Finn (11 page)

“So now the question is what do we do with this information?” Claire asked. She watched him, and he knew she was looking to see what kind of a man he really was.

“I think we should give it to Reed,” he said. “I don’t need to kill her in order to deal with this. If she’s found guilty in the public eye, I doubt there will be anyone standing in between us and the permits.”

Claire smiled. “I knew there was a reason you were my favorite cousin.”

“Glad to hear it,” he laughed. “So you get me those files, and I’ll give them to Reed. Just remember, they need to be clearly from her. Are you willing to be named in all this as the whistle blower?”

“Ready? It’s what I’ll build my bid for her seat on.” Claire winked.

Finn smirked. “You always were a girl with a backup plan.”

“It’s how I’ve gotten through life.” She smiled. “Well, I had better head on to the office. Need to measure the windows to pick out my curtains.”

Claire grinned and gathered her things.

“I’ll have the documents to you as soon as I can,” she said.

Finn waved.

* * *

Alyssa stepped onto the sidewalk as the leggy brunette from the other day sped off in her red sports car. She frowned.

Feeling far less happy, she went into the club. The closer she got to the office, the more irritated she became. He had pushed her away and yet had no problem calling that woman when he needed. She opened the door to the office to find it loaded with bags.

“What the hell happened in here?” she asked.

“And good morning to you,” Finn said from around several bags.

“Why are there bags all over the office?” she said.

Finn walked over to her. “We threw out all the clothes from last night.”

She nodded. The idea of putting them on again made her skin crawl.

“So?” she said slowly.

“Well, I had a friend replace them for you.” Finn smiled brightly.

She looked around the office at all the bags. He hadn’t just replaced them, he had bought her a whole new wardrobe.

“Was there something wrong with the way I dressed?” she said quietly to him, her anger just barely contained.

“No.” Finn frowned.

“Then what would make you think that I could take all this?” She waved her good arm around the office. “Everything I own would only be about a fourth of all this.”

She stepped back and took a deep breath. It injured her pride. He couldn’t be with her, but he could send his mistress out to buy her clothes? It was a slap in the face.

“I’ve got inventory,” she said and turned to the door.

“Wait,” Finn called. “Don’t you want to try anything on?”

She could feel the heat rising in her face.

“Why don’t you try it on?” she said and slammed the door.

* * *

She was not talking to him. In fact, she didn’t know if she would talk to him ever again. She had spent the last few hours in the back room ignoring him and taking inventory. If he wanted to be a complete idiot, she couldn’t help that. She also couldn’t help that she’d spent the last few hours fuming over the whole things.

“Idiot,” she mumbled.

She rubbed her shoulder a little. It wasn’t like she’d used it much, but it had taken a toll on her. Her mood was plummeting, and she’d had about enough.

Alyssa came out of the back room. The club was in full swing. They had a genuine crowd. The thump of the beats pounded into her head over and over again.

Noel sat at the end of the bar, sipping on a bottle of water.

“Want to take me home?” she said to him.

His eyes shifted toward the office. “Boss know about this?”

“No,” she said flatly. “Are you going to take me home, or am I going to walk?”

She could see him wavering.

“Fine,” she said. She stormed into the office. “I’m going home.”

Finn was sitting in his chair. All the bags from earlier were gone.

He looked up from the computer at Noel. “Are things fixed?”

She looked back to Noel. He nodded.

“Take her home then,” Finn said.

If she had been holding something, she really might have considered hitting him with it.

“Thanks for your permission,” she said and slammed the door.

Alyssa stomped through the club until she was outside in the cool air.

Noel followed wordlessly behind her.

It was almost good dealing with someone like Noel. He didn’t want to talk about things or make her feel bad. He just let her quietly seethe in the car. They pulled away, and she continued to be angry in silence.

She took a deep breath and sighed. It was obvious why she was so mad. Why couldn’t Finn see why she was so mad?

“Your boss is an idiot,” she said to Noel.

He laughed loudly. “I’m sure he knows that by now.”

She smiled a little. “I should hope so.”

Something pinged against the side of the car, and she jumped.

“What the hell was that?” she asked.

Noel pulled out his phone and hit a name.

“Get down on the floor,” he shouted at her.

Alyssa scrambled to the floor.

“We’re getting shot at,” he said into the phone.

Two more shots rang out, and the car wobbled along.

“They hit our tires,” he shouted into the phone. “Cedar and Pine.”

Two more shots, and all she could hear was the squeal of the car as it slid along the road. It hit a pole and finally stopped next to a large building. Terrified, she cowered where she was. Noel’s head lolled to the side, and she saw a red stain on his side.

“Noel,” she whispered.

He didn’t answer.

Her door swung open, and she scrambled away. She looked up and stared into eyes as dark as night. His arms were just as she remembered from the mall, coated with tattoos.

He gave her a wicked smile. “Hello, Alyssa,” he said, his Russian accent unmistakable. “You lucky. I know man who paid lot of money to make sure we don’t take you.”

She shook as he spoke.

“But your friend, he comes with us.” He grinned at her.

The other door opened, and she jumped. Two other large men reached in and pulled out Noel.

“You tell boyfriend we have man,” he said. “Goodnight.” He pulled out a gun.

She swallowed.

He hit her hard on the back of the head with the gun, and she slipped into unconscious.

Chapter Thirteen

“Alyssa,” Finn called to her.

She blinked her eyes open and instantly felt nauseous.

“Where’s Noel?” Finn placed a hand behind her back to help her get into the seat of his car.

“They took him,” she said. She tried to focus on him when she got into the seat, but the throbbing in her head was too much. She closed her eyes and continued talking. “The Russians took him. It was the man from the mall.”

“Fuck,” Finn cursed and hit the side of the car. “I don’t understand why they didn’t take you.”

She opened her eyes and looked over to him. “He said someone paid money for them not to.”

Finn stared at her for a moment before looking away. “It wasn’t me,” he said quietly.

She frowned at him.

“Well, who else could it be?” she asked.

Finn shook his head. “I don’t know.”

She watched as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“The Russians have Noel,” he said into the phone. She watched as he listened. “You think you and Ryder could get him out? He’s got a lot of connections.”

He nodded a few times.

“Sounds good. Do it.”

He hit end.

“Will they find him?” She couldn’t stop the panic from creeping into her voice.

“Liam and Ryder are the best trained for this,” he said. “If anyone stands a chance, it would be them.”

She definitely trusted Liam, and he’d worked with the Allen brothers at their security firm for a while. She’d seen Ryder Allen in action at the club during the trouble with Dale. The Allens stayed on the right side of the law, for the most part, but a few recent favors by Finn and the Allens’ own run-ins with the Russians had managed to bring them into the underworld’s problems almost as much as the Kellys.

She bit her lip as they slowly made their way to the car. When she climbed in, the tears came.

Finn climbed in next to her. “Hey,” he said. “We’ll find him.”

She shook her head. “It’s my fault. I was angry and wanted to leave early. And I could’ve stopped them. I didn’t stop them,” she sobbed.

“You didn’t do this,” he said firmly and took her hand. “And you may be a little spitfire now, but you wouldn’t have been able to stop a Russian enforcer. This is on them. They did this and when I find them, they are going to pay.”

Alyssa nodded. She knew he would and was glad. Everything she’d heard about the Russians scared her. Noel might be suffering like no one should suffer, and she might have been able to help.

They raced through town. Obeying the laws wasn’t in the books tonight. She held on to the door as he raced to get home. She thought it was likely easier for him to decide which way the tides were going from home.

Conor opened the door as they came up the walkway.

“Any word?” Finn walked in and looked around the room.

Alyssa didn’t see anyone near.

“Someone sold us out,” Finn said. “There was no way they would have known someone was taking her home.”

Conor’s eyebrows show up. “Are you sure?”

Finn shook his head. “No, but it’s the only explanation that makes any sense.”

“Wait. Wouldn’t someone be taking her home normally?” Conor asked.

“I went home early,” Alyssa said.

“There’s no way they would have known that she would go home early unless they also knew that she would come to work and get pissed at me.” The corner of his mouth twitched.

“You know that wouldn’t be that hard to guess right?” Conor looked between the two of them.

Finn shook his head. “This felt too planned. Like they were just waiting on the call.” He looked over to Alyssa. “And they didn’t take her. They said someone paid for her not to be taken.”

“You?” Conor asked.

Finn shook his head. “There is only one other person with that kind of money that might, but I just can’t figure out why my brother would do that.” He put his head in his hands and sighed. “Lot of things are not making sense in all this.”

He stared out the window for a minute before turning back to Alyssa.

“You should go to bed,” he said. “You’re still healing and that knock to the head isn’t going to help.” He turned to Conor. “Take her to my room while I get her pills.”

Conor took her by the hand and led her up the stairs. They walked in silence as she concentrated on not falling. When they reached the top, she sighed. It had been much harder than she expected.

“I can take it from here,” Finn said from behind them. “Go put the doctor on standby.”

Conor nodded and went back downstairs.

She leaned heavily on Finn as they walked to his room. He opened the door and helped her into bed.

“I’m so tired,” she and laid down on the bed.

“Here are your meds.” He placed them in her hand.

Alyssa tossed them back in her mouth. He handed her a bottle of water. After she swallowed her pills, he went to his drawer and pulled out a sleeveless shirt for her.

“I’ve got to go down there and organize all this,” he said. “Are you going to be okay?”

She wrapped her arm around his neck.

“I’m fine. Just find him,” she said into his ear.

He nodded and stood.

“Just me know if you need anything,” he said.

He walked through the door and shut it behind him.

She dressed carefully. She hadn’t hurt her arm any more than it was already, but she didn’t want stress it further.

Alyssa lay back and tried not to think, but the terrible man’s face kept coming back to her. His sinister smile chilled her to the bone.

The images of the day drifted away as she fell asleep.

* * *

“Put him on the rug,” someone shouted in the hall.

Alyssa bolted upright. There was a loud commotion coming from downstairs. She slipped on her pants and peeked outside the door.

The hall was dimly lit as she slowly made her way down the stairs. She could make out the forms of Liam and Ryder, as they carried someone into the house.

“Oh, thank God,” she whispered, as she continued down the stairs.

They placed him on the Oriental rug in the living room. His eyes were closed. Something was off with his face. As they rolled him to his side, she could see the massive burn on the side of his face. She gasped and tried to steady her breathing.

“Get that shirt off of him,” Finn shouted. He was followed by a tall older man, a stethoscope hung from his neck.

“Don’t pull it off,” the man said. “Rip it.”

Liam and Ryder ripped the shirt off, and she could see why. There were burns all over his body. Some worse than others. There were some where the flesh looked like it had been almost melted.

She let out a sob, and Finn walked over to her as the doctor examined him.

When he lifted Noel’s hands, she noticed his fingers were bent at odd angles.

“They broke his fingers?” she whispered to Finn.

He stared grimly at his cousin. They had grown up together. This had to be even harder for him to watch.

“The burns on his face and body are too extensive for me to mend.” The doctor stood and came over to Finn. “I can give him a shot of morphine, but there’s not much more I can do. He’s going to need to go to the hospital, or he’ll probably die. He’s likely going to go septic. He’s going to need some skin grafts, and his hands might even need reconstructive surgery. I don’t want to mess with them too much in case the bones shift.”

“Give him the shot, and we’ll take him,” Finn said. He looked over to Liam. “Bring the car around and be ready to go. We’ve got to get him in as soon as we can.”

“What are the burns from?” Alyssa asked.

The doctor looked to her for the first time, and she felt so small.

“Some look to be from a branding iron, but others I think are chemical. It’s the only thing that could make the skin melt like that.” He nodded and went back to Noel.