you’ve got planned will take me away from her again, then I don’t want it. I need to get out.”
Jack lowers his chin then looks back up. He can hear it in my voice. I’m serious. I walk through that door I’m not leaving her again. “Even with what you know?” he asks.
“What I know?” I retort. I don’t know shit. “I know we need to find and kill the man we let get away, of that I am one hundred percent sure. But whatever else is going on here, I need your word the club and my family aren’t going to suffer under the weight of it.”
“I get it, Deano, but—”
“Do you? Get it, I mean. Because from where I’m sitting, you’re the one who couldn’t call, couldn’t get any word to me that you weren’t dead.” He’s clearly got some muscle behind him, to be able to walk me quite literally out the front door of prison a few days before my trial. I don’t doubt that what’s happening is serious. But what it is, I’m still none the wiser.
Time spent with Jack should have lessened my irritation towards him. It hasn’t. His lips pull tight, hating that I’m not on the same page. “I couldn’t risk it. We need to make sure we bring Costa down properly. He’s been recruiting, pulling people in left right and centre. There can be no fuck ups here. No wrong turns.”
My eyes widen. “You said you sent the threats to keep us away.” I shake my head. “Rather than call me before we got in too deep, you sat back and watched because you couldn’t risk losing your man.” My nostrils flare.
Jack stares at me. A man on a mission. Unable to see past what he wants. “If you really want your out, this is your only opportunity.”
Myonlyway out. “What about the Irish? Did you know theywere planning on ambushing the shipment?”
Jack takes a deep breath. “Who do you think told them?”
Jesus fucking Christ. I exhale, blowing out my cheeks. “You made this so much worse.Youput us in the driving seat.” My heart kicks, sending my temper rising. “One of them talked—ratted to protect his family,” I spit staring him down, my face tight. Jack’s eyes widen. “You didn’t count on The Saint finding out, did you?”
Wiping a hand down his face, he looks remorseful. But mostly exhausted. “I expected the Irish to take the bait. I never expectedyouto intercept it, no,” he says, lines scrunching across his forehead. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
My lip curls. “That when you found out I was inside?”
