Page 84 of Declan

Tony gives me a speculative look, raising his brows at me in what appears to be disinterest. I turn to Declan and add, “Seriously, Declan. He stood up for me, and they threw him out of the moving car for his trouble.”

The man turns his head and points to the angry road rash on the side of his head as he says, “That’s accurate, as you can see.”

Tony eyes him, no less suspicious, but then he adds, “I also have this.” He holds up my phone, attempting to take a step toward him, but Tony puts a hand on his chest, stopping him from moving.

“You sent Jessica that text?” Declan asks.

He nods, then says, “I figured I better do something because my time in the car was short, given they don’t like it when people question whether a mark should live or die, especially one with ties to the real money. I was worried they’d realize they hadn’t searched her and stop along the way to toss her phone, and then she’d be lost.”

Declan looks at me, and I nod. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Tony sighs, almost annoyed as he lowers his hand from where he was gripping the man’s shoulder. “What’s your name?”

“My name’s Joe.”

“Okay, Joe. You really wanna help us?”

Joe nods as he replies, “I sure do. I’m just disappointed you killed those fuckers, so I can’t.”

Tony perks up as if he knows what the guy is talking about. “Well, maybe you’ll get to kill someone else instead.”

Now, Joe’s eyes light up, and he replies, “You have a point there. Something to look forward to.”

Tony and Joe walk over to where we’re all standing, but then Dare asks, “How do we know you’re not playing us just to fuck us later?”

“You don’t,” Joe replies. “But I’m sure you can kill me just as easy later as you can now, but at least later, I’ll have already done what you needed me to.”

The corner of Dare’s mouth curves up, and he nods, but he says nothing further as Matt walks over and hands Joe what looks like a cheap flip phone. Joe takes it easily, opens it, and then pauses and looks over at Declan and says, “Promise me one thing?”

Declan nods, and Joe says, “If shit goes south, make sure I’m dead.”

Everyone appears surprised by the request, but no one asks him to elaborate, and Declan nods, so Joe dials the number and puts the phone to his ear. “Yeah, this is Joe. We’re ready.”

He waits a beat, then closes the phone and hands it back to Matt. “Ten minutes. I don’t know exactly who’s coming, but I’d expect a half dozen or so. I doubt they’ll bring any muscle, given how they intend for this to end.”

“If they want me dead, why didn’t they just hire somebody to kill me and get it over with?”

“Because they’re fucking stupid,” Tony replies.

I’m grateful that they’re fucking stupid, but it still makes no sense to me, so I add, “Why not just do it cleanly and efficiently?”

Matt answers, “Ego. They want to gloat and act like a fucking big shot. They want to make sure the other person knows that they’ve won. With the number of times that mentality has backfired, you’d think people would stop doing it, but alas, here we are.”

I shake my head and focus on being grateful that I’m not dead in a ditch right now. Matt motions to the chair and says, “You better sit back down. Jessica can half-ass tie you back up so from a distance, it’ll look legit.”

I do as I’m told, and Jessica makes quick work of half-assed tying me to the chair, and then she stands beside me, and we watch the men drag the three bodies out of sight. The SUV I was driven here in is parked in front of me, so the men coming in won’t realize their men aren’t accounted for until it’s too late.

Declan walks over and kneels in front of me, his eyes meeting mine as he says, “This is going to go one of two ways, doll face. If it ends up being a manageable number of men without an entourage, it’ll be quick and easy. If they show up with a fucking army, it’s gonna be a bloodbath.”

“What do you mean a bloodbath?”

“We’re not the type of men to ask a lot of fucking questions, Issa, and in this case, we already know they came here to hurt you. No one is leaving here alive; do you understand that?”

I swallow the sudden lump in my throat and nod, but I don’t say anything, so he adds, “Do you want me to blindfold you? If you don’t wanna witness this, I understand and don’t blame you at all.”

I take a deep breath as I look at Jessica, who’s still standing beside me, and she squeezes my shoulder reassuringly. I turn back to Declan and shake my head. “No, that’s not necessary.”

His gaze moves to Jessica, and he says, “You get her out of the chair and to safety the first chance you get.”

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