Tirone (The Night Skulls MC #2)(87)

“The Larvins have him and the rest of his crew. Like I said, you’d be running into his arms in no time, only both of you will be hugging in a fucking grave.”

“No. No, please. Leave him out of this.” I couldn’t go through that again. I couldn’t be the cause of killing another person I loved. “This whole thing was my idea. He hates the Bellomos. He hates Michele. He blames him for my mother’s death. He’d never make a deal with them.”

“Save your fucking lies to someone who’s stupid enough to listen.”

“The Larvins want me, not him. Let them kill me, I don’t care, but you have to leave Laius out of this.”

“It’s too late, Jocasta.”

Panic numbed my legs and constricted my chest as the car stopped to a halt. In a split-second, I was dragged out of the car, zip ties held my wrists behind my back, and Armando Lanza pushed me down on my knees in the mud.

Headlights flashed in my face. Then silhouettes of men came out of the cars. The shadows approached, my heart thrashing with every step, until I was surrounded by a circle of men in dark suits and guns pointing at my head.

I glanced up, my throat bobbing with a swallow. The circle opened and another dark shadow went through. I squinted to make out the face, but it was too dark. Then, the mud sank with a loud sound, and the man in the shadow crouched down in front of me.

His face hit me like a train. He didn’t change much. Only a few wrinkles here and there, but his fierce features remained intact. Bald hair that used to be strawberry blond. Blue eyes with yellow tones like that of a snake. Hard, protruding cheekbones. Sharp nose. Thin, harsh lips. Declan Larvin, the ruthless king of New York. My fucking father.

When you looked into the eyes of your enemy, what were you supposed to see or feel? And when that enemy was your creator and shared your blood, did it make any difference?

“You look so much like do mam,” he said in an Irish accent.

“Don’t mention her on your tongue. Where’s my husband? Laius!”

“Unfortunate man. He should have learned the lesson I taught him twenty-five years ago and stayed away from anything that was mine.”

“Keep my husband out of this. I’m the one you need, the one you’ve been afraid of all those years. Finish the job for your precious wife. End the threat that’s been keeping you up at night.”

He laughed slowly, calmly. “You give yourself too much credit, plobóg.” He rose to his feet and addressed Enzio. “Thank you, Enzio, for reuniting me with my lost daughter. I’ll take it from here.”

“I’d like to stay,” Enzio said. “Furore thought he could play me. I’d like to have a word with him when you’re done.”

“No. No!” I screamed.

Declan nodded at him and then smiled at me touching my cheek. “It’s been a pleasure to see you all grown up. Sadly, our time isn’t meant to be long.”

Adrenaline and hate surged in my blood. I’d never been afraid of death. If anything, I’d been waiting for it. But I didn’t survive all these years, carried all these burdens and suffered at the hands of strangers and family alike to die like this, without a fight and putting the life of another person I loved in danger.

“You can kill me all you want, but it won’t be long until the dirt that swallows my body chokes you, too. Michele, my only father, won’t rest until you’re a fucking corpse.” I twisted my head to look at Enzio. “You, too.”

“You got a mouth on you, plobóg. Let’s see how long you can keep that attitude up.” Declan gestured, and one of the cars opened. A couple of men came out and brought another man with them. He had a bag over his face, and his hands were tied behind his back. He fought, but they quickly subdued him with two blows on the head with the back of their guns and brought him to his knees across from me.

“You motherfuckers! I’ll make you pay for this!”

I gasped at the voice. “Tirone!” Oh my God. Enzio said they got Laius and the crew, but Tirone was at the hospital. What the fuck? How did they get him? How did they kidnap Tirone? I did all this to save Laius, his son and the brothers. But they got all of them. They were going to kill all of them.

“Jo!” He squirmed, trying to come my way, but they held him like their lives depended on it. “Fuck. Take that shit off my head now, you fuckers! What did you do to her?!”

“Nothing yet.” My so-called father removed the bag, revealing Tirone’s face where blood trickled down his forehead and a bruise formed around his unpatched eye. “I don’t want to start without you.”

“What the fuck?!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “What is he doing here? Why did you bring him here? He has nothing to do with any of this.”

Ty huffed and cursed. “If you fucking touch her, I swear—”

“Stop yammering, pup,” Declan said, gesturing again at his men. The car opened again, and they led someone else out.

I tried to crawl to Tirone, tears springing to my eyes at the sight of him all battered because of me. He tried to reach me, too, but the brutal men holding both of us wouldn’t let us out of their grips. He swore, threatening to do horrors to them, screaming at them to get their hands off me. Despite all the ways Tirone had hurt me, I’d never wanted to see him hurt let alone dead. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to him.