Ryan Renewed: New York Ruthless: Book 5

Conor kills the engine and I look up at the house on Long Island. We got ourselves cleaned up in the motel bathroom and left Jakob and Ruldolf to deal with the disposal of the four dead Russians. With the information they got before I put a bullet in the head of the last one standing, they are going to seek out the rest of the brotherhood and put an end to any potential future takeovers. Conor and I have no interest in helping them with their venture and they don’t expect us to. I’m satisfied that any threat to Jessie and our children is going to end with what we’re about to do now.

It’s strange how many times I visited this place as a welcome guest, and yet today, while I may be welcomed, what I’m about to do would have once been unthinkable to me. But that was a long time ago.

“You okay, bro?” Conor asks, snapping me from my thoughts.

“Yeah,” I say, the word catching in my throat. “I knew she hated her, Con, but I can’t believe she’d do this.”

“It’s fucked up, bro,” he says with a sigh.

“If she’d succeeded…”

“She didn’t though, and this is not on you. None of it.”

“So why the fuck do I feel so fucking guilty?” I swallow hard.

“Because despite the grumpy asshole exterior that you have going on, which you have down pat by the way, you’re really a big pussycat, aren’t ya?”

I know he’s trying to make me feel better about what I’m about to do and I love him for it. I give him a half-smile. “Asshole,” I grumble.

He unclips his seatbelt and together we climb out of the car. I walk up the familiar porch steps while Conor heads to the back of the house in case she makes a run for it.

I ring the doorbell, my heart racing in my chest as I wait to see if she has the front to answer and pretend like she didn’t try to have my wife and unborn children kidnapped and murdered.

A familiar shadow at the door confirms my suspicion that she’s going to try and front this out. I have no doubt she’ll be in tears within five minutes.

She opens the door and I suck in a deep breath.

“Shane?” She blinks at me as though she’s surprised by my presence. She’s a good actress, I’ll give her that. But then she always was adept at lying.

“Erin?” I say as I place my hand on the door. “Can I come in?”

She looks past me, no doubt wondering where my brothers are. I push against the wood with force causing her to stumble backward.

“Shane!” she whines as I step into her house and close the door behind me.

“I didn’t realize you were back in the States?”

“I came back last week,” she whimpers. “I didn’t think you’d want to see me.”

“Well, you’re right about that,” I snarl. “But you’re lying about how long you’ve been here, Erin. I had a chat to some of your Russian friends earlier.”

Her face pales but she stands tall, glaring at me in defiance. “I don’t have any Russian friends,” she insists.

“Well, you’re probably right about that too,” I agree, running a hand over my jaw as I enjoy watching her squirm. She is a smart woman and I can almost see the cogs working in her brain as she tries to think of a way out of this. No doubt she has at least half a dozen excuses ready to trip off her tongue. “They threw you under the bus at the first opportunity so I guess to call them your friends is a bit of s stretch. Your acquaintances, then?”

I step closer to her and she backs away from me toward the wall.

“I – I don’t know what you’re taking about,” she stammers.

“Really? You don’t know Hayden Chambers either?” I scowl at her.

“No,” she shakes her head. “Whoever has told you that I do is lying to you Shane. I don’t know what this is about, but I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“Liar!” I snarl.

“Shane, please listen to me,” she pleads as she places a hand on my arm and I shrug it off.

“I have to admit, I would never have suspected you in a million years. You played it so well. But it all makes perfect sense now. You worked for the Ivanovs years ago. You have the contacts. You also have the know-how to make sure those contracts needed all of our signatures and I have no doubt you used some of your old legal contacts to make sure that meeting with our new lawyers happened on the date and time that was convenient for you.”

She glares at me but she doesn’t speak so I go on.

“You knew Alexei Ivanov. You found out about his other kid and saw him as the perfect pawn in your little plan. How did you get him on board? Offer him money? Threaten him?”

The slightest smirk plays on her lips and I have to stop myself from snapping her neck right now.

A sound behind us makes us both turn and I nod to Conor as he makes his way along the hallway toward us. “For someone in bed with the Russians I’d have expected you to have slightly better security,” Conor says as he pockets the small knife he uses to pick locks. He’s never come across one he couldn’t beat.

“Are you going to come with us quietly, or is Conor here going to have to carry you to my car unconscious?” I ask her.

Her lip trembles and right on cue, here come the waterworks. “Please, Shane,” she wails.

“For fuck’s sake.” I shake my head at Conor and he steps closer to her, more than ready and willing to knock her out.

“I’ll come with you,” she shrieks as she shrinks back from Conor. “Don’t touch me!”

“Gladly,” Conor snarls.

“Let’s go then,” I say as I nod to the door.

She swallows hard but then she starts to walk to the door. She looks around the house before she leaves and I wonder if she’s thinking she’s never going to see the place again.

She’d be right.

“Where are you taking me?” she whimpers as we walk toward my car.

“I think my wife and my brothers might have some questions for you, don’t you?” I snap as I push her forward. She stumbles on the gravel path, falling to her knees. She looks up at me, tears in her eyes as she waits for me to help her.

“Get up. Now!” I hiss.

“Shane. Why are you doing this to me?” she sniffs as she pushes herself to a standing position and brushes the dust from her knees.

“Because I finally realized what an evil, selfish bitch you are,” I snap. “Now get in the fucking car or I will let Conor break your neck right now and bury you in your own fucking yard.”

Suddenly the fake tears are gone and she goes back to glaring at me. “You’re making a huge mistake,” she hisses.

“We’ll see about that.”

Once Erin is inside the car, I climb on the back seat beside her and lock the doors. As Conor is pulling the SUV away from the curbside, my cellphone rings. Glancing at the screen I see Jessie’s name flashing on the screen and I press the cell to my ear.

“Hello, sweetheart,” I answer.

“Shane. It’s Erin. She’s the one behind it.”

“I know. Conor and I have her. Are you with the twins?”

“Yes. We have Hayden. We’re bringing him to the basement so we can decide…” She trails off. “He’s just a kid, Shane.”

“I know,” I say as I look at Erin and wonder what promises she made to Hayden – or what threats.

“We’ll meet you there.”

“Okay. See you soon. I love you.”

“Love you too,” I reply and don’t miss the look of disgust on Erin’s face. I end the call and put my cell back into my pocket.

“How did you even find that kid?” I ask her.

“I’m good at my job,” she says with a shrug. “You always underestimated me, Shane.”

“I obviously did,” I say and she smiles, mistaking that for a compliment.

“How long have you known about him?”

“Since I worked for the Russians.”

I frown at her. “That was over ten years ago.”

“I know. Alexei always knew he had a son, but he had no interest in him. He was only ever focused on finding that slut of a daughter of his,” she cackles.

Conor slams on the brake, bringing the car to a screeching halt as he turns in his seat.

“You ever call her that again and I will cut out your fucking tongue,” he snarls.

Erin rolls her eyes and leans back in her seat, giving me a smirk. I take a deep breath and squeeze my fists together. She will pay for every slight against my wife soon enough, but right now I want information and she is so damn arrogant and pleased with herself, she’s going to give it.

“So you always knew about Jessie then? Who she really was?”

“Not at first, no.” She shakes her head. “Not until you came to my office with her and asked me to start looking into the Ivanovs.”

“So it was you who told Alexei where she was?” I snarl at her.

“He already knew anyway. One of his men had recognized her. So bloody careless of her to work against the Bratva when you’re supposed to be hiding from them.”

“Well, she didn’t know she was supposed to be hiding from them,” I snarl, unable to stop myself from defending her.

“Hmm,” Erin sniffs as she looks out of the window.

“And the brotherhood? What were they getting from all of this?”

“Power, of course. I met one of them while I was doing some work for Alexei and when I told them that there were not one but two Ivanov heirs out there, they were more than happy to help me rid the world of one of them so they could use the other to take over.”

“So your grand plan was to replace Vlad with Hayden so that the brotherhood had someone at the top they could control?”

“I don’t care what the Bratva do. Whether Vlad or the brotherhood are in control is of no consequence to me.”

“You did all this just to get rid of Jessie?”

“Bingo!” she says with a cackle and I stare at her. She must be having some kind of psychotic episode. “So what is your grand plan now, Shane? Kill me and bury me in an unmarked grave?” she laughs.

“Bingo!” Conor pipes up.

“Shane could never kill someone he loves,” she replies coolly.

I swear she is unhinged. “I don’t love you, Erin,” I remind her.

“But you did. And a part of you always will, Shane. You can’t deny that no matter how much you want to.” She flutters her eyelashes at me and I shake my head in bewilderment.