End Game (New York Stars Book 1)

“YOU OWE ME.”

Jennifer jumps with one foot out of the bathroom door and one foot inside it. “Jesus, Gracie! Warn a girl, would you?”

“You pee a lot.”

“I’m pregnant. Sue me.”

I cock a brow at her. “You’re crazier than my mom. She had three kids under the age of seven. Yours are under the age of four.”

Jennifer shrugs. “We want a big family.”

“Apparently. Anyway, if I didn’t catch you here, how else was I supposed to talk to you tonight without Liam overhearing?” I don’t let her argue, just grab her arm and tug her toward the gym.

Her nose crinkles. “You don’t have somewhere else we could sit?”

Admittedly, the room stinks of boys.

“The spare is being used by Ollie.”

She winces. “Such a sad story. I wish…”

“You wish?”

“I had a similar childhood. My mom was—” She blows out a breath. Sucks one in. “—a terrible parent. Though Padraig was absent, he did a better job than her. Let’s put it that way.”

“Paddy sucks on the providing front.”

“He says he’s trying to make up for it. I only met him a few years ago.”

“Can you make up for something like that?” I ask her softly.

“He’s trying. It’s better than nothing. It’s not always easy, but I’d prefer to have him in my life than not. It helps that he’s terrified of me.”

I snort. “I noticed that.”

“He’s very cautious about upsetting me.” She hesitates. “Liam struggles with him, doesn’t he?”

“He does. I was surprised when he invited him over today. They’ve never been close and he grates on Liam.” My brows lift as I lean against a stationary bike. “We agreed that if I made this happen, you’d give me some clues about his kidnapping.”

She grimaces. “I can’t tell you everything.”

“Why not?”

“Like I said before—because a lot of illegal things happened to get Liam home.” She clears her throat. “I can tell you that the people who took him were killed when he was retrieved.

“I can tell you that he was targeted by a kidnapping group. I can tell you that my husband was pivotal in making his release possible, and I can also tell you that the cops didn’t bring him home—the O’Donnellys did.”

My brow furrows. “The mafia helped more than the cops did?”

“Yes.” She blinks at me. I get the feeling she’s trying to impart some knowledge with that blink but I’m pulling a blank—

“Your husband’s… mob-adjacent?” I ask carefully.

Thinking about Luciu Valentini, who looks exactly like Jennifer—as if they stepped off a magazine shoot together ten minutes ago despite the fact they’ve been here for hours—I could see that.

He doesn’t scream Don Corleone but there’s definitely something… dangerous about him.

“He is.”

Curious, I ask, “How come you didn’t know Paddy when you were growing up?”

“Because he’d faked his death and was hiding up in Canada. That’s when he met Liam’s mom.”

Eyes wide, I blurt out, “You’re shitting me?”

“I wish I were,” she drawls, clearly amused at my reaction as I stagger over to Liam’s multigym and sit down heavily on the padded bench. “He came back to New York to beg his brother for help with paying Liam’s ransom demand.”

Mouth gaping, I sputter, “This is like something from a book.”

She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “If it were, it was written by someone with a whacko sense of humor and a fucked-up imagination.”

Definitely. Stunned, I ask, “Instead of paying the ransom, they got him back by force?”

“The Irish Mob weren’t going to hand over tens of millions of dollars when they could deal with it in-house… What do you know of the O’Donnellys?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, Liam’s uncle was the head of the mob. Now, his cousin is.” She shrugs. “The kidnapping group had no idea what they’d gotten themselves involved in.”

“I’m glad,” I spit bitterly, thinking about last night’s nightmare and the thousands prior to it.

“Me too. I hope they suffered,” she says pleasantly. “I can assume that they did. Anyway, do you consider that enough info to leave me alone about this?”

Though I’m still taken aback, I have to chuckle. “Yeah. I know more than I did before so that’s something. I just want to help him.”

“I don’t think you can. Some trauma is unfixable. But you can be there for him. You can stand by his side and prop him up when he’s too weak to hold himself tall. That’s all anyone can ask from their partner.” Her smile shifts, softens. “I’m going to go hang out with my brother, husband, and father.” She shakes her head. “Never thought I’d say those three words in the same sentence, but here we are.”

I let her go but stay in the gym while I gather my thoughts.

My family has gone back to their respective hotels, and Ollie’s sleeping in the spare bedroom, so it’s only Liam’s family in the living room.

Laughter drifts from that way and a smile curves my lips at the sound.

Liam’s earned this. He deserves happiness.

Jennifer’s right—that’s not solely a burden a partner can bear, but moral support is where I can come in handy.

Mind still buzzing from what I’ve learned today, I return to my fiancé’s side and slump onto the couch next to him.

Absently, and all the more powerful for it, he grabs a hold of my hand, gently tilts my wrist, then presses a kiss to where my pulse beats merrily away.

Jennifer, cuddled into Luciu’s side, smiles at the sight and rests her head on her husband’s shoulder.

“Always knew you two were meant to be.”

Padraig’s out-of-the-blue words don’t rile Liam up for once. Instead, he says, “Wish you’d told me sooner. I might not have spent nearly twelve years without her.”

Paddy shoots me a wink. “Damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”