Page 24 of Ruthless Guardian

“This is Amy. Amy, this is Richie. He’s an old friend.”

“I’ve known Brogan since he was a boy,” Richie added, and the men shared a significant look.

“Richie looked out for me when I was a kid living on the streets. I lived here for about two years.” Brogan said, and Amy couldn’t disguise her shock. Brogan pulled out his wallet and held out a wad of money to Richie. “We can’t stay long today, but I wanted to check in and give you this.”

Richie took the money, tucking it into his pocket. “You’ve always been a good kid, Brogan.”

Amy smiled. Brogan was probably ten years older than she was, if she had to guess. That would put him in his mid-thirties. But it was almost cute that Richie referred to him as a kid.

They said their goodbyes, and Amy waited until they were out of earshot of Richie before speaking.

“So, you didn’t want to do something for yourself at all.”

“Helping these people means a lot to me,” Brogan said, his eyes focused straight ahead. “I ran away from home when I was sixteen and I had nowhere to go. I ended up here, and it probably saved my life.”

Amy opened her mouth to ask why he ran away, but she closed it when she realized it was probably too personal of a question. Brogan must have known she was curious about it, because he continued, “I left because of my dad. He was an abusive bastard, and I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

“And you mom?”

Brogan flinched.

“I left her behind.” There was deep shame in his voice. “I didn’t want to, but she wouldn’t leave. He knocked her around just about everyday, but she was still loyal to the son of a bitch. I wanted her to come with me, but she told me to go alone. She knew I’d be alone, but she chose to stay anyway.”

Brogan’s face was stoic, but he couldn’t quite hide the pain in his voice. Amy couldn’t resist reaching out and taking his hand. His eyes carted to her in surprise, but he didn’t pull away. He let her hold his hand all the way to the car.

10

BROGAN

Two days later, Owen had tracked down the house the Italians took Amy to. Her details about the train nearby and the angle from which she saw the Donovan hotel helped them barrow it down to a neighborhood on the east side of the city. From there, it didn’t take long for their men to find the house that the Italians were working out of. Declan himself spent a day observing the place and saw several familiar faces going in and out.

Brogan wanted to be there when it was raided. The more time he spent with Amy, the more personal this got for him, and he wasn’t going to let himself miss out on the opportunity for revenge.

So, he dropped Amy off at Owen’s place, where she and Ruby were being guarded by one of their men. Connor was also a lieutenant, and one of the few people Brogan trusted completely. There was also a state-of-the-art security system at the house.

Forcing any concerns about Amy to the back of his mind, Brogan made himself concentrate on the task at hand. This needed to be fast and efficient. There were seven men in their group, being led by Owen. The man was even more keyed up than Brogan as they approached the house on foot from the rear with their guns drawn. It was understandable. He was hell-bent on revenge for Ruby. The Italians crossed a line by taking her and they needed to pay.

Brogan felt the same, but it wasn’t because he cared about Amy the way that Owen cared about Ruby. No, that couldn’t be it. He just needed to see the job through.

When they reached the back door, Owen tried the handle, and it was locked. So, taking three steps back, raised his foot and kicked as hard as he could, his foot landing just above the door handle. The thing flew open as the frame broke, bouncing against the wall with a bang loud enough to wake the dead.

Brogan was right behind Owen and he rushed inside. Gun raised, he scanned the kitchen they were spilling into, but no one was there. Owen started barking out orders.

“Clear the house, kill anyone you find. Except Mancini or Leo. I want to take care of them myself.”

And Brogan was sure it would be messy. Owen sent half the men upstairs while the rest of them explored the rest of the first floor.

It didn’t take long to clear it, even though they found about a half dozen Italians in the house. Some were in the dining room, hiding around a corner and firing at them as they approached. Brogan was quick to take out one as they fell back.

Gunfire was exchanged, and one of their men took a bullet to the thigh, but it didn’t take long to wipe out the Italians. Shots could be heard upstairs, and in the end, they’d taken out six men between the two floors. All of them were members of the Italian mafia. None of them was Mancini or his son.

“Fuck!” Owen yelled before turning and putting his fist through the drywall.

Brogan could feel anger building inside of himself too. He wanted to come back to Amy and tell her that they’d taken care of the problem. He wanted to reassure that it was all over. Mancini was the catalyst to all of this, the power hungry psycho that was running the show. If they took him out, the war would be over. Amy would be safe.

He needed to know that she was safe, but it wouldn’t fully happen unless Mancini was gone for good.

* * *