“I don’t want you getting in any more trouble.” Her shoulders fell, and with it, common sense took over. Thank God. “Go without me. I’ll call you later.” At least she cared about him enough to know she’d be risking Colin’s safety if she were to leave with us. “Just go. Please,” she begged. “You know I’ll be safe here with these guys.” She reached out and hugged him, forcing me to let go of him.

I looked around, checking for the Sicilians. A few of them were still hanging back at the top of the stairs, waiting for us to leave. They wouldn’t come down as long as I was in the building.

At least Colin had mixed it up with them and not the Bratva or Triad, who didn’t have enough sense to bow down at hearing my name alone.

Of course, I wasn’t all that confident Jamie, and his low-level punk Irish gang, gave a damn who I was, either.

I reached for his arm, needing to break up the lovefest. “Come on.”

“Who is this dude?” she asked when he pulled away from her.

“Just a guy I know,” he answered, which was all he really could give her.

He hugged her one more time, and when they kissed, I lifted my gaze toward the DJ booth to give them two seconds of privacy. “Come on,” I repeated as I secured hold of his forearm again and tugged.

“Love you,” he told her, then shirked free of my touch.

At least he was finally moving in the direction I needed him to go.

The second we were outside, he spun around and hit me with, “You killed people up there.”

“Maybe say that a little louder.” I rolled my eyes. At least no one was in our immediate vicinity, and it was the middle of the night. “And no, I didn’t. The only one never getting up again was shot by his own people.” The others had a chance of survival if they made it to the ER in time. Please, any ER but the hospital where Juliette works.

“You used the man as a shield. That was . . .” He pressed his fingertips into the back of his skull. “What are you even doing here? Did my mom send you?”

I gave him a few seconds to spiral, assuming he needed to as much as I did. One of us had to keep it together. I supposed it had to be me.

“Is she tracking my phone? Why would she trust you to come after me? None of this makes sense.” He finally looked up and faced me, arms stiff at his sides like they were weighted down by concrete.