Page 57 of Better the Devil

Bosco’s time in prison had changed him physically. Before jail, he’d been heavy set. Not fat, not really, but bulky and dense, with plenty of weight to throw around.

A lot of that weight had left him now. He was more toned than hefty, and though his heart was probably thanking him for it, the loss of weight had robbed him of the physical presence that had helped him intimidate so many people over the years.

According to Olivia, he had arrived uninvited on the doorstep half an hour before Logan had come home. She’d thought it was the postman knocking at the door, and had immediately slammed it shut when she’d seen her father standing there smiling back at her with his arms held wide.

She had shouted to him to go away, she said, which Bosco had been quick to confirm.

‘Such language. Very bad. I don’t know where she learns it. Still, I understand. She is shocked to see me, I think.’

Logan had ordered him to shut the fuck up, then urged Olivia to continue.

Despite being told in no uncertain terms to leave, Bosco had remained on the front step, offering apologies, and explanations, and garbled promises through the letterbox.

In the end, she’d been so mortified at the thought of someone she knew seeing him out there that she’d relented and opened the door.

‘Oh. Right! So, he manipulated his way inside,’ Logan said, clapping his hands together. ‘Then I’ll turf the bastard back out again.’

‘Wait!’

Olivia looked up at him from the far end of the table, shoulders hunched, hands pressed together as if in prayer. She chewed at some loose skin on her bottom lip, and shot her dad the briefest of looks. It was barely the span of a blink, too fast for Logan to identify any meaning in it.

‘I just… I want to hear him out.’

‘Hear him out?’ Logan barked. ‘There’s nothing to hear!’

‘Jack,’ Shona said. She stepped in, putting a hand on his chest. ‘We should give them some space.’

‘Him? No bloody way! I know what he is. What he’s capable of.’ He looked very deliberately between Shona and Olivia. ‘Weallknow what he’s capable of. If you think I’m leaving the bastard alone here with?—’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Olivia told him. Her gaze lingered on Bosco a moment longer this time, sizing him up. ‘He’s not going to hurt me.’

Bosco’s eyes widened in horror. ‘Hurt you? No. No, never, my baby girl.’

Olivia got up from her seat and crossed to the counter.

‘And if he tries to…’

There was ashinkas she drew one of the knives from the block and turned back to face her father.

‘I’ll cut his heart out.’

Bosco smiled, like this was a joke. The complete absence of any reaction from Olivia soon made him reconsider.

‘I, uh, I think it best you stay, Jack. You see, I come to see Olivia, of course. Baby girl. But I come for you, too.’

Logan adjusted the fold of his arms and scowled.

‘For me?’

Bosco took another sip of his coffee, but without any of the theatrics this time.

‘Yes, for you,’ the Russian confirmed. He set down the mug and wrapped his hands around it. ‘Because you, Jack Logan, are my only hope.’

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The house was lovely inside,provided you overlooked the dead man on the kitchen floor, and the brain matter spattered across the cabinets and walls.

It had a sort of farmhouse chic, with wooden ceiling beams, oak floors, and mismatched cabinets chock-full of dog-themed ornaments and knick-knacks. There were porcelain poodles, bronze beagles, and wee crystal corgis all begging on their hind legs, or playing with balls, or just lying at peace with their sculpted tongues hanging out.