That didn’t mean my family wasn’t involved in a political conspiracy that was what nightmares were made of.
Woodenly, I told Jen, “Finn had to go out. No one else’s here.”
It was the first time he had since we’d gone to the warehouse together.
It was always interesting when he worked from home. I learned a lot of shit about the business that I really shouldn’t have been listening in on.
Today’s conversation with Aidan had been about ghost guns and the arrival of a shipment in the city. That was why he’d had to go out.
I didn’t think Finn often got his hands dirty with stuff like this but Aidan had asked him to come with, and Finn had complied.
It had to be pretty important, though, if he’d left the apartment.
I got the feeling that he thought if he left, I’d get the locks changed and he wouldn’t be able to get back in.
The thought had me blinking at Jen when I realized she was talking to me while I wasn’t listening.
But three words resonated.
“You killed someone?” I gulped. “Jen, you killed someone?” She winced. And I didn’t even care that I was repeating myself for the third time. “You killed someone?”
“Honey,” she said carefully, “you’re married to a Five Pointer. You’re an Irish Mob wife. You’re seriously giving me shade for killing that creep, Vlad?”
It wasn’t like she was wrong. Especially not when I knew where Finn was spending his goddamn afternoon.
“Well, no, I’m not giving you shade, but…” I dropped the whisk which splattered onto the counter, making one hell of a mess, then staggered back to sit at the kitchen table.
The ache in my side morphed from a nagging, dull pain into a sharp one. Like something was clawing at me.
“Do you need some water?”
Her words broke into my thoughts. “No. I just—” My brow furrowed. “Why did you kill him?”
Jen had killed someone. Jen had actually killed someone.
I wasn’t sure if that came as a shock or not.
The way she led her life meant that she put herself in a lot of danger. I guessed I’d known, at some point, that would lead to consequences.
It was why I tried to help her find a rich sugar daddy. If she found someone, then they’d protect her, keep her safe.
Still…
Her mother’s boyfriend?
That blindsided me.
“Because he was attacking me.” She rolled her eyes as she squatted down in front of me. “I didn’t do it for fun.”
I rubbed my temple as my mind warred with the knowledge that Jen had killed her mom’s boyfriend, and it led to little spots dancing in front of my eyes. “Why were you even with him?”
“He came to my place. I didn’t shut the damn door properly. It was my fault for being stupid, but he barged in, and then…” She reached up and fingered a tiny Band-Aid on her earlobe. “He dragged my earring off so he could pawn it.”
“You’re joking.” But it wasn’t a question. My gaze followed the passage of her fingers and I cringed, both with the idea of how much that would have hurt all while I felt the same kind of pain in my being.
“No. He groped me, started saying shit like he’d make more money if he whored me out instead of my mother. So… I stopped him.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I choked, wondering if I looked like a pressure cooker that was on the brink of exploding.
God, after this weekend, this was just too fucking much.
She stared down at the floor, and I immediately felt guilty. Here she was, confessing this horrible thing to me and she probably wanted back up, and all I could think was that I wanted to huddle on the floor and cry.
God, that sounded so good.
The pain had abated this weekend, and it had made me forget about what the doctor had said. But there was no forgetting it when my body was giving me a reminder to end all reminders.
“I need your help with Conor.”
Whatever I’d expected her to say, it wasn’t that. “Conor?” I blurted out. “O’Donnelly? Conor O’Donnelly?”
“How many Conors do we know?”
I swallowed because she had a point, but I wasn’t sure if I’d ever look at Conor in the same light again. “Why do you need help with him?”
“Maybe I don’t. Maybe Finn will help.” She sucked in a breath that she released on a whoosh, alongside: “But… I started dating someone.”
Jesus. Would the hits never end?
I gaped at her. “You’re dating someone?!”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It was just a fling, until it wasn’t. His name’s Luciu Valentini. I think he’s been arrested for Vlad’s murder.
“I tried his place and the club he owns but… nada. I can’t get any information. I need Conor, or Finn, to get me some.”
My eyes felt blurry as I whispered, “Why? Can’t you just ask this Luciu’s family?”
“I need to know what’s happening and his brother’s a dick.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were dating someone.”
“I didn’t think it was serious.”
“It’s serious enough that you’re here asking for a favor from the Irish Mob,” I sniped before I reached up and rubbed my forehead again. “Why do I know that name?” It rang a bell, I just wasn’t sure from where.
“He has ties to the mafia,” she mumbled under her breath.
I clicked my fingers as I remembered overhearing Finn and Aidan talking about him during the holidays. “He’s the Cheshire Cat smile guy.”
“He only does one cheek,” she defended.
Like that was a good thing?
“One’s ample. Are you sure you’re not happy he’s been arrested? I mean, it’s one way to get rid of him—”
“No! Aoife, I don’t want him locked up for something he didn’t do. I-I…” Jen heaved a sigh. “You won’t believe me.”
“Babe, I didn’t think you could kill someone, but I believe that,” I said carefully. “Trust me, I don’t think there’s much you could say that would surprise me.”
“I love him.”
She loved him.
I stared at her for a second, wondering if she’d started talking Urdu or something and I just hadn’t realized it, but before I could even say a word, the dizziness and the spots dancing in front of my eyes turned into an all-out Irish jig.
There was no longer only one Jen looking up at me—there were five.
Suddenly, the muscles in my body that kept me seated upright seemed to turn to soup, and I felt myself falling forward just as that stabbing sensation in my belly morphed like the knife was being twisted and my insides were being attacked.
When the darkness came, and it brought with it some relief from the pain, I embraced it but it wasn’t a total blackout.
I almost wished it were.
I still felt like my stomach was being torn apart but it was muted, like a shadow of the full sensation.
Jen caught me under my armpits. It hurt as she struggled to settle me on the ground. In the background, I could hear Jake sobbing, and I realized that was why the blackout wasn’t total.