Page 264 of Hate to Love You
“As do you,” he scoffs. “I received your little package this morning. Don’t think the man who watched the tape made it halfway through without vomiting.”
I figured I’d get this phone call.
And I’d planned to enjoy his disgust when he received the video tape of what Baloo did to his cousin. But right now, neither he, nor the ongoing war with the Irish, are my primary concern.
My only focus right now is getting Abigail back.
“As much as I’d love to have this little chat right now about our little shituationship,” I hiss acidly, my jaw clenching. “I do have a few more pressing issues at the moment.”
“Oh, I assume you do,” Cillian purrs. “Probably not a good look for the girlfriend of a mob boss to get kidnapped. I assume it’s counterproductive in instilling confidence in your leadership.”
My heart stops beating, and my blood runs cold.
How the fuck does he know?
“Now, right about now, I bet you're asking yourself how on earth I would know that,” Cillian chuckles darkly. “And as much as I’d love to string you along, and watch you fumble around for the answer, I know that if I don’t dispel the rumors, then you’ll likely assume I did it.”
“I sincerely doubt you’re worried about my opinion of you Cillian,” I whisper lethally. “Not after you had your men kill my cousin, and threaten my entire family.”
“...Which was in retaliation for your men killing my cousin, and threatening my entire family,” Cillian says softly. “That’s how these things unfortunately tend to go. Wars, as you know, are messy.”
“You shot my fucking dog!” I roar angrily, holding the phone away from my mouth.
“No, I did not—”
“And you were the ones who broke the truce first,” I continue. “You drew first blood!”
“No, we did not!” Cillian snaps back angrily. “The fucking truce was broken the minute you had your men come into our part of town, and take two of our women. One of whom was my sister!”
“Are you kidding me?” I laugh sarcastically. “That’s fucking bull—”
“It’s not bullshit!” Cillian shouts at me down the phone. “I have the proof! I have the video footage!”
“What proof?” I snort. “And what video footage!”
“He was your fucking brother-in-law, Roman!”
“Cillian,” I growl, my jaw clenching. “I haven’t the foggiest fucking idea of what you’re talking about, and right now I have other shit to deal with that’s more important than any of this bullshit!”
The call goes quiet, with the only sound being the heavy breathing on the other end of the line.
“You really don’t know,” he whispers. “Do you?”
I’m about to hang-up when suddenly I get a text chime.
I open it, and see that it’s a surveillance video from a street camera.
It’s grainy, and the rain makes the beginning of the video hard to see.
But then I recognize a man in the video…Igor.
In stunned silence I watch as he basically drags a clearly drunk woman towards his black Range Rover SUV, while another male, who I don’t recognize at all, puts another unconscious woman in the backseat.
“What…the fuck…is this?” I say, my breath hitching in my throat.
“This,” Cillian growls into the receiver. “Is my fucking sister. She’s been missing for two months. And the last time I saw her was with your goddamn brother-in-law.”
I clench my eyes closed.