Page 30 of Shattered Hearts

“Cut him.” Goatee nods to the others, and we all start moving at once.

Quick and Slender thrusts his blade at me like we’re fencing. I turn his momentum against him, avoiding his strike and using the moment of his surprise to rip his stabbing arm behind him.

I wait for the thick little pop that tells me I’ve dislocated his shoulder. He hacks a cry of pain as I whip my butterfly knife out of my back pocket with the other hand. The staccato clicks it makes when it rotates out of the sheath soothes me like a lullaby. I throw my arm up to his neck and slit his throat, tearing it open from one carotid artery to the other.

Blood sprays onto the giant’s chest as I toss his dead comrade at him.

The wiry one’s eyes, wild with fear, remind me that I wanted to kill him first.

Goatee has receded several paces back, watching from a safe distance. I can’t tell whether he’s a coward or just plain smart.

The giant one throws aside his comrade’s still-warm corpse and charges me with a roar.

I spin away before he gets his paws on me, deftly reversing my grip on my butterfly knife so it will be easier to slash through fabric and flesh. I carve up his forearm pretty good, though he doesn’t cry like his dead friend. He just huffs, sweating and glaring and clutching the elbow above his injured arm, where gushing blood washes his rough skin red.

Next to the gash I gave him, I spot a tattoo I’d recognize anywhere.

The Celtic cross…

“Enough.” Goatee growls.

Irritation fires me up further.Enough? I’ll decide when they’ve had enough.

I throw a scowl at his ugly face and stalk toward him. The wiry one standing beside him shakes a little.

“Just who the fuck are you, and what do you want with me?” I demand, narrowing the distance between us.

The wiry one bolts. Goatee glowers at me. For a moment, it’s just two pairs of eyes exchanging fiery silence, before he backsteps and follows his little sidekick. When I whip back to end the giant, he’s gone too.

So much for my workout.

I stride over to Quick and Slender. To my great surprise, he’s wide-eyed and still choking on breaths, blood pooling from his neck. He has less than sixty seconds. I crouch over him and peer down into his despondent black eyes.

“Who sent you?”

But I’m too late. His failing chest hops once, twice, and then stops. He’s gone. They’re all gone. Leaving me with yetmoreunanswered questions.

I retrieve my cell phone and dial Thomas Brennan. On the second ring, he answers with his customary silent greeting.

“I need a cleanup crew in Chinatown.”

“Text the address.” He hangs up.

I drag the corpse behind a dumpster and text the names of the streets this alley lies between to Thomas. After trashing the mangled donuts, I book it to Riley’s.

I’m afraid being my fake wife just got more dangerous.

Chapter 9

Finn

When I reach Riley’s apartment, I zip into the alley behind the flower shop and race up the steps to her second-floor walk-up two at a time, all the while scanning the pavement below for anything suspicious.

Those thugs followed me into Chinatown. Who’s to say they aren’t still watching? I could lead them straight to Riley. Still, she’s safer with me than on her own. Besides, the cleanup crew I ordered is on their way. If anything happens, backup should only be two streets away.

I bang my fist on her door and wait.

Riley opens the door a crack, voice flustered and surprised, like she’s not planning to let me in. “You didn’t have to come up?—”