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CONOR

“What are you working on?” I asked as I propped my chin on Star’s shoulder a few hours later.

Her browser had a bunch of tabs open, over a hundred plus. How the fuck she worked like that I had no idea.

“A hunch.”

My brows lifted. “What kind of hunch?”

I didn’t just glance over the tabs this time, but at the content.

“Something that was said today at the dinner table triggered…” At her hesitation, I pressed a kiss to her shoulder in gentle encouragement. She sighed. “I’m checking bank statements.”

“Whose?”

“Reinier’s.”

“Thought you’d gone through those?”

“I did. I’m just double-checking my work.”

“Are you keeping something from me, Star?” I asked lightly.

She turned her head and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “No. I know I’m wasting my time but I have to check. Why waste yours too?”

“Tell me what the hunch is.”

“You’ll think I’m insane.”

“I do anyway. I am too. We can be insane together.”

That had her snorting but she didn’t immediately answer.

Brain ticking, I tried to figure out what might have her instincts tripping. “Is it related to Temper Black and Eagle Eyes?”

“Nah. He’s still stalking her. Though I am trying to figure out how she knew about Munoz stalking me.”

I hid an amused grin at how blasé her tone was. “Belyaev?”

“No. Not really. Asswipe. Kat had a nightmare about him last night.”

“I heard her cries.” And they’d fucking killed something inside me, especially when she’d asked to sleep next to Star. Her confidence was such that you could forget she was a little girl sometimes.

Until a nightmare struck.

I thought back to today’s dinner when I’d seen her messaging Anton under the table. “What did your grandfather have to say at dinner?”

“You saw that?”

I chuckled. “Of course I did. I’m preternaturally aware of you, Star. Duh.”

Warmth gleamed in her eyes—she liked hearing that. Not that she’d admit it.

“I asked what Mom’s original mission was when she got with Dad.”

“Which was?”

“Related to the Lockerbie bombing.” She tensed. “Allegedly.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Then, a thought occurred to me. “That’s where Eoghan said he was sent for training—Lockerbie.” When her mouth tightened, I asked, “Coincidence?”

“No such thing.”

My brow furrowed. “But if Jorgmundgander had her killed… Why…”

“More questions. No answers,” she rasped.

Sensing and empathizing with her frustration, I decided to change the subject somewhat and processed everything we’d learned today. “This is about the estate next to Dagger’s?” A single nod was her answer. “You think the drugged women at the party were Sparrows’ victims?”

“No way of knowing for sure. I checked who the estate belongs to, and it’s owned by ‘Bright Holdings.’ The directors are tucked behind a bunch of bullshit Belizean laws that protect shadow corps.” Her sniff of disapproval was followed by a tug on her bottom lip between her teeth. “Do you know how much a body is worth on the black market?”

“Ah. We’re back to organ harvesting?” When she hitched her shoulder, I sighed. “It’s around half a million, isn’t it?”

This time, her glance was less hesitant and more appreciative. “You researched this.”

“Of course I did. It was worrying you so I checked it out, but we’ve scoured every aspect of the Sparrows’ comms platform and tore it apart for Interpol,” I pointed out. “Nowhere there did they talk about that. Nowhere were there any references to harvesting the women they sold for their organs. No money to follow, Star. So if?—”

“Don’t you think that’s weird?” she blurted out.

“I think if they’ve hidden that from us, there’s plenty of other shit we haven’t uncovered yet. Was there anything in Bear’s motel room?”

“No. Nothing. Not in all the files he left behind either.” For a second, she looked guilty. “I’ve scoured them twice. It’s an itch I can’t scratch.” She rubbed at her forehead. “Maybe that’s why Reinier brought it up—to drive me insane.”

“You could ask your grandfather. Or his Pauks ?”

“The Brotherhood fed Bear’s investigation.”

“How do you know?”

“Steganography. Bear stored a lot of info on some random pictures. The code led me to the Pauks. I was sure that I told you.”

“I’ve slept since then. Not a lot, but some,” was my sheepish retort.

She hummed. “If the Pauks knew anything, it’d have been in Bear’s motel room. Ergo, Anton and his Pauks know dick.”

When she stared blankly ahead, I questioned gently, “Hey, where’s your head at?”

“There’s a massive market for this,” she rasped. “As far as I can tell, it’s mostly the Mexican cartels who are peddling this particular ware…”

“But?”

“Why would you run such an extensive trafficking system without having that as a sideline? There had to be pregnancies that resulted from their brothels and, I mean, I hate to go there, but kids…”

“They could be harvested for organs too,” I said with a grimace.

“Girls die all the time, right?” At my disgust, she continued, “Might as well not let the meat go to waste. Those fucking asswipes.

“What corrupt millionaire wouldn’t pay a small fortune to arrange an illegal organ donation for their sick child?” That made my grimace deepen but she forged ahead. “This just doesn’t make any sense. They’ve been doing this for decades.” She sucked in a breath. “It’s a circle that feeds itself.”

Why did that bring back the image of Jorgmundgander?

“Do you know what else doesn’t make sense?” I asked as a thought occurred to me. “Something that you should ask your grandfather.”

“What?”

“How his Pauks and Bear got on the same team.”

“Huh. You’re right. That is weird. What put him on their radar and vice versa—” Her cell rang and when she saw the Caller ID, a frown flashed across her brow as she put the call on speaker. “Maverick?”

“Dost Mohamet Khan.”

When Star blanched—her features immediately turning pinched and pale—I settled a hand on her shoulder and curved my arm around her to support her.

“How do you know that name?” she rasped.

“You’ve heard of it?”

“How do you know it, Maverick?” she barked.

He heaved a tired sigh. “I had a flashback.”

“To when?”

I didn’t know much about Maverick’s condition, but I knew that his PTSD and CTE had him flashing back to periods of his life that were doused in trauma.

“That day in Kembesh.” His swallow was audible. “But Nic told me to ask Eagle Eyes about Dost Mohamet Khan. I don’t remember that conversation. I genuinely don’t. But it was so fucking real, Star. Nic was there—right goddamn there.”

“Who’s Nic?” I asked her softly.

“Maverick’s CO, also his partner at the time. He died in Kembesh. It was a minor battle but a disaster all round. The US covered up what happened to the battalion that defended an outpost there.

“They had to deal with an ambush on their own and had no military or medical support.”

“Jesus.”

She pulled a face in agreement. “I was at the battle, so was Eoghan. But not in the middle of it all. Most of the fighting was around the outpost, but there were skirmishes along the border.

“We probably wouldn’t have survived if we had been in the thick of it. Maverick was one of the lucky ones.”

“Yeah,” Maverick choked out. “I feel fucking lucky.”

“Hey,” she argued. “You made it out to see another day. That’s more than Nic did.”

Maverick fell silent, whether that was because he was chastened or because he was speechless—I had no way of knowing.

Star pierced the silence with, “Eagle Eyes is a sniper, Maverick.”

“Yeah, he’s with the Hell’s Rebels’ MC down in Texas.”

“Why would he know anything about what happened in Kembesh? Why would Nic put you on his radar?”

“He was in Kembesh too,” Maverick clipped.

“Who was?” I asked.

Star shot me a look. “Eagle Eyes.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange how so many of you were in this battle?” I questioned, unease settling in my gut like a lead weight.

“It’s a small world over there,” she said, shrugging.

“Who’s Dost Mohamet Khan, Star? How do you know him?” Maverick demanded.

“He was the man who enslaved me. My first owner.”

Sucking in a breath, I pressed my hand to her nape and gently squeezed once, twice, wanting to reassure her that I was here for her.

“You told me that you were assigned to a museum to protect their antiquities,” Maverick rumbled slowly. “And you were taken because you were hunting down a double agent? That wasn’t a lie?”

“No. But I lied to you about the country. It wasn’t Iraq, but Afghanistan.”

“For fuck’s sake, Star. Why lie?”

“Because we always keep something back, don’t we?” she mumbled guiltily, her gaze clashing with mine. She looked so miserable that I had to squeeze her nape again. Just to reassure her that I knew she was trying.

Sometimes, in this fucking life, especially in her life, that was all you could do.

“What’s going on, Star? What the hell is happening?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I can tell you Khan’s dead if that helps?”

Maverick was quiet for a moment. “You killed him?”

“The first time I picked up a gun after I got free, he was in my crosshairs. Luckily for me, he traveled to the UK and made it easy for me to take him out.”

My jaw worked. “What the hell was he doing traveling to the UK?”

“He was a Sparrow,” she drawled. “That meant he got away with trafficking. Probably genocide too. Until me.”

Pain loaded down Maverick’s every word as he confessed, “I’ve tried to get in touch with Eagle Eyes but he isn’t answering.”

“No, he’s on a job for me.”

“What kind of job?”

She cleared her throat. “He’s tracking Temperance Black.”

“Cin’s cousin?”

“Yeah. Her.”

“What’s she done?”

“She’s a Brother.”

“Thought they were the good guys?”

Star sighed. “What’s a good guy these days?”

“Whoa, that’s a philosophical debate in the making,” I said, reeling her in. “Can you contact Eagle Eyes and get him to speak with Maverick?”

“I guess. I don’t know why he wouldn’t be picking up your call though, Mav.” She pursed her lips. “Leave it with me. I’ll update you tomorrow.”

“Alessa said you’re meeting with Rachel tomorrow?”

“I am. At her place. Is she still not talking to me?”

Maverick didn’t answer.

I squeezed Star’s shoulder again because we both knew what that meant.

“I’ll drop Kat off at Rach’s place tomorrow for the weekend, okay? Let Alessa know she can collect her from there.”

“Not sure when I became your go-between but I’ll tell her.”

Star huffed out a laugh. “You became that the day you met me.”

“And what an inauspicious day that was for my meeting with the Antichrist.”

Rolling her eyes, Star rumbled, “You can’t see it but I’m flipping you the bird.”

“Use it for better things, like emailing Eagle Eyes and getting him to call me ASAP.”

When he hung up, I leaned my ass against her desk and stared down at her. “What was going on in Kembesh?”

She blinked up at me. “Why do you assume I know?”

I scoffed. “Don’t give me the innocent eyes. We both know they’re wasted on me.”

She smirked. “That’s why I like you the best though.”

“You’re full of charm and BS.”

Rather than be annoyed, she looked even more like the cat who’d eaten the canary at my wording as she rocked back in her seat. “Kembesh borders Pakistan and a bunch of ex-Soviet states. Weapons flowed into Taliban forces there. That’s why the US established an outpost in that area. That and it’s where Dost Mohamet Khan used to live before the place was destroyed during the battle. Officially, his title was ‘government administrator’ for that region.”

“Unofficially?”

“Thick as thieves with the Taliban.” She sniffed. “Sparrows too.”

“When you said that you thought a CIA agent had turned, you thought they were working with the Taliban?”

She hesitated. “I’m not sure. I just knew someone was dirty.”

“Didn’t you have any suspicions?”

“No. We were a big team back in those days and it was constantly fluctuating. Looking back, I figure that’s how they stayed under the radar. It’s only because I’m so paranoid that I realized something was going on.”

“What would be the gain for a double agent?”

“The Taliban was looting their own artifacts and there were foreigners stationed there during the war that smuggled them out of the country. That added up to a lot of money being made.”

“Funding the war,” I stated, folding my arms across my chest.

“Partly.”

“And the two-timing fucker was a Sparrow?”

She flung her hands wide. “Why wouldn’t they be? Seems to me like you get any semblance of power in this fucking world and you get a choice—you wanna suck Brother or Sparrow ass?”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I chuckled. “At least the Brothers are?—”

“What?” she demanded before I could finish that sentence. “What are they? For all we know they’re as bad as the Sparrows.”

My brows lifted. “Star, come on. I thought you accepted?—”

“I did,” she muttered, interrupting again. “But I’m telling you something’s not right, Conor. This organ trafficking shit…” She sucked in a breath. “Never mind what Reinier said about Anton.”

I tensed. “Reinier was dying. He’d have said anything to get under your skin.”

“He said I’d be a fool to trust my grandfather. He said he had information about him.”

“Where?”

“His estate in Florida. He claimed it was a secret. I thought he was lying to save his ass.”

“And now you don’t? I thought you trusted Anton.”

“Do you want to know what has never sat right with me?” she rasped.

“What?”

“A couple of things. Firstly, Mom.”

“What about her?”

“That she died. That he was powerful and she died and that he didn’t try to take me away from Dad, that he didn’t try to groom me as his next-in-line. He’s already offered me his position once he’s gone.”

“He had Aleks at that point,” I said cautiously. “Maybe he wanted a son as his heir.”

“See, your da was insane and the shit he did was bad, but I can’t deny that he was, in his way, a family man.

“If anyone had targeted his kids, they’d have died. Horribly. If they’d succeeded in killing his kids, then they’d probably have lived longer just to be tortured.

“I can get behind that mentality. It’s what I’d do for Kat. Anton had to know Dagda killed Mom. He had to know it was a Jorgmundgander sting.” She rubbed her chin. “I just can’t help but feel as if he led us down a gnarly path and because we were so busy being stuck in the middle of it, we couldn’t see past the noses on our faces.

“Why didn’t he stop it? Why didn’t he do something to save her?”

Wishing I had an answer for her, I rasped, “I don’t know, Star.”

And I didn’t, but that didn’t take away from the sorry truth of the situation— she was right.

Everything intensified from the center of a crisis. Looking outward and gaining perspective when bullets were being fired was next to impossible.

Even, it seemed, for someone of her experience.

“Then,” she continued grimly, “there’s the fact that I just can not have been that goddamn hard to find.”

“He said Aleks was seeking info on you and that’s why he was murdered,” I reasoned.

“That’s what Anton said. But Reinier…”

“It all comes back to him?”

“I wish it didn’t, but it does. The way he talked about Anton, it was like they knew each other, Conor. He said something along the lines of ‘That old bastard—more faces than Janus himself.’”

“And you agree?”

“I do.”

“He was trying to save his ass. Wouldn’t he have sold Anton out worse than that?”

She conceded that with a nod. “Maybe. But he was more interested in trying to buy me off with blackmail material.”

“He said nothing else?”

Sheepishness whispered into her expression. “He was mostly begging not to die and for the pain to stop. He forgot his own name after a few blasts of that cattle prod of yours, never mind Anton’s.”

“What did you ask him today?”

“I wanted to know about Mom’s original mission. He said he ‘thought’ it was related to the Lockerbie incident. Is that something you’d forget? When it’s your flesh and blood?”

“I don’t know, Star. We wouldn’t, but we’re not him.”

“No, we’re not,” she concurred. “And that’s what makes me not trust him. We had tunnel vision. We were given a directive and we fulfilled our objective and we didn’t question because why would we?

“But now, with distance and time, I’ve got a lot of unanswered questions, and there’s danger in asking the wrong person the wrong thing.”

I pondered her words. “What’s the wrong thing?”

“Are the Brothers as knee-deep in the shit as the Sparrows are? Are they just better at hiding in the shadows?”

Hell.

“You think that’s a possibility?”

“I don’t have concrete answers. Not without further investigating and…” Her gaze settled on mine, loaded down with her concern and indecision. “I want to live. I want to be with you, Conor. I want to raise Katina. I want to be happy. I want us to be happy.” She lifted her hands and used them to rub at her eyes. They were dry, though, when she next looked at me. “Is that so much to ask?”

“No, it’s not, baby,” I told her softly, even as I knew Star didn’t have it in her not to seek the truth.

It was a toxic trait we both shared.

As I gently rubbed her shoulder, she whispered, “If I wait until he’s dead, which can’t be that far out, and if I suck up to him, pretend, then I can slip into his role and dismantle the Brothers from the inside.”

The hopefulness in her words had my lips twitching. “You and Aidan are more alike than you know.”

“I needed that insult after today.”

I had to chuckle. “Reinier’ll be dead by now.”

“Without a doubt. And who orchestrated his death? Who’s covering it up?”

“The Brothers,” I said slowly.

“Anton knew who Reinier was. It’s bullshit that he didn’t know Smythe and Foundry were involved too.” She gritted her teeth. “Ever since Reinier mentioned goddamn organ harvesting, this has been eating away at me.”

“You should have been open with me from the start,” I retorted grumpily.

But she shook her head. “I’m paranoid, Conor. In fact, I make someone with paranoia look trusting. That’s why I didn’t tell you.” She worked her jaw. “There comes a point where you start thinking the shadows aren’t just a trick of the light, they’re where the monsters hide in plain sight.”

Softly, I reasoned, “That makes sense.”

“I hide it from Kat because I don’t want to terrify her, but it’s different with you.” Her expression was beseeching. “You might think I’m crazy. Legitimately crazy.” Her hand grabbed mine, fingers clutching at me with a desperation that made me hurt for her. “I can keep a lid on it for the most part, but this… I thought I could. But I can’t. And you deserve better than some rabid fuckwit who spends her days covered in aluminum foil so the listening station on the moon can’t overhear us talking.”

“We’re a team, Star,” I informed her. “That means if you start using aluminum as a fashion accessory…”

She swallowed.

“…then I start wearing it too.”

Her eyes closed on a silent sob of relief.

I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her trembling mouth. “We’re back at the beginning, aren’t we?”

She slipped her arms around my waist. “But we’re worse off.”

“At least we’re together,” I rasped. “And that’s how this has to go, Star. Together, you hear me?”

She nodded against my belly. “Together.”

Blindly, I stared ahead at my center of operations where I protected my brothers from jail sentences and where I kept Acuig Corp. one step ahead of the SEC and ensured the Five Points ruled the roost that was NYC.

This office was where I played with electricity and where I’d monitored, hacked, and surveilled more people than the Feds likely had since their inception.

This was my base.

Star had made it my home.

I cupped the back of her head and, with a tenderness only she brought out in me, stroked her nape. “Anton has to trust us.”

“Agreed. He can’t suspect that we think he’s scum.”

Such a way with words…

“He’s still coming for the first gala, isn’t he?” I asked.

“Supposed to arrive in the city this Friday.”

“Do you have any idea where Reinier’s secret estate is? Other than what Camden had to say about a party house next door to the Daniels’ place?”

“No.”

“Keep searching.” I sucked in a breath as the realization struck… “If you need to put pressure on that bank president, do it.”

“Even though…”

“Even though his daughter was a victim and didn’t deserve to be blackmailed?” I blew out the breath I’d just sucked in. “This is bigger than one person, Star. I get that. Explore every possible avenue first, but that’s endgame material. Understood?”

“Understood.” She rocked her head back. “I wish things could be simpler.”

“My life has never been simple, Star,” I told her, trailing my fingertip along the curve of her cheekbone. “But until you came along, I wasn’t happy. I’d rather be in this with you than living a simpler life without you.”

She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. “Maybe you’re the crazy one.”

“I think aluminum foil suits me rather well,” I concurred, which earned me a small smile.

“What did Aidan want at dinner?”

I blinked as my mind rewound to the meal at Dagger and Lorelei’s place. “We never got around to speaking… Not after Lorelei apologized to you.” Leaning down again, I kissed the tip of her nose. “We’re going to make a brighter future for ourselves, Star. Away from the shadows of our pasts, okay?”

While she nodded, for the first time in our relationship, she looked at me to make this situation better.

It was there, in the desperate hope that tightened her brow and in her beseeching stare. It made me determined to give her the peace she fucking deserved after what she’d been through.

“I promise, Star, once this is over, we can live our lives in PJs and camp out with Kat at gymnastics practice and hack into her school computer system to make sure she gets straight As.”

Her smile was tremulous but it was there. “You promise?”

“I do and I never break a promise.”

Some of the usual cocksureness returned to her expression and, suddenly, all was right with my world again…

Now I just had to fulfill my goddamn purpose on this fucking planet—helping my woman bring down the bad guys.

Who, for once, weren’t my brothers.

Yay for fucking me.