Page 27 of Duncan (Irish Mob of Boston #1)

Freyja

I woke with a start. The dream faded quickly, but her words remained firmly fixed in my memory. Lucille had come to me last night with a message that was sure to cause chaos and mayhem.

She was clear and concise. The events of today were necessary. Yes, it would be scary. But Lucille assured me Duncan’s boss would save me.

Why it couldn’t be Duncan, I wasn’t sure. I would have much preferred him. But Lucille said he had a different path today. One that was equally important.

“Miss Malpas, please wait for Duncan. He is on his way.”

“I’m sorry, Rian. I can’t. Lucille was adamant that I leave on this flight.”

Rian Rafferty, the man Duncan had assigned to watch over me last night, was a good man. He was honest and loyal. Lucille told me he would go far in the organization.

But there were others here that were not. Others that needed to be brought to justice and without proof, it was Lucille’s word against theirs. And Duncan already didn’t believe in Lucille.

“Miss Malpas, he’ll be here any minute.”

“Which is why I must hurry.” I picked up my bag, and he took it from me. I assumed he would hold it hostage, forcing me to stay. But he placed it in the trunk of the car that would take me to the airport.

“He’s gonna kill me for letting you go.”

“He won’t. My sister won’t let him.” I kissed Rian’s cheek and thanked him for his protection. Then I climbed into the car just as Athena stepped outside.

I waved to my sister and blew her a kiss. Duncan would arrive soon, and it was imperative that I not be here.

I checked my bag with a bittersweet sigh, knowing that when I arrived in Boston, it would be abandoned to the lost and found. I hoped I could retrieve it once this day was over.

I tried to enjoy the flight. Even attempted to nap, but my nerves were getting the best of me. I trusted Lucille, but more importantly, I trusted Duncan.

I saw him as soon as I stepped outside the airport. I recognized him from the street that day when Duncan first spoke to me. He and his friends had been chasing this man through the streets of New York.

I hadn’t expected to ever see him again, but here he was. Waiting for me.

Tyran Fitzpatrick.

“Miss Malpas, I need you to come with me. Don’t cause a scene and maybe you won’t get hurt.”

He grabbed my arm roughly, and I knew that for every bruise Duncan found on my body, Tyran would end up with a similar one. He had already threatened to kill a stranger when he thought he had taken me from him.

“You know you won’t survive this fight.”

“Shut the fuck up.” He dragged me to a blacked-out SUV that had a man I didn’t recognize in the driver’s seat.

“Tyran, just give yourself up and let justice be served.”

“Duncan told you who I am?”

“No, Lucille did.”

“Who the fuck is Lucille?” He shoved me toward the vehicle, and I gathered my skirt in my hand before I climbed inside and fastened my seat belt.

“Lucille Ball. She speaks to me in my dreams.”

“Uh, boss. This might not be a good idea,” the driver muttered.

“Shut up, Brian. You don’t get paid to think. You get paid to fuckin’ drive. So drive.”

Brian looked at me in the rearview mirror, and I shrugged. He put the car into gear and pulled away from the airport.

I won’t lie and say I was completely calm with this whole ordeal. But I was surprisingly relaxed with my fate. As Athena said, Duncan was my path, and anyone that tried to block that path would be bulldozed over.

And it would take a bulldozer to knock Tyran out of the way.

“He’ll find you, you know. Duncan will kill you if Sal doesn’t.”

Tyran turned and slapped my face. “Shut the fuck up.”

We drove the rest of the way from the airport to the abandoned building in silence. When we exited the vehicle, I stared up at the seven-story building. Plywood covered the windows. The front lawn was overgrown, and the front steps looked to be crumbling.

This was not the type of building to be traipsing around in a skirt and ballet flats.

“Let’s go.” Tyran grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly up the walk. When he dragged me up the first three flights of stairs, I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad there was no elevator.

He pushed me into a chair, and Brian zip tied my wrists to the armrests. He left my legs free, and I was glad I could move them around.

“I’m sorry, Miss Malpas.”

“I understand, Brian. You have a job to do. I won’t say it’s alright, because kidnapping a woman is never ok. You made your choice. You need to accept the responsibility for it.”

Shame crossed over his face at my words. As it should. I felt for the young man. He was only doing what he was told. But he still made a choice to join this group.

Unfortunately for him, he chose the wrong group.

I looked round the room. It appeared to have been an apartment at one time. It would be quite nice if someone put a little money into it. Maybe I should inquire about purchasing it.

I could use a project to keep me busy while I adjusted to life in Boston. I hadn’t seen much of the city on the drive here, and I wondered where Duncan lived.

Was it a brownstone similar to this? Or a penthouse in the heart of the city? Or maybe he had a home that was separate from other buildings.

That would be nice.

I didn’t need a mansion like my family lived in. But a home was something I had always dreamed about. A backyard where my kids could play. Maybe a quiet street they could learn to ride a bike on.

“Yea, I’ve got her.” Tyran’s voice pulled me out of my musings. He was in another room. He might have believed he was talking quietly where I couldn’t hear him. But no one had taught Tyran Fitzpatrick about inside voices.

“No, he’ll come. They all will.”

I couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation. There were no clues to who he could be talking to.

“The place is wired. We won’t be here when they get here.”

Wired?

I guess I won’t be buying this place then.

Ok, Lucille, you said I wouldn’t be hurt? I know what wired means!

I watched the confusion mar Brian’s face. He heard what I heard, but it seemed as though this was the first he was hearing about it.

“Once they’re gone, Sean is next. If Bellamy doesn’t fall in line, then she’ll go, too.”

Who is Bellamy?

“Once we leave, I’ll send him a message. I’ll set a trip wire in the doorway. As soon as they rush in, they clip it and BOOM! They’re all gone.”

“Miss Malpas, I didn’t know what Tyran was planning. He said you wouldn’t be hurt,” Brian whispered.

“Brian, he kidnapped me from the airport. Did you really think he meant to hide me for a while, then let me go? Do you understand what Duncan will do when he learns of this?” I whispered back, trying to keep my voice low so Tyran didn’t hear it.

Brian looked over his shoulder frantically, then back at me. “I don’t know what to do. I’ll have to leave with him. I won’t be able to come back and get you out.”

“Cut the zip ties. I’ll leave once you do.”

“He’ll never leave you unbound.” Brian chewed his fingernail as he kept sliding his gaze to the door.

“Cut the bottom, I’ll stay still, and he’ll never know I’m not tied.”

Brian pulled his knife and quickly severed the ties that held me to the chair. I struggled not to pull my hands to my chest and rub my wrists. Instead, I wrapped my fingers around the end of the armrests.

“Brian, let’s go,” Tyran called from the doorway. A few seconds sooner, he would have seen Brian cut the ties. He looked at me with a salacious grin. “Too bad I don’t have more time. I’d love to see what the fuss is about.”

Tyran walked forward as if he meant to touch me, and Brian stepped in front of me. “You said she wouldn’t be hurt. We need to go before they get here.”

Tyran hesitated, and my hands tightened on the chair. He must have agreed with Brian, because once they left the room, Tyran kneeled down and set the trip wire.

Then Tyran turned back to look at me. He stepped over the wire and walked to the side of the room. I heard something tear, and Tyran stood behind me and placed a piece of duct tape over my mouth.

He licked the shell of my ear, and whispered, “Can’t have you warning them when they come up the stairs.”

I held my breath until he made it across the room. When he stepped over the wire and disappeared, the sound of his footsteps trudging down the stairs signaled my brain to breathe again.

The front door slammed, and I listened for the vehicle to fire up. I waited a moment before I allowed myself to move. I had to be sure they wouldn’t come back.

Tentatively, I reached up to remove the tape and took a deep breath through my mouth. I slowly stood from the chair, placing the zip ties on the seat.

Gathering my skirt around my waist, I moved to the doorway. The wire wasn’t easy to see and if I hadn’t seen him place it with my own eyes, I never would have noticed it.

Taking a high exaggerated step, I cleared the wire and ran down the stairs.

The air outside was chilling. Or maybe that was me.

I looked around, not sure where to wait.

I knew Sal would be on his way. But I didn’t want to take a chance that a rat would trip the wire, so I moved down the street and waited.

I didn’t have long to wait before multiple SUVs came barreling down the road. When the doors opened, men piled out and ran for the building.

“WAIT!” I screamed, and they all froze. I gasped for breath. They moved so quickly, I almost missed them. I should have stayed within eyesight.

“Freyja?” Braesal O’Malley, head of the Boston Mob, pulled me into his arms. “Fuck. Check the building!”

“NO! You can’t go in there. It’s wired to explode.” I pulled away and moved closer to the men on the stairs. “Please don’t go in there.”

“What happened?”

“I was a trap. You were all expected to come get me and when you walked into the room I was in, there was a trip wire.”

“How did you get out?”

“It’s a long story that I really only want to tell once.” I grabbed Sal’s arm and stared at him, hoping he would understand what I wasn’t saying. He looked around at his men, then back at me. A lift of his eyebrow had me nodding.

“Fuck,” he cursed.

“I need to talk to Duncan.” The sound of his voice would help to settle my nerves.

“Yea, let’s get in the car. Liam, call this in. We can’t leave this place like it is. Someone could stumble upon it.” Sal led me to the waiting car with a hand on back. “Come on, Freyja.”

I didn’t know who to trust other than Duncan and Sal. So I stayed quiet on the way back to the office.

“Once Duncan gets back, you can tell us what happened. There will only be four of us in the room other than you.”

“No, only you and Duncan. I don’t know who else can be trusted.”

“Good thing I do,” Sal said. “Let’s call Duncan so he knows you’re ok.”