Page 17 of Cutting (Doyle Irish Mob #1)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Sean

THE PAST PAST few months have flown by. Between taking Tara out on dates, watching our baby grow inside her, and our work against the Cartel, I haven’t had much time to let the doubts fester, and when I do, I cut them off by going down to the basement.

I’m headed there now, though I’m feeling apprehensive about it. Normally when I go to Eclipse, Tara stays at home. If I’m gone during the day, then she’s usually doing her remote work. If at night, she bounces between inviting her girl’s over for mock-tails, or having a quiet night to herself where she knits and binge watches her shows.

She fucking knits. She’s not bad at it. She’s actually made an awesome blanket for our little nugget’s crib. It’s gray and white, so it can work for whichever gender our baby ends up being. It’s just a bit of a mind fuck sometimes when I see her knitting.

I’ll come home after cutting a man’s fingers off for lying to me, and there she is, sitting on our couch, knitting away while she asks about my day.

Today, Tara has asked to join me at Eclipse. She wanted to get out and go dancing one last time before the baby gets here. We’re in the last trimester now. Only ten weeks to go.

I agreed to take her with me, as long as she and her friends stay in VIP, and she stays where Rian and Oscar can see her.

Once at the club, I walk her up to the VIP section. Rian and Oscar both scatter to take up positions where they can see her, but not crowd her. Jake is back on bar up here and gives a nod when I tip my head at Tara. “Be good. And have fun.” I tell her.

She smiles brightly. “We will. And thank you!” Then she leans in and whispers in my ear. “Be safe with your mafia stuff.” I pull back and see the honesty and care in her eyes. Needing more than words, I slam my lips on hers and take her mouth in a punishing kiss. I let my tongue tangle with hers and hope that it conveys how much I care about her. How much I need her. Once we’re breathless, I take a partial step back, so I can lean down and press a kiss to our little nugget. “Be good for mommy little one.”

The answering kick against my hand shocks me, and I nearly stumble back. It’s the first time I’ve felt a kick. Up until now it’s been tiny flutters I can barely feel. “Nugget wants you safe too.” Tara whispers to me.

I kiss her again. A short peck this time. Then hand her off to Laura and Sam now that they’ve arrived.

Killian, Grady, and Callum are already waiting in the basement.

There’s another street soldier strapped to my chair. It looks like Grady and Callum have already worked him over a decent bit. He is bloody. Missing fingernails. And looks like a bat has been taken to both knees.

Grady is standing off to the right, holding a lit torch in his hands. I can practically smell the burning flesh already. It’s a horrible smell. Takes forever to leave the nose even when you leave the room.

Killian gives me a nod in greeting before instructing Grady to continue.

Grady moves the torch to the man’s feet. The skin has barely begun to burn before he’s crying out.

Pussy.

Grady pulls the torch away and snuffs out the flame.

My turn.

I move out of the shadows and into the light so the man can see me. “Start talking.”

For the next twenty minutes, he spouts off all sorts of information we already knew. A few times, he starts to clam up, so I take my hunting knife and press it into the burnt flesh on top of his feet. He’ll scream for a minute, then start talking again.

I’m losing patience. My girl is upstairs, looking sexy as fuck, and I’m stuck down here smelling piss and burnt flesh. My adrenaline is pumping. It’s getting to the point where I know I need to fuck or fight, and as much as I’m down for any excuse to fuck my wife, I’m itching for a fight more. Patrick and the Cartel are a headache I want to finally be rid of. These baby steps taking out one lowly soldier at a time is getting tiresome.

“Enough of this.” I finally growl.

I walk over to my tools, and pick up the torch. It only takes me a moment to light it. I make sure I do it in clear site of our guest. The panic returns in an instant. All color drains from his face.

I bring the torch nice and close, so we can both hear the sizzling of the flames. “I need real information. Dates and times of drops and pick-ups. I need locations of warehouses and safe houses. I need to know who the creator of “V” is. Give me that, and I will end this. Keep wasting my time, and the next place my torch touches, is your dick and balls.” He visibly swallows. I doubt he has any bodily fluids let in him, but I swear I smell fresh piss. “Got me?”

He nods. When no words follow it, I slowly lower the torch towards his crotch. “Tuesday.” He screeches.

Smiling I pull the torch back, but don’t kill the flame. “Tuesday, warehouse six at the north docks. It’s an outgoing shipment. I don’t know the time, they don’t tell us until a few hours before.”

He has more information. I know he does. So I don’t move. Not an inch. I keep my eyes on him, and my torch lit.

He begins to stutter and spit out the location of two stash houses, then the location of where the run down shack he meets at to get his assignments are. And finally he mentions he knows there is a location they use as headquarters somewhere in the east side, but he’s never been and doesn’t have an exact location. Only top officers meet there.

The street solder is quiet for a minute. I wonder briefly if that is all he has to offer. I look at him. Thinking back to all the time’s I’ve spent with Massimo and Livianna, all the tells she’s told me to look for. That’s when I see it. The twitch in his right hand. The thumb.

“What else?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “That’s it. That’s all I know.”

I take a menacing step towards him. “Liar.” I bring the torch down. It’s dangerously close. He’s panicking now. Trying to shift away, but there’s no moving once you are in my chair. I’m an inch away now. Drawing out the fear. “Stop. Stop. Boss has a mistress.”

I pull back slightly. “And…” I press.

“And he’s always going over there. He’ll probably be there tonight.”

“Address?” The street soldier rattles it off, and tells me there are usually a few guards there as well. “What’s the mistress name?”

“Saoirse Quinn.”

The room goes quiet. Too quiet. We all know that name. I flick the torch off, and turn to Grady. His eyes blaze with fury. His hands balled into fists.

Killian approaches him slowly.

“We done with him?” Grady asks, nudging his head towards the chair.

Killian looks to me. I give a nod of consent. I’m confident he’s given us all he knows. “Yes. He’s all yours.” Replies Killian.

The smile that crosses Grady’s face is terrifying enough to make me shrink back to the wall. I tune out the screams and echoes of breaking bones.

Saoirse is Grady’s seventeen year old cousin on his mom’s side. Her parent’s didn’t want her raised in the life. They sent her to a boarding school in Wisconsin. She shouldn’t be in the city.

While Grady finishes with our guest, I head upstairs to clean up and weapon up. Seems a bit redundant, but I need to see Tara before I leave, and I can’t be smelling of burning flesh when I do.

After confirming with Zack that there is no hint of the scent from the basement on me, I make my way over to Tara. She is dancing with her friends. Oscar and Rian are standing close by.

Unsurprisingly Keira, Livianna, and Elena are here as well. Killian, must have called their men to let them know we’ve got a target for the night.

Livianna and Tara are off to the side of everyone, comparing baby bumps. Livianna’s nearly ready to pop. Tara’s is popping a bit more each day. I love every bit of watching her grow our baby. The bigger she is, the stronger I feel they are getting.

I make my way to Tara, she spots me right away, and practically runs to me. After we kiss she asks me if I’m staying. “Sorry sweetheart, I’ve got one more job to do tonight.” I can see she wants to ask questions, but she won’t.”

Instead she just says, “please be safe.”

“Always.” Then I kiss her again, and remind her to tell Rian or Oscar when she’s ready to head home.

Keira promises to watch out for Tara and her friends too. Elena whines that it’s unfair she doesn’t get to go hunting. Luca tries soothing her ruffled feather by asking her to stay with the women. She’s got two maybe three pregnant friends that need protecting.

“Fine. But if I don’t get to stab anyone tonight, you’re not getting lucky.” She threatens.

Luca’s face pales. “That’s just fucking mean.” He retorts, then grabs her and plants a hefty kiss on her lips.

On the way to the cars Callum and Killian debate how long until they think Keira will be pregnant. Grady wonders what age she will teach them to throw a right hook.

While in the cars, both Killian and Luca are coordinating among the other members of their respective teams. They have the Irish hitting one stash house and the Italians hitting another. Killian was going to sit on stand-by in a central location. He wants to be in on the action, but he wants to be there when Patrick is found. After talking it over, he opts to go with Luca back to the Italian compound to coordinate with Val.

I go with Grady to get Saoirse. We opt for a small team to not draw unnecessary attention in case Patrick is there, or in the area.

There are two guards watching the building from the front. Neither look a day over twenty. The building looks like it’s one good sneeze from falling down. What the hell is Saoirse doing here?

Grady and I each quickly take out one of the guards. We wait a moment, to see if we can hear anyone inside. It’s quiet, so we pull our guns and enter cautiously.

Inside the apartment every flat surface if covered in old beer bottles, and drug paraphernalia.

We clear each room one at a time, looking for anyone who may be hiding. It isn’t until the third bedroom that we find Saoirse. She’s passed out with a needle still in her arm.

Stepping closer, to see if she’s breathing, my eyes get caught on her stomach.

“Fuck. Is she?” I can’t finish asking. I know the answer even though I wish I didn’t.

Grady’s face is red with anger. His body vibrating with fury. “Yeah. She’s pregnant.” The baby bump is noticeable. She has to be about six months pregnant. The rest of her looks emaciated. I gently pull the needle from her arm and undo the elastic band.

Grady delicately picks her up. As I lead the walk out the building. I keep my weapon up and at the ready.

As we near the exit, we hear a single gunshot. Jumping back, I press Grady into the wall behind the door to protect Saoirse and him. After a minute of not hearing anything, I signal for Grady to stay, and I move forward to check out the exit.

Danny, who was acting as driver and lookout, has a man face down on the concrete. Blood pooling beneath his leg. I call our the all clear to Grady.

Instead of calling for back-up like we normally would, we knock out Danny’s capture and throw him in the trunk for safe keeping while we rush Saoirse to the hospital.

It’s quiet the whole way to the hospital.

It’s quiet while we sit in the waiting room.

It’s quiet as Tara crawls into my lap, offering me silent support while we wait to here about Grady’s cousin.

I didn’t find out until the next day how she heard about us being there, but both Grady and I appreciated her support. Me especially. I needed Tara. I needed our baby. I needed to know they were both safe.