Page 40

Chapter 40

Constantine

“We have news.” Izzy and her timing . . .

She circled the sofa as I pulled my mouth away from Juliette’s.

“Oh shit, sorry.” Izzy sent me an innocent shoulder shrug. “Although, I suppose a little payback is due for all the times you’ve walked in on me, don’t you think?” She couldn’t help herself. It wasn’t in her nature. And she wasn’t wrong.

I maintained hold of Juliette’s hand as we stood. “What’s up?”

“Sean McGregor texted he has information. He’s going to call in a few minutes,” she shared. “And there’s something else I have to tell you.”

If I had to switch gears back to operator mode, I would—anything to keep my family safe. With my attention back on Juliette, I asked, “Would you like to be part of the conversation, or do you want me to relay what I learn after you hang out with Colin and my parents?”

Juliette brought her free hand to my chest. “I’d prefer to leave the op-y stuff to you. Just give me the highlight reel after, okay? No secrets.”

“No secrets,” I promised. “The one about saving your father’s company was my last one. I should’ve thought to tell you sooner.”

“I should’ve thought to thank you sooner.” She blinked a few times. “Gosh, did I remember in my state of shock to say those words to your dad?” Her cheeks turned pink, and I honestly couldn’t recall, but it didn’t matter. In my book, actions spoke louder than words nine out of ten times.

“Don’t thank me. It was meant to be.” I gently brushed my lips across hers, forgetting my sister was behind us.

Juliette let go of my hand and reached up to knock the brim of my hat up to a better position, allowing us to deepen the kiss. I groaned against her lips and sighed when she pulled away, remembering we weren’t alone.

Juliette fixed my hat and turned toward Izzy. “Sorry.”

My sister lifted her hand, waving off the apology. “Don’t be. I love seeing my brother happy.”

Juliette smiled at me, then ran a single finger along my forearm, a silent promise of more to come later.

I had to shut down my body’s immediate reaction before it physically presented itself by tenting my jeans. “Catch up with you soon.”

Once Juliette left, I trailed behind Izzy, grateful she didn’t try to strike up a feelings conversation on our way upstairs. I’d maxed out on my capacity to share anything personal for the day. Hell, for the year.

Once we were in Dad’s office, which was twice the size of mine back home—and double the amount of obnoxiousness in terms of luxury—I shut the door and waited for Izzy to talk.

She went over to Dad’s desk, an ornate, imposing thing, almost as regal as the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. It sat before a bay window, the dark velvet curtains drawn open, offering a view of the city skyline shrouded in a wash of pink and blue evening light.

Hudson stood behind her as she sat, asking me, “Are you good?”

I exhaled, dragging a hand through my hair. “I’m not sure what I am.”

The cycle of grief, if that was what I was going through, truly was one messy, tangled blob. Not a straight line, that was for damn sure. More like up and down and all the fuck around.

“Just tell me you have something on those two men who tried to take Colin.” I finally strode over to them, catching sight of a bottle of Legacy Ridge at my father’s bar. He’d always kept it on hand for me. The fact he hadn’t hesitated to anonymously save that company all those years ago without ever knowing why I gave such a damn about it?—

“We did get a hit.” Izzy’s words saved me from walking back into the past for the hundredth time in two days. “The two men are, well, were, mercenaries for hire. Boston natives. Both have warrants for crimes that’ll make you want to raise the dead so you can kill them again and run them over with your car this time.” She looked up at me over the laptop screen. “Yeah, I saw you be sweet and move their bodies before I erased the CCTV footage.”

“That wasn’t to be kind to the dead.” I shook my head, coming around the desk to see her screen. “Any connection to the Sicilians? Irish?”

“No. From what I can tell, they don’t have allegiance to just one group, only to whoever pays the best,” she answered. “I haven’t been able to determine who hired them to abduct Colin yet, but I don’t think the Sicilians would dare cross you, not even by outsourcing for help.”

“I agree.” I linked my hands behind my neck, thinking. “There has to be more of these guys here. Whoever hired them wouldn’t just bring in two men, not if they know our family.”

“I was working on that when Sean texted. I started broadening my search to make a list of their possible associates, assuming they’ll try and come after him again.” She glanced back at me. “By the way, you couldn’t have anticipated what would happen at the mall today any more than I could have. So, please tell me you don’t plan to beat yourself up about it.”

“I considered it,” I said under my breath, letting my arms fall to my sides. “But I’ve been too sidetracked for the guilt to sink in.” I lifted my chin in a silent request to distract me before I began kicking myself for going out today. For having one of the best days of my life before those assholes ruined it.

“If Jamie’s the one behind this,” Hudson began, and I nodded my thanks for picking up on my silent cue, “why go after Colin today?”

“The only logical explanation would be because Colin lied to us and carried off the theft from the Sicilians,” Izzy proposed, facing her screen. “But that doesn’t make sense because the Sicilians would’ve requested a meeting with us and gone the diplomatic route to retrieve what was taken. So, that brings us to the only other possibility. Jamie must have promised something to someone, and when he couldn’t deliver, Jamie gave up Colin’s name to buy himself time to get it or to get out of the city.”

Before I could agree, which I did, Sean McGregor’s name popped up on my sister’s lock screen. She placed him on speaker and let him know we were all listening.

We exchanged a quick greeting before Sean cut to it. “Brian Cormac’s records were swapped with another inmate last month. We had to get some tech support help from a colleague of Sebastian’s at The Sapphire to help us discover that.”

My stomach wrenched because I knew what was coming. Another gut punch. “Colleague as in Carter Dominick?” I couldn’t seem to shake free of that man. Was he now working this case because Sean had requested help? Did Easton tell him about Colin yet?

“Yeah, Dominick has one of the world’s best cyber experts on his team. Gwen Montgomery,” Sean confirmed.

I could feel Hudson eyeing me, probably doing a quick vein check, worried the one at the side of my neck was about to break free. “What’d Gwen find out?” I asked instead of acknowledging Hudson’s concerns about my heart, arteries, and how much one human being could tolerate before they imploded.

“Gwen discovered Brian Cormac was part of The Alliance. An equivalent to a fixer for The League.” Sean laid the news on us—which I never expected—while also answering Hudson’s unspoken question about how much one person could handle before snapping.

Breaking point officially reached.

I needed to sit.

I rounded the desk and dropped into the black leather wingback chair in front of it. Resting my elbows on my legs, I removed my hat and tore my hand through my hair as Sean let us digest the un-fucking-digestible. Colin was mixed up with someone formerly tied to one of the world’s worst criminal enterprises in Europe and Asia.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Izzy said, reading my distressed look, “but The League took out The Alliance, and Cormac’s in prison.”

She could be the voice of reason all she wanted, but I doubted she’d get through to me.

“Remind me of what a fixer is again?” Hudson asked when I didn’t answer her.

“They fix shit, usually by way of murder.” I mumbled a disgruntled response under my breath. “My father was also a fixer, but for The League.”

“What does this all mean?” Izzy cut to the chase.

I stood and tossed my hat onto the desk. “It means Cormac may be looking to start things up again, and my son’s caught in the crosshairs of the revival,” I shared, forgetting Sean was unaware Colin was my son. I’d told Izzy not to speak to anyone about that, and I’d let my emotions get the best of me.

“Who’s your son? Colin Carmichael?”

At Sean’s question, my stomach squeezed, and acid pushed up and burned my chest and throat. Was this what it was like to be a father? To be sick from worry alone?

“Yes, he’s my son. And that’s why this situation is urgent. Because two men tried to abduct him today, and all of this somehow ties to a former Alliance member sitting behind bars.”

I gave Sean, a new father himself, a chance to process what I’d said, then requested to focus back on the facts before my emotions bested me and I forgot how to be an operator.

Sean cleared his throat, then shared, “Well, uh, no one in my organization has picked up on any chatter that The Alliance is looking to restart, so that should help alleviate some of your concerns.”

“But you’re not in the States. Your network isn’t in the Americas.” The pieces finally clicked into place, forming a bigger picture. “Jamie’s here in New York starting things on his father’s behalf, and Cormac still has enough connections, even from behind bars, to arrange a meeting with the Sicilian mafia here. Jamie’s backup plan was to have Colin steal from them if the Sicilians wouldn’t make a deal.” It was the only thing that made sense.

“And whatever it is Jamie wants must be important to Jamie’s father,” Izzy said, gaze shooting to me.

I rested my hands on my hips, irritation pulsing through me, tension settling in my shoulders. “More like important to restarting The Alliance.”

“I can’t imagine what the Sicilian mafia in New York would have of any value that’d help The Alliance revive from the dead. But when we took down their organization, maybe five percent or so of their members escaped justice being served,” Sean shared, and I recognized the guilt in his tone.

“It was a massive criminal network. Five hundred or more people worked for them. Hard to take out everyone,” I reminded him. “But if it’s one of those five percent working with Cormac now, we need to figure out who.”

“Jamie wasn’t looking to sell that device he wanted to get his hands on then, right? He made a promise he’d get it for someone, and that someone is pissed Jamie couldn’t deliver, and that’s why they came after Colin,” Izzy proposed.

“But why?” Hudson asked.

“Because a son will do whatever his father says. He’ll do anything to protect him.” If he loves him, at least. “That device was Brian Cormac’s get-out-of-jail opportunity, and we fucked it up for him at the rave.” All because Daniel wanted some extra cash. The weight of all of this was too damn much with my son at the center. I had to sit.

“Someone with enough power and money capable of swapping Cormac’s prison records could change them with a much lesser sentence, right? Like a get-out-tomorrow kind of thing. And then Cormac would come to New York and run things, starting up The Alliance’s new base of operations in New York free of The League’s presence,” Izzy suggested.

“But why bother to change Cormac’s records to one with a similar sentence time last month?” I wound up answering my own question a moment later. “To hide Cormac’s connection with The Alliance in case anyone came looking into his background. Someone doesn’t want The League knowing The Alliance is trying to reboot, so they’re keeping their hands free of this. Same reason mercenaries were outsourced today to try and take Colin as well.”

“I understand that part, but I’m still struggling to wrap me head around what these New York Sicilians could have that’d be of any value to help relaunch The Alliance, let alone to arrange such a deal with Cormac in the first place. If what you say is true, if they wanted Cormac out of prison, they could change his records now and set him free, no deal needed,” Sean pointed out.

“Which means someone believes that only Jamie can get his hands on this device, and they’re holding Cormac’s freedom as leverage over Jamie’s head until he gets it for them,” Hudson suggested.

“No, it’s not Jamie they need.” I covered my face, my body going cold and numb as it hit me. “It’s Colin. They need my son.”