Page 135

4

STAR

“The Supreme Court never ceases to surprise us, Kay. But this ruling definitely comes out of the blue, especially as SCOTUS is more conservative in their leanings since Ravenwood was confirmed.”

“The overturning of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization certainly comes as a shock, Jerry. This issue has come up numerous times before the Supreme Court but it’s never gained any ground with the justices ? —”

As I switched off the kitchen TV, I turned to Conor with a frown. “What did you do?”

Niall, in my arms, started playing with my hair. Our son was entirely unaware that his meddling father had managed to corrupt the highest court in the land.

Honestly, I’d have been impressed if he’d discussed it with me first.

Conor's smile was all innocence as he stared up at me from the floor, where he’d spent the last ten minutes trying to get his Christmas tree into the pot I bought for it. “I didn’t do anything, Star.”

“Liar,” I groused. “This has your stench all over it.”

“You said you liked my new aftershave.”

I waved a hand that Niall tried to catch. “I do. It makes me want to kiss you. All the time. And it’s a problem. But this is a problem of a different variety.”

His smirk was one-hundred-percent Irish-American cockiness. “Can I help it that I’m fuc—” At the kitchen table, where she was making decorations for the tree in her bedroom, Kat started singing, making him veer from the X-rated to the G. “—kissable?”

“What did you do?”

When Niall jolted at my tone, I grimaced then danced him over to his toy box, where he immediately started playing with some robot that made annoying noises.

Returning to Conor’s side once he was happily playing with some strange pig Granddad Dagger had bought him, I crouched next to my wayward fiancé and hissed quietly, “What did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“No lies. We agreed.”

“I’m not lying.” His eyes widened—just a smidgen too much to be innocent. When mine narrowed, his cheeks gusted out before he admitted, “I’d just prefer you to be able to plead plausible deniability.”

“Ah, fuck that.” I snagged his hand and crossed my pinkie with his. “One of us goes down, we both go down.”

He snorted. “Real Bonnie and Clyde, that’s us… But, you’re forgetting we got kids now.”

“Technically, just two until the new year.”

“Who knew that storks really do bring babies, huh?”

I sniffed. “I always knew. And the kids’d come with us. Niall falls asleep when you put him in a car seat and Kat’s still small enough that the back of the Range Rover is still plenty comfortable.”

“She’d figure out how to somersault there,” he agreed with a laugh.

Grunting, I demanded, “Now, come on. Whatever it is you’ve done, we can fix it if it comes back to bite us in the ass in the future, but only if you keep me looped in.”

“You do know you just insulted me?”

“I’m aware that you’re great at covering your tracks, Conor, but clearly, something you’ve done has you spooked if you’re worried about plausible deniability.”

“Well, I’ve never blackmailed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court before.”

“No, we just had one arrested,” I drawled as I crawled closer to him so that Kat couldn’t hear us over her appalling rendition of “Goldfinger.” “What happened?”

“When I got that kid transferred from Kat’s school,” he muttered, “I might have had a talk with his grandfather about the situation.”

My brain whirred with this knowledge, then I heaved a sigh as I plunked my ass at his side on the cold tiles of the kitchen floor.

“I’m losing my edge.”

“No,” he disagreed. “Your focus is where it needs to be—on taking down the Sparrows for good. You can’t know the family tree of every single student in Kat’s class.”

“Can’t I?” I mumbled grimly, staring at the ceiling, a good chunk of which had the lower branches of the Douglas fir disrupting my view. “I would have before my grandfather’s shitstorm took over everything.”

He reached for my hand and squeezed my fingers. “I got this, Star. We’re a team!”

I rolled my head to the side. “I should have this too. She’s my kid as well.”

“We divide and conquer,” he reasoned.

“You don’t divide that much. You should have told me,” I growled, annoyed all over again, “what you were doing.”

He shrugged. “I knew you’d get angry. I didn’t need you to get angry. I did as you asked—got Kieran Cavendish pulled from the academy—and decided?—”

“To exploit his grandfather at the same time.” Eyes narrowed, I mused, “I guess it had nothing to do with my past, huh?”

“Nope. Nothing whatsoever.”

I grunted at his innocent smile.

“Still, handy knowing people, huh? I didn’t even have to do all that much.”

“No, Kieran did it for you,” I retorted. “If this ever comes up, then?—”

“It won’t.”

“Seamus wouldn’t approve.”

“Seamus can disapprove all he wants when he’s sitting his ass down behind the Resolute desk.” He nudged me with his elbow. “Let’s never tell him I was involved though, just in case he decides to send Uncle Con up for past sins.

“This was too important an opportunity to waste. Did you know that before today, in Alabama, if a woman had a miscarriage, she could be prosecuted for a felony?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, Conor, I didn’t know that women’s health the nation over had taken ten million steps back. I just have a teenage daughter who I worry about constantly.”

His wink was sly. “Not anymore. I mean, sure, there’s plenty of other shit you have to worry about…”

“Don’t talk yourself into more trouble.” I rubbed my temple. “Though you’re right about it being an opportunity to fix that mess, this had better not roll back on us.”

“Nah. Cavendish knows which side his bread is buttered. He won’t say dick. Not after the fact. I spared his family a whole helluva lot of shit.

“Mostly, I spared the women in the vicinity of that little asshole because you were right about him being a creep. He’ll be having intense therapy until he’s turning old and gray—he freakin’ needs it too.”

My brow furrowed. “I have to keep my eyes on you, O’Donnelly.”

“That’s exactly where I want ‘em, so what about that sounds like a punishment?”

Snorting, I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I thought I was the wild card.”

“There’re usually two in every pack.”

“That’s the joker,” I argued.

“We’re not funny enough.”

“We can agree to disagree.”

“Don’t we always?”

With a huff, I asked, “You sure it can’t come back on us?”

“If it does, I’m ready for us to move to Venezuela, aren’t you? They have a fascinating culture that the kids would benefit from learning about.”

“A non-extradition country… smart.” I shook my head at him. “In the future, if you’re going to get us involved in something that requires us to potentially move overseas, loop me in, huh?”

He bussed my temple. “I wouldn’t do anything without being 100% sure we wouldn’t need to move.”

I stuck my tongue in my cheek. “All while keeping note of the countries we can escape to. One of which is not Russia. I’m not going back there, even if your ass is hauled to Gitmo.”

He pouted. “And you say you love me.”

With a hum, I asked, “You sure you’re going to tell me no when I want to shoot someone next?”

That had him squinting at me. “You get one shot.”

I smiled smugly. “One’s all I need.”