Page 131 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

Or I could die.

I force myself to breathe slowly, carefully. The bomb is on the other side, big enough to take down the building, especially with the other ones Seamus set.

And in my pocket…

I swallow. Hard.

Where the hell is Hanlon?

A flashlight sweeps in and I turn, shielding my eyes with my hand. “Hanlon?”

“Aye.” His light hits Seamus’ shoes and my heart plummets, threatening to implode.

He hasn’t moved.

Not that I expected him to. He told me he wouldn’t. They’d played dead loads of time growing up, he said, and he and Dec were the best at it. But still…

The flashlight hits my face again. “That him?”

I nod.

“Don’t be sad, girl,” Hanlon says. “He died for the greater good, and the world’s better off without Murphys in it.”

“Where are your men?”

“It’s just me. Don’t worry, your sister is safe. Unless of course, you don’t give me the papers.”

“And then you’ll do what?” I say. “Have the head of the Murphy family killed?”

“If I choose. These petty power plays mean nothing to me.” He holds out his hand.

And I toss the papers into the debris on the floor.

He sighs and bends down to pick them up. Then he peers at them and uses his phone to snap photos of each page. I presume he is going to send them to someone or just save them for future reference.

When he’s done, he straightens up. And now, there’s a gun in his hand.

Coldness fills me, followed by a weird sense of calm.

He turns away, shining the light, then settles the gun back on me.

“You really liked him, didn’t you? But sex is never enough. Love is futile. Only the cause matters.”

In the coldness, my anger stirs. The man deserves a bullet in the face just for the utter bullshit he spouts.

“You are beautiful, so it’s a real fucking pity you have to die, too. But I can’t trust a traitor. You turned on your husband. On a Murphy. You’ll have to sign the bratva over to me.”

I take a breath, say a quick prayer, and say, “It’s not that simple.”

From behind me, a gun clicks.

“Move aside, sweet thing,” Seamus says, and a small sob escapes my lips.

“He’ll shoot you if I do,” I whisper.

“I’ll shoot you, anyway,” Hanlon says. “And then Seamus here.”

Seamus moves silently, and I see him in my periphery, lithe, deadly, so beautifully alive. “It’s not that simple. You’ll need the crest.”