Chapter 2

JESSIE Isit in the back of the SUV, sandwiched between the twins, who I now know to be Liam and Mikey. The two of them are so huge, their thighs are pressed tightly against mine as the three of us share the back seat. They’re identical twins, but I can already tell them apart by virtue of the small scar below Liam’s left ear and the fact that he’s about an inch taller than his brother. I have an eye for detail and I’m a quick study. They're skills that have helped me to survive for so long on my own. Apart from telling them my name, I’ve said nothing else since we left Nikolai’s house. I have listened though, to every single thing that they’ve said. It doesn’t take me long to realize I’m in a car with the Ryan brothers—the heads of the New York branch of the Irish Mafia. These guys are ruthless, and they own half of New York, but I’ve never come across them personally before. I suppose the Russians and the Irish don’t gel that well? Shane is the oldest of the four, and everything about him, from the way that he talks to how he holds himself, tells me he’s their leader. Conor drives the car. He’s Shane’s second—the closer. Smooth talking and charismatic. The twins appear to be quite a few years younger and, from what I can gather, are largely the muscle. “You okay there, Jessie?” Liam turns and says in his soft Irish lilt. He has a twinkle in his dark brown eyes and what seems to be a genuine smile on his face. “We’re almost home.” “I’m good. Thanks,” I say with a nod. In fact, I’m not sure how I feel. I’m incredibly relieved to still be alive. I’m happy that Nikolai Semenov and his most loyal soldiers are all dead. But I was so close to finding him.And now it feels like I’m taking ten steps backwards. “You’ll like our place,” Mikey says on the other side of me. I turn my head to him and offer him a faint smile. The brothers begin to talk amongst themselves again. They’re discussing their nightclub and how they plan on dealing with the trouble they’ve been having there for the past few nights. I half listen, keeping an ear out for any snippets of information that might be useful to me, but my mind wanders. What the hell is my next move? It took me almost two years to get close enough to Nikolai that I was allowed into his inner circle—even if it was the seventh circle of hell. I look at the two oldest Ryan siblings sitting in front of me. Like their brothers either side of me, they wear the finest Italian leather shoes and impeccably tailored suits. They’re all tall, dark, and stacked, as well as very easy on the eye. Besides any of that, though, I get a good feeling about them and I‘ve learned to trust my gut. It rarely lets me down. They are notorious. They do bad things, but that doesn’t always mean that they’re bad men. I imagine there are lots of people who would disagree, but I suppose I have a different morality barometer than most people. The things I’ve seen and lived through have taught me that sometimes good people do terrible things to get by in this world. I lean back in the leather seat and close my eyes. The warmth of Liam and Mikey on either side of me is strangely comforting. Their conversation washes over me, and I absorb it all. Perhaps a few weeks or months working for the Ryan brothers, because I will prove my worth to them, will be a good thing. I can lay low and regroup. Gather more intel while I decide what to do next. Because I am so close. I know he’s out there somewhere. Waiting. I can almost feel him. —————— The Ryan brothers’ apartment is freaking huge. It must cover the entire top floor of the building. I look around me, with my mouth hanging open as I follow Liam and Mikey along the hallway. Their older brothers went into the nightclub that makes up the ground floor and basement of this building. Or part of it, at least. From what I could see when we drove in, half of it is used as a parking lot for the building. It’s packed with top end, high spec cars, and I wonder if they all belong to the brothers or whether someone else lives in this block. “You want something to eat? Or maybe a drink?” Liam asks as I walk behind him, my sneakers making a satisfying soft squeaking sound on the solid wooden floor. “A cold drink would be good,” I say as I hoist my backpack further onto my shoulder. “This way.” He cocks his head, and we turn left and into the biggest kitchen I have ever seen in my life. “What do you fancy?” Mikey asks as he opens the massive refrigerator and sticks his head inside. “Soda? Juice? Water?” He pulls his head back out and looks at me with a grin on his face and, for a moment, I almost forget that I am basically their prisoner. I could be here on a date the way they’re both so at ease and casual about the whole thing. My mind wanders for a few seconds. A date with one of these hot brothers? Or both of them?