Page 90 of Shattered Hearts
Tink!A bullet glances off a nearby downspout. Someone’s firing at us from the direction of the abduction van.
“Run!”
Again, I obey.
Prying myself from the ground, I start moving and don’t stop as Cian whips back to return enemy fire. Seconds later, he’s right behind me, and we burst back onto the street and scramble into his car.
How many more life-or-death experiences am I going to have this week?
Chapter 21
Finn
Thomas Brennan growls just before swinging a steel pipe at Troy’s kneecaps. The god-awful cracking extracts a howl so loud, I have to turn the monitor’s volume down. Exhaling hard, I drop my finger on the pause key.
I’ve been down here in the basement all day, watching recordings of Thomas interrogating Dipshit Sullivan. Since I was too busy forgetting my place with his daughter to participate, I missed out.
I thought analyzing the footage for clues would take my mind off things. Why the fuck did I think that? Seeing Thomas Brennan only reminds me of his daughter and how she deserves a better father. Seeing Troy Sullivan, it’s the same shit. I just think of Riley.
I hit play.
Work, Finn. Focus on work.
This is the third time I’ve watched the footage of this session. My favorite part is coming up.
“Why do you keep. Coming. Back?” Thomas pummels Troy on every word he enunciates. By the time Thomas finishes his sentence, Troy’s out.
Guess that right hook is hereditary.
Fuck! I slam my fist on the spacebar to stop the video again. Can I go five seconds without thinking about her? I’m not myself today. Maybe I can’t stop thinking about her because I know I’m going to see her later. See her and say…what?
My brain is a blank white page.
I rewind the video footage by five seconds to watch Thomas go one more time. But on this next pass, his words hit my ears differently.
Why do you keep coming back?
Does that mean…have Thomas and Troy crossed paths in the years since the Red Hill debacle? I understand from what Riley told me that his showing up a few nights ago was the first time she’s seen him since she ended things between them. But just because Riley hasn’t run into him at all these past few years doesn’t mean her father hasn’t…
I’m clicking into the archives to do some research when my phone vibrates, nearly buzzing right off the desk.
It’s Cian. I catch the phone and answer before it hits the floor.
“Finn? Where are you?” The urgency in Cian’s tone jerks me out of my stupor.
“At the house. What’s going on?”
“We’ll be there in five minutes. Get Rory.” Cian’s deep exhale causes the cell’s microphone snuffle and snap. “I’m with Riley. We were attacked leaving her job. Managed to take?—”
I’m on my feet the second I hearI’m with Riley.“Is she hurt?”
“No, I got to her before they roughed her up too bad.”
My spinal cord’s been replaced with lava. In a fraction of a second, I’m molten with rage, my mind racing like a missile-powered roller coaster.
I’m going to break my hand on the face of the motherfucker who hurt her. I’m going to crack my brass knuckles in halfcrushing through that fucker’s skull with my bare hands. And then I’m going to kill all his friends, just for fun.
“How many?” Fury scorches the bottom of my feet, prompting me to move faster. I’m out the interrogation office door, jogging down the darkened central corridor of the cell block.