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“No,” Seamus says. “Her family though.”

“I'm surprised they came themselves.” Cavin leans over the table. “They must be either rattled or overconfident.”

“Either way, they're here to finish something, which is pretty convenient if you think about it,” Torin says. All eyes are on him. He shrugs, crossing his arms. “I'm finishing something too.”

Seamus nods. “There's a short window. They won’t wait long before they try to move, and when they do, things could change.”

“Declan's team is working on ID information. We've got Erin running the numbers, and several keeping eyes on our properties. We've spied no one within five kilometers of the house. I have scouts everywhere.”

“That's good,” Caitlin says. She takes off her reading glasses and flicks an invisible speck of dust off. “I trust that the safe houses are prepared if we need to go?”

“We're prepared to take three dozen underground for six months,” Seamus says in a low growl.

Thirty-six people in a safe house for six fucking months? The reality of the danger we're in starts to sink in.

“Don't worry, lass,” Caitlin says with a smile and a wink. “We've never had to be in there for more than seven days or so, at most. It's just a backup.”

“That's right,” Torin growls. “It won't be necessary.”

Seamus sits up. “If they're comin' after our family, brother…”

“I led them here,” Torin says, his voice loud and clear. “I've been fucking hidin' from them for weeks. I'm not gonna do it again. This is war, and I'm going to the front line, brother.”

Seamus holds his gaze and nods. He turns to me. “Since you’re involved in this, I have to show you something, but you won’t like it.”

“I'll be the judge of whether or not I like it.” My voice is clear.

“The Esposito name’s come up in several conversations.”

“Which Esposito?” I say. Seamus doesn't answer right away. “We don't know, but most fingers point to Giuseppe.”

“You said not to make assumptions,” I say to him.

“That's wise,” Seamus says. “It's just information. That's all.”

The room keeps moving. Vehicles are confirmed, timing established. I watch and listen but don't talk. Torin finishes his conversation with Seamus and walks over to me. “I'm going with you,” I tell him. His nostrils flare, but he doesn't say anything, just takes my hand and walks up the steps that lead us to the bedroom.

“Don't think you can keep me away from them,” I say. “If my brothers are involved, I want to confront them head-on.”

“If your brothers are involved, I'm going to kill them,” Torin says quietly to me. “You might never look at me the same way again.”

I look away because he's not wrong. I would understand. I can see it logically. I can see why he would do that, but I can't. No, I wouldn't be able to forgive something like that.

“How soon?” I ask, my voice choked.

“Tonight.”

I know how to do this. At least I think I do. I've been trying to do this my whole life. You go very small and quiet, gathering your strength. You don't let anything show. I learned charm from my mother and the ability to stand strong in the face of adversity from my father. He was the adversity.

Any moment now, we're leaving here. We are going after my enemies. We are finding out the truth.

Parts and pieces are moving in ways I don't even fully understand: positions to confirm, vehicles to track, a warehouse on the water that needs eyes on it.

I know I'm useful here. I know faces they don't. I know voices. I've had time to learn them in ways they haven't. This is useful information, I tell myself. I'm fine.

Torin isn't paying attention to me right now anyway. He's on the phone, on the computer, talking to Seamus, talking to Declan. If I burst into tears and sat in the corner of the room, I don't think he'd even notice. That knowledge pulls me further into myself.

Giuseppe's on the ledger, which means nothing.