Page 132 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

“I’ll get it. When I kill you all,” Hanlon says.

I can’t see them, but I know the Murphys are willing to kill him. I need to give them a chance. But I need to make sure he doesn’t shoot Seamus.

My man’s wearing a special Kevlar shirt, but what if it fails? What if Hanlon goes for the head?

So I pull out the remote control with a shaky hand. It’s not hooked to the Semtex. It’s connected to the rest of the explosives Callahan and Seamus put in here earlier.

“You can kill us all, girl,” Hanlon says. “My cause is the only thing that matters. Kill me and my people will get your bratva, and they’ll have the papers?—”

“Fake papers,” Seamus says. “And right about now, Edgar Estevez is being handed the real papers, along with your name and your movement. You don’t think he’ll hunt them all down? He will.”

“That button’s a fake. You care too much for your own good, Seamus. That’s what’s wrong with the Murphy clan. They care about others. Fools.” He points the gun at me. “I don’t believe she’d hook up a bomb and risk taking you out.”

“Oh, believe me, she would.”

“Lies.”

He starts to swing his gun at Seamus and I move, trying to get between them. Seamus shoves me away and I stumble into a wall, my lungs squeezed tight.

“Believe this,” Seamus says, closing in on Hanlon as he pulls the trigger. A bullet hits Hanlon in the head and he crumples to the dirty ground.

Then he stands over him and shoots him again.

“For Ava.”

And again.

“For Da.”

Then three more times.

“But mostly for threatening and bruising my sweet thing.”

“Seamus… you’re alive.” He drops the gun to his side and grabs me, holding me close.

“I told you the fake shit looks just as real,” he says. “Bullet never touched me. Kevlar is magical, sweet thing.”

I rest my head against his chest and listen to his heart, basking in his arms. And I know.

I can’t stay with him.

He deserves better. He did from the start. And I’m not built for this. For any of it. I’m not good. I’m not?—

“Whatever the fuck you’re thinking, stop.” Then he eases me back. “Also, we need to get out of here; this place is gonna blow.”

“But I haven’t released the button.”

He grins, moves my thumb, and then he takes my hand.

We run outside and cross the street where we join Declan, Callahan, and Torin. Then we wait. Five minutes later, just like we planned, it blows.

Two days later, I’m drained. I’m not mother material. But Lucie is a goddess and knows exactly what to do with my little sister. Little Tatiana seems to love her. She also loves the pet café, the flower shop, and Harry. And I can tell she adores the rest of the guys, and of course, Clawzilla and Arnold.

She falls for them all so quickly, it makes my head spin.

But a sobering thought niggles my brain. She doesn’t love me.

I’m not being fair. I know she’s only four, but it still stings.