Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
“Aedan?”
Her smile disappears. “My brother.”
Her bossy big brother who’s probably worried about his little sister. “Do you think Aedan could be the one looking for you?”
She tilts her head to the side and considers the possibility for a moment before nodding. “I guess it could be him. I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving or where I was going, which I’m sure drove him nuts when they discovered I was gone. I wouldn’t put it past him to still be searching for me after all this time. Aedan can be pretty relentless. It’s part of what helped him move up so quickly in the drug business.”
“The drug business?”
Her eyes leave mine and I can see she’s uncomfortable. “Yeah, he was only twenty-three when he killed his boss and made a name for himself. But not just because he wanted his job,” she assures me like it makes it better. “The guy was a total creep when it came to women, kidnapping them and getting them hooked on drugs before pimping them out. Aedan might be a drug dealer, but what his boss was doing was unacceptable to him. Since nobody else would do anything to stop the guy and he was in a position to take care of it, he killed him.”
“You got a phone number I can use to get ahold of him?”
“Yeah, but…” She looks away. “I don’t want him to be able to trace me.”
“That’s where my super-secret spy skills come in handy,” I say and she laughs. I give her a quick kiss then shift her off my lap and go to my desk, grabbing one of my burner phones from the bottom drawer. “This has no GPS, and the number isn’t connected to me. We can call him on this without any risk of him finding you.”
She eyes the phone warily. “I’m not sure I’m ready to talk to him yet. It’s too soon after Jenna’s birth, and all I can think about is how she wouldn’t be here if I listened to him.”
“You don’t need to talk to him.” I sit down next to her and take her hand. “I’ll call him; all I need to know is if he’s the one looking for you.”
“Okay.” She takes the phone from me, flips it open, and punches in a number before handing it back. I squeeze her hand then press the green button and put the phone to my ear, listening to it ring.
“O’Sullivan.”
“Aedan O’Sullivan?”
“Yeah, you got him. Who the fuck is this?”
I get up and pace back and forth in front of the couch. “Who I am doesn’t matter as much as who’s sitting in front of me.”
“Aubrey. You have my sister? I swear to fucking God, if you lay a single finger on her, I’ll hunt you down and make you wish I’d kill you, motherfucker.”
He’s loud enough that Aubrey flinches. “Keep it down, asshole. You’re scaring your sister.”
“Scaring her?” His tone ratchets down to a whisper. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m the man she and her daughter are living with.” It’s as much as I’m willing to tell him until I can figure out for myself if he can be trusted with Aubrey and Jenna’s whereabouts.
“She had a girl?”
The pain in his voice is enough to make me stop pacing, and I sit down on the edge of the couch. “Yeah. They’re both doing really good too.”
“Then you need to keep who she is to yourself so they stay that way. There are people here who would kill to get their hands on that baby.”
“That’s why I’m calling. I picked up a trace on her online, and I’m working to track down the source.”
“As far as I know, I’m the only one who’s been looking for her. But if word gets out that she had a baby, questions will be asked.” There’s a loud crashing noise in the background, and it sounds an awful lot like he’s just thrown something against the wall. “I don’t like the idea of my baby sister living with some guy I’ve never met, but it’s a fuck of a lot better than visiting her grave while some depraved asshole raises my niece. It’s better if she stays out of the picture so people don’t start to ask questions.”
“I’m not going to let Paulie Sr. find out about her or the baby,”
“How are you connected to the Amidio family?” he asks, his tone deadly.
He sure as fuck doesn’t need to know I’m the one who killed Paulie Jr., so I toss out two names that’ll let him know I’m playing for the opposite side without giving too much away. “Kai and Sven.”
“Well, fuck,” he groans. “Seems we all have the same problem then.”
“Yeah,” I agree, “and I think we might be able to help each other out with it.”