Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“It doesn’t matter how. All that matters is that it’s the truth.” He understood her disbelief. Dmitri Romanov was about as easy to pin down as smoke. Aiden had spent the last twelve months verifying Jude’s information and looking for other options, but Romanov wasn’t the kind of man to leave bread crumbs that could be connected to him and his operations. Even with the sheer amount of intel Jude had on him, there was nothing concrete that could be used against him.
Or there hadn’t been until Romanov himself called Aiden.
Charlotte paused, and he stopped next to her. There was a distant look in her blue eyes. “Even if it’s true, I don’t see how I play into it.”
“You know the Eldridges. You know Romanov. You know what they will or won’t do in any given situation.”
“So do quite a few other people.”
She wasn’t saying no, so he pressed. “None of those people are as uniquely motivated as you are in seeing Dmitri Romanov taken out at the knees. The O’Malley family barely registers on your radar. You have no reason to double-cross me, because I’ll be giving you what you desire above all else.”
“And, pray tell, what is that?”
She didn’t know it yet, but he had her—hook, line, and sinker. Aiden just had to reel her in. “Justice.”
* * *
Justice.
The word rang through Charlie like a bell, and something deep inside her responded. For whatever reason, this man wanted Romanov’s downfall as much as she did—possibly more, if he was scraping the bottom of the barrel for her help.
She knew what her dad would say. John Finch had a very low opinion of anyone even remotely connected with organized crime, and Aiden O’Malley was the head of his family. He’s as much a snake as Romanov, and getting into bed with one evil to bring down another won’t solve anything.
That didn’t change the truth.
And the damn truth was that she’d been living half a life for four years. Even after Jacques saved her and gave her a purpose, no matter how small, she still hadn’t bounced back. The drive she’d had ever since she was a child—the desire to be a force of good in the world and to stop bad people from doing bad things—it was gone. It’d disappeared right around the time that Romanov won.
The bad guys won.
She’d learned the hard way that life wasn’t a fairy tale, and good didn’t always triumph over evil. Sometimes a compelling lie was sought above a harsh truth.
“I’ll do it.” She didn’t give herself a chance to think too hard on it. Her dad had stopped being proud of her four years ago. One more disappointment wasn’t going to break him.
Probably.
He hadn’t been able to salvage her reputation after she was branded a dirty cop. No one inside the law had. If Charlie couldn’t fix that, at least she could ensure that Romanov went down in flames as retribution.
She pressed her lips together. “What, exactly, am I agreeing to do?”
Aiden moved to a dark town car that had pulled up, and opened the back door. “Get in and I’ll tell you everything.” When she hesitated, he gave a mirthless smile. “Look around, Charlotte. If I was up to no good, I could have hurt you at any time.”
“Charlie.” She’d responded without thinking, even as she did what he said. They’d wandered several blocks away from the bar. He could have cut her throat right here and no one would have sprung to assist her—and they certainly wouldn’t have talked to the cops if they’d seen something. Even if Jacques had sent Billy out after her, they were too far away for him to rescue her.
Just as well. She didn’t need rescuing. “I don’t trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Somehow, that eased her distrust a little. His offer—whatever it entailed—wasn’t too good to be true. Enemy of her enemy or not, this man was not a good man.
I’m not much of a good woman anymore, either. She’d tried—tried so damn hard it’d almost killed her—but when push came to shove, the very justice system in place to protect the innocent had worked against her.
She lost everything as a result—because of Romanov.
She climbed into the backseat and scooted over so Aiden could join her. He dominated the small space in a way he hadn’t on the street, and she realized he’d been containing himself. Even now, he hadn’t exactly let himself off the leash, but he’d stopped trying so hard.
Or maybe this is just another version of Aiden O’Malley—this one designed to put me at ease.
She couldn’t trust the change. She couldn’t trust him.
She took a short breath, inhaling his clean scent, which made her think of snow-topped mountains—beautiful and clear and deadly to anyone who tried to conquer them. “I won’t kill anyone.” She wasn’t that far gone.