Dating the Don (Savage Crime Lords #1)

Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

MAEVE

We immediately catch up with Al, and I give him a swift tap on the back of his shoulder. We need to go upstairs. I hum gently to encourage them both to follow me, so when they do, I'm a little taken aback. I expected greater resistance from them.

The adrenaline coursing through my veins is unreal.

To keep things moving along quickly, we choose to walk rather than use the elevator. The interior of the building is much older than I had anticipated, and it's good to see that there isn't nearly as much security as Cristiano has at home. It’s working to our advantage. I know that I should question it further but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Not when I’m so close.

We reach the top floor before we encounter another living soul. Two men are quickly dispatched by Al and his fast strikes. They drop to the ground and I refuse to let myself dwell on the fact that I’ve watched Al kill more than a handful of people today like it was nothing. Simple as breathing to him. I don’t know if I should aspire to be like that or not. Such a delicate balance that I know nothing about.

We move silently through the carpeted halls until we reach the wide double doors that must be an office of some sort. The two doors are parted just slightly, the sounds of casual conversation drifting out of the crack.

“It doesn’t need to be anything fancy,” Callum says casually.

“Like hell, it doesn’t. This is a rebirth for us, it’s you going back out into society again. This is important for everybody involved, Callum.”

I don’t recognize the man’s voice so it must be Hugh Doyle. The heavy Irish accent is so similar to his son’s that it has to be him.

“Besides, doesn’t every little girl dream of a lavish wedding? The sort of princess and fairytale shit? Women eat that up,” Hugh continues.

They are talking about me. About my wedding. As if I didn’t already hate everything about all of this, they are planning my alleged wedding to Keiran and they aren’t even going to bother even attempting to get my input on any of it? Hilarious. Just further proof that I don’t belong here with these people.

Cristiano shifts to the other side of the door and peers inside, then gestures me closer to him. He wraps a hand around my middle and pulls me close, pointing out that Keiran is also standing in the room with them. Though, he doesn’t seem to be involved in the conversation in the slightest. If anything, he looks bored. Like he’s only there because he has to be.

Callum paces back and forth in the room. “Yes, but then there’s going to be too much of a target on the whole thing. The only way that the fancy wedding package really works is if the Dominio family is exterminated.”

Hugh waves his hand dismissively. “Do not worry about that. It’s all going to be taken care of shortly.”

“You have a plan?” Callum asks Hugh.

“My friend, do you still doubt me?” Hugh chuckles darkly. “Of course, I have a plan. Now that the girl is out of the house, our assets have been protected and therefore I see absolutely no reason why I can’t simply blast that ugly eye-sore of a mansion clear off the map with everybody in it.”

“A bomb?” Callum asks with obvious interest.

“I have endured them for long enough. It took a while to get the local authorities out of their pocket and into my own, but in just a few short days, it will be taken care of. Then we can have the wedding in the very crater left behind for all I care.”

Behind me, Cristiano flinches. A bomb is something a lot larger than what they have endured before, that is something that I’m certain of. That’s the sort of thing that means not only local police involvement but also FBI involvement, and then some. It’s not something that can be easily distracted or removed with bribes in people’s pockets.

It’s absolutely something that none of us can allow to happen.

Cristiano lets me go and stepsback,kickingthe door openwith a powerful and quick blow. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Keiran duck and hide. He moves so quickly that it's hard to follow his movements. Everything around me is happening far too quickly, movingin a haze. My father is knocked off balance and onto his ass by Cristiano's bootbefore he can even register the shock. Al pulls a gun, andHugh raises his. The latteryells as his gun slips from his grasp and clatters to the floor after having been shot by Alin the hand.

Callum picks the revolver up off the floor and aimsas Cristiano ducks. Both men fall with a loud noise as Cristiano's shoulder strikes Callum's chest. The two men are moving far too fast for me to aim my gun at them. I can’t risk shooting Cristiano. I just can’t.

“Shoot!” Cristiano yells over the sounds of fighting. Al is too busy subduing Hugh to be of any help.

“I don’t have a clear shot!” I yell back. “Cristiano!”

Cristianohits Callum anywhere he can, and the latterlets out a loud growl in an attempt to gain the upper hand,findinghimself with Cristiano encircling him from behind and his arms pinned up behind his head. It’s a clear and open target. I don't believe I will ever have a shot as clear as I have right now.

But if I shoot him, the bullet that'll pass through him will reach Cristiano too.

Plus, he’s struggling too much for a headshot.

Everything seems to freeze for a brief moment. In the blink of an eye, everything slows down and pauses as Cristiano looks directly into my eyes. I can read his intentions asclear as day. I knowwhat he expects me to do, and not a single part of me wants to do it. I gently shake my head. I can’t shoot him. I haven't even had a chance to express my feelings to him. We've been soimmersed in this drivel for so long that...I’m not ready to lose him. His family needs him. His clan needs him.I need him.

“Do it, Maeve,” he grunts through his teeth.

I scream as I pull the trigger.

It hits Callum and goes through, the downward angle hitting Cristiano somewhere in the chest and I see the moment that the pain registers on his face.

The sound of breaking bones echoes one second after the bullet. From the corner of my eye, I saw Al pushing himself off the ground and dropping Hugh's lifeless body. Only then do I realize that Keiran emerged and is about to leave the room. I swivel around with my gun in hand, but Al is quickeras he chases himdown the hallway.

Either I run after him and try to find a way to get that guy back for almost kidnapping meor save Cristiano.

It’s not even really a choice that I have to make at this point.

I let go of the gun and sprint towards Cristiano, who is breathing much harder than I would like. I get on my knees and removeCallum's body offhim, and hestarts breathing easier right away. The bullet has struck his side, near his ribs. All I can do is hope against hope that nothing important was harmed. I need him whole and in one piece as much as possible.

Whatever argument might have come before or after this is forgotten as I help him up to his feet.

It’s hard to believe that it’s really all over. That it’s finally finished. Both of our parents have been avenged. All of those years, all of that pain brought about by these two bodies now on the floor.

Cristiano pulls me into his chest. I hug him back fiercely but he winces.

“It’s fine,” he lies. Ever the tough guy. I try to gingerly probe at the painful spot and find to my relief that it seems to have gone clean through the both of them. Now we just need to get medical attention so that nothing else happens to him. I turn while still in Cristiano’s arms to look down at the man on the ground with a frown. I knew from the one interaction that we had that he’s not the sort of person I would have wanted to know. But now the only other link back to my mother is dead with him. It’s a bittersweet sort of victory.

“I’ll have my men come for their bodies, it’s over now,” he says softly.

I nod. I thought that I might feel something after taking a person’s life, but I don’t. I don’t have this crushing sense of guilt or responsibility. I just want to go home.

Cristiano seems to read my mind as he pulls me in close once again.

“I love you, Maeve,” he says softly as he kisses my temple. “Let’s go home.”