Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86629 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86629 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“She’s definitely worried.”
“I should tell her I’m going to be alright. I just…” Rowan pauses, trembling against me. “I keep seeing him, you know? Colm was trying to save us.”
“Listen to me.” I draw back and hold her shoulders tightly. “You did all you could. You saved me and my mom. You know that, right? If you hadn’t gotten us, I’m not sure we would’ve made it to the safe room.”
“Some saving. I got Colm killed, Dad’s nose got broken, and Deck’s a traitor.”
“You did save us though. What happened to Colm was terrible, but it’s not on you.”
“I feel like I let everyone down.”
“Oh, honey. You didn’t.” I hug her hard. “We’re even now.”
That makes her laugh and I laugh along with her.
It’s better than crying.
We sit together in one of the empty rooms. Rowan doesn’t open up exactly, but she seems to unwind. She comes out of her hoodie, hands appearing, hood drawn back. We’re in the middle of laughing about something else when Connor shows up in the doorway, eyebrows knit like we both grew two heads.
“That’s a sound I’ll never get sick of,” he says genuinely, and the honest love in his eyes for his sister makes my heart break. This man pretends like he’s got nothing inside of him but hate and death, but there’s a softness under all those layers of blood.
“There you are.” Rowan stands and stretches. “Dad was looking for you.”
“Found him,” Cathal says from the hall.
“You mind if I borrow my wife?” Connor nods at me. “We have some talking to do.”
“What, you’re cutting me out of the family business already?” Rowan laughs at the look on Connor’s face. “Kidding. Seriously. I’d rather go back to being ignorant.” She sweeps from the room, pausing only to knock her brother on the arm. He grunts and pretends like it hurts.
“Love seeing you two getting along,” Cathal says once Connor sits at my side. His knee touches mine and he puts a hand possessively on my leg. I lean my head on his shoulder so he knows everything’s okay. “Remember when you were younger? You and that girl were at each other’s throats.”
“She was a pain in my ass,” Connor grumbles and scowls. “Still is most days.”
“Ah, come on.” Cathal looks at me, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Even back then, Connor was protective of Rowan. But she was still his little baby sister, right? Whenever he was out causing trouble, she’d want to go, and they’d yell at each other and cause bloody havoc.”
“I can’t imagine them fighting,” I admit.
“All siblings do. You have more of those—“ Cathal gestures at my belly. “You’ll find out.”
I flush thinking about starting a family. “Let’s focus on the first one and we’ll go from there.”
“Speaking of focus.” Connor raises his chin to his father. “Go ahead and tell me what happened again.”
Cathal lowers himself into a chair with a grunt and settles back, idly rubbing at his broken, crooked nose. “Deck called is what happened. Imagine my fucking surprise when that snake had the gall to talk to me.”
“What did he want?” I ask, startled at how anxious I feel. Even hearing his name sends a pang of fear through me.
I’ve never been hated by someone like that before. The way Deck talked to me, the way he looked at me, it was like I wasn’t human anymore. It felt horrible, to be demeaned that way.
“He wants to talk to me. I told him to go ahead and speak his piece, but he insisted on doing it in person.”
Connor lets out a low rumble from his chest. “It’s a trap.”
“Maybe, but I’m not sure. Deck sounded desperate. How many of your men went over to the other side with him, anyway?”
“No more than ten.”
“He doesn’t have the firepower to take me on directly.”
“I bet he was banking on Fergus not being dead.” I cross my legs, tapping a finger to my teeth. “That was him taking the money, wasn’t it?”
“It’s my assumption,” Connor agrees grimly. “That attack was his play. My guess is he wanted to end me by taking you captive, then he’d take control of the Maguire operation, probably as a vassal to the Gallaghers.”
“Fucker really wanted it, huh?” Cathal taps his nose again. “I’ll tell you, son, I’m in the mood to get even for this.”
“That’s not your call, Dad.”
“But Deck came to me, not to you.”
“He thinks you’re soft.”
Cathal makes a dismissive sound. “Deck’s my brother’s son but he’s still a piece of shit. You give me a gun and I’ll put him down.”
“He had the chance to do that to you,” I say, and both men’s eyes fix on me. “But he didn’t. Can you really kill him, Cathal?”
Connor’s dad scratches his chin. “I’d consider it.”
“You might, but I won’t. I’ll find Deck on my own. I’ll do all the killing for everyone.” Connor stands and starts to pace. “But if he’s calling, that means he’s weak. It’s only a matter of time before we have him.”