Heart Lies & Alibis (31 page)

For the first time since Malachy burst through my door I saw his cool demeanor waver. This moment with Declan's challenge finally broke through his tough exterior, revealing he was simply a man after all, and not the killing machine he wanted the world to believe he was. Declan had wounded him with those words, evident by the fire that blazed in his green eyes and the fixed set of his jaw as he glared back at Declan but Declan never flinched.

Malachy gave up on calm speech, gritting his teeth while he spoke. "Listen to me you fucking asshole snitch. You never would have won that fight that night if I hadn't been piss drunk and you hadn't been with at least five of your fuckhead friends. And we both know it. But, hey, guess what? I'm not drunk today and I have the men ready to jump to my side if the situation so presents itself. Maybe I will let you free so I can see first-hand what hiding like a pussy these last few years have done for you?"

He walked closer to our chairs, his eyes more menacing with each step, "Just know when I am done with you, it will be open season on the lovely lady next to you and the end will not be pleasant." I sucked in my breath again. His implied intentions left me chilled to the bone.

Declan was seething and barely able to speak. "Cut me loose mother fucker and I can guarantee the only people walking out of this room will be Reagan and me." He left the threat hanging in the air as no other words were needed to convey his message.

Ortiz and the Dixon brothers must have realized at the same time that things were quickly going in a direction that would not benefit them so they both tried to speak at the same time.

"Look, I'm all for ass kicking, but this shit is about to get sideways. Everybody calm the fuck down, okay?" Linc began while shaking his head. Rose just stood, quiet for once, still not entirely clear as to what was happening in the room or what his role in it was.

At the same time Ortiz stated, his voice calm and steady but with a growing concern for the business he intended to complete today, "This is not the plan we had believed would be the most useful.", but no one was listening now. The gauntlet had been thrown and it was time to see what happened.

Malachy didn't seem to care about any of his previous discussion with Ortiz and he had barely acknowledged. He ignored both men as if they didn't exist and had never spoken. He was no longer the confident crime lieutenant from before but had transformed back to a seventeen-year-old street thug ready to fight over the slightest indiscretion with his perceived worst enemy.

He had eyes only for Declan now and Declan seemed to be in the same mindset. "You still are an arrogant son of a bitch after all these years. I always wondered what she saw in you."

I knew I wasn't the
she
he was referring to.

"You thought you were too good for the neighborhood, too good to work for Paddy or anyone else really. You left to play Army and all that as soon as you could. You thought the straight life made you more worthy of her. Then you came home and were even more of a prick than before you left. I couldn't believe it when you started working for your daddy's security firm. I think you were the only one who didn't know all the illegal shit your Dad was involved with. You thought you were doing some honorable job. What a fucking joke." Malachy stopped, his face a tortured canvas of the memories that filled his mind. He continued with his tirade. "But why did you need to mess with her too?" For the first time, I saw Malachy's eyes fill with real emotion as they clouded with a pain and hurt that went deep and had been carried a long time.

Declan's jaw worked harder for a moment. His eyes clouded with a new pain, one tinged with the love and loss for someone who was in his life a long time before me. "She didn't love you. Not that way. That wasn't my fault and it sure as hell wasn't her fault. You should have let her go."

Malachy was livid as he spoke. "The fuck it wasn't your fault. We were doing pretty good until you swooped back into town. She had forgotten you after high school, moved on, was ready to take the next step with me and then your damn ass appeared and she was lost again believing you were still the love of her life."

Declan was shaking his head, more furiously as Malachy spoke. "Abigail never loved you. She spent time with you because she couldn't have me. When I came home, she came back to me with open arms. Until you got her killed." His nostrils flared, as his breathing became more labored with each new wave of anger. "Why the fuck was she with you that night anyway?"

Malachy looked rocked for a moment. He sat hard on the edge of the coffee table as his face became a portrait of guilt and shame. "I told her to meet me so we could talk. I needed to see her, to talk some sense into her about you and she agreed to meet me. For old time's sake, she said, but I knew if I got her alone I could remind her how bad you had broken her heart. I had no idea she was walking into the middle of a hell storm that night. You know Riley always did his own thing, never telling Paddy what he was up to until he got his ass in trouble. And Paddy thought his precious son could do no wrong so there was never a way to stop him either." Declan barely nodded in agreement but it was clear he and Malachy shared the same distaste for the young O'Bannion in spite of their loyalties to Paddy.

"I told Abby to meet me at The Golden Harp for drinks. I had no idea Riley would be there for fuck's sake. But he and his boys were meeting out back of the bar because they had made some side deal with the Haitians to move some heroin without his dad knowing. Riley wanted to meet somewhere Paddy might not hear about the meeting and Paddy hated The Golden Harp so it was a good choice."

His eyes became distant, the images of that night clearly playing across his mind. "Abby was caught in the crossfire, shot and killed as she walked from the parking lot to the bar, when the Haitians tried to double cross Riley. I heard the gunshots from inside the bar and I ran out but it was too late. It should have been me killed, I know that, but all I could do was hold her while she bled out and kept asking me why it had happened."

His eyes blazed with a new fury before he finished. "And in spite of his current incarceration and my loyalty to his old man, I will have vengeance one day against Riley. That is a promise I made to Abby but for now I carry the pain and the guilt of losing her. A pain I think that can be reduced by watching Paddy exact some sweet overdue pain on your sorry ass for putting his kid in jail." The cold, calculating assassin was back. Whatever brief moment had just happened, where Malachy was real and spoke of a love lost forever, was gone and buried. I wondered exactly what Abigail had meant to Declan by the pain that filled his face now?

I got my answer and for a moment the truth stung. "I loved her more than you could have ever hope to and I planned to marry her. You carry the guilt because you should but the only guilt I have is that I didn't get her out of Boston and away from you when she was alive. And I am more than glad my testimony put that piece of garbage Riley in jail. If I had known he was responsible for Abby's death, though, I would have saved the courts the time and killed him myself."

I knew Declan had been in love before me, more than once I assumed, but hearing him talk about a woman he planned to marry with such emotion and intensity tore at my soul just a bit. And then like so many times over the past few weeks together, it was as if Declan could read my thoughts when his eyes turned and met mine. "I loved Abby with all my heart but I ache for Reagan in a way I never knew existed. She is everything I wanted in this world when I didn't know what I really wanted and she is all I want for the rest of my life."

My eyes filled with tears and I smiled at him before he turned back to Malachy. "I tell you this only because I want you, those Kentucky fuckheads over there, and the Latin mafia behind me to understand I will do anything to make sure she comes out of this hell okay and by my side. Anything. Malachy, you know I mean what I say with those words so perhaps it's time you all thought very carefully before you make your next move?" His threat hung heavy in the room.

And then all hell broke loose. First, Malachy demanded Rose cut mine and Declan's restraints. "Ortiz, you can take the lovely lawyer and leave. It's time we get back to Boston with Mr. O'Shea. I have had enough of this bull shit."

Rose and Linc looked back and forth between themselves and the others in the room.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" Linc roared as he swung his gun back towards Malachy who simply nodded his head at his men in response. Now, three guns came to rest directed at Lincoln's head. Linc stopped in his tracks, his hands slightly raised. This was not the reaction he expected though he should have.

Rose never moved his gun from the back of my head. He had finally figured out his best stance in this situation was to keep his ransom safe and threatened at the same time. "Damn man. Get those guns off my brother. This isn't how this shit is supposed to go. All we wanted was to turn these assholes over to you, get our reward and get the hell back to Kentucky. Texas is really starting to suck." Rose shook his head in disgust.

Malachy smirked again, "But this is how it will go, my hillbilly friend. So now you can put your guns down and we may, and I stress that may, let you get out of this alive when we are finished."

The Dixon Brothers alternated between looking angry and scared shitless. Today had definitely not gone as they had planned and now it looked like they were going to lose on all fronts.

Lincoln laid his gun on the side table, always the quicker of the two, he had assessed the best path to survival was to stand down as Malachy had instructed. Roosevelt, a rebellious idiot to the end, did not follow suit. He kept his gun pressed hard against my head but I could feel it shaking just a little bit now.

Linc tried to save his brother. "Rose, cut their ropes like he said. C'mon man. Its not worth all this. Let's just get the hell out of here while we still can." Linc pleaded from across the room. I could see he was really scared now.

Rose stood silent for a moment, only his heavy breathing disturbing the air around him. "Fine. But I'm keeping the gun on her until we get out of here. I don't trust any of these mother fuckers to keep their word." He pulled his switchblade and leaned over to cut Declan's ropes while maintaining the gun on me. Malachy's gun was leveled directly at Declan's head from a distance away so Declan remained still in the chair but I could feel he was preparing for something.

Rose leaned back and finally cut my ropes. My only movement was to rub my wrists which were raw from being restrained for so long. The relief of being released was short lived though.

Ortiz had had enough of the small talk, the hillbilly banter, the love pledges and all the other crazy shit that was happening. He turned from where he stood by the doorway to the kitchen and started across the room to where Declan and I sat.

Rose, realizing things were suddenly going south, pulled his gun from my head and pointed it towards Ortiz and started shouting. "Stop, mother fucker. One more step and I...." He never finished his threat. Ortiz paused, raised his gun and fired twice. Two perfect shots hit Rose, one in the chest and one between the eyes. I screamed from the sound and from the blood and brain matter that sprayed over me and Declan. We ducked our heads for protection from further gunfire. Rose made no sound as he dropped to the floor in a heap, the blood blooming across his white t-shirt, his eyes still open with shock in death as they had been moments before in life.

Lincoln yelled "NO!" and rushed towards his brother from across the room. Dropping to his knees he cradled Rose's head and I heard him keen for just a moment. Rose was a psychopathic asshole but he was all Lincoln had in the world. For the briefest moment I almost felt sorry for him.

He didn't move from Rose's side when Ortiz turned his gun and fired two more shots, both to the back of Linc's bent head. He dropped across his brother's chest. Dead. The Dixon Brothers were out of my life for good. I wished I could have felt some relief but the new danger we were facing made that impossible.

Chapter 18

And then my world as I knew it exploded. Malachy's men began firing at the cartel members while Malachy ran for cover. The bullets were flying as fast as the obscenities being hurled by each side. Ortiz changed his course from heading toward Declan and I and retreated back to the kitchen while still firing. Declan grabbed my hand, pulling me from the chair and dragging me behind my couch while the firefight raged on.

We could hear members from each side dropping to the floor, either dead or dying, and a shit load of yelling, screaming destruction. Two of the O'Bannion crew and most of the Cartel men were wounded or dead. Malachy and Ortiz were shouting at each other and their men to surrender. Neither complied, of course, and the gunfire continued. The chaos of the moment was beyond surreal.

I was shaking and nearly hyperventilating as we sat huddled behind the sofa when Declan grabbed my face between his hands, forcing my eyes to look at his. "Reagan, listen to me. If we want to live, we need to go now. Don't let go of my hand no matter what." He yanked me after him before I could think.

I had barely registered his words but clutched his hand all the same.

We began scooting behind the sofa, glass and pieces of blasted furniture flying over our heads. My front window exploded just as we passed below it. I covered my ear with my free hand, squeezing my eyes closed and biting back the scream building in my chest. How the hell was this really happening?