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“Why did my sister die? You said you wouldn’t let any harm come to your children. Why didn’t you protect her? And who is this sibling I know well?”

He must be speaking of Granger, but I need him to admit it. I swear the necklace I stole from Granger the night he chased me down straight into the crossfires of a drive-by shooting is the same necklace I remember seeing around Cillian’s wife’s neck. Cassandra, my biological mother, was Cillian’s lover.

To love and have a wife and a lover in addition to being a father to both women’s children, will I be in the same predicament if I stay with Maddox? Cillian very much loves the women as much as they love him, and marriage wasn’t enough to tame his wilder side. If Maddox decides to take a lover, will I be okay with that?

I doubt I will be. I would rather leave him than share him with another woman.

“Do you have to ask, Blaise? Do you think the meeting with Granger was pure chance? Did you think you getting shot was a matter of wrong place, wrong time? No, sweetheart. I gave the order for my best marksman to get in the shot.”

“You purposefully shot me?”

My hand shoots out and my palm smacks skin. There’s a resounding smack. Cillian covers his stinging cheek.

“My girl’s got her dad’s temper.” He smirks. “I’m proud of you, sweetheart. Keep those hits coming. We need to toughen you up. Someday, you and Granger will inherit my piece of the McCabe empire. My children will rule the underworld next to their cousins. First off, we send a clear message. No one messes with a McCabe.”

“And how will you go about doing that?” I almost added “Daddy dearest.” Puke. I cannot believe my father ordered his men to deliberately shoot me in the back.

Will he stab me in the back in the proverbial sense? Or can I put my trust in a mobster who couldn’t keep my sister safe? When push comes to shove, will Cillian sacrifice my life so that he can live?

“You didn’t tell me why Maya died. How could you live with yourself knowing you gave up on her when she needed you the most?”

“That’s the thing. I regret and am remorseful every day that I wasn’t there for her. But Maya made her choice. She didn’t want to come home, Blaise. She said she loved him and he loved her. Except he wasn’t in love with her. He was obsessed with having you, and Maya was the next best thing.”

He stares off and shakes his head, his jaw locked as though remembering anew the talk he had with my sister that got him nowhere.

“I begged her to listen to reason. She didn’t. Finally, I had enough. I sent my men in to extract her. They were staying at a cabin near a river swollen with heavy rain. She threw herself into the river. Maya wasn’t a great swimmer. We looked for her. Now I know he found her first and took her body. Buried you with her. Mark my word, he will pay with his life. He won’t get the chance to take you from me again.”

“You said he has an obsession with me. He says he knows me intimately.”

“You let him fuck you?”

Geez, he’s crass and tactless. My cheeks heat. The driver’s eyes lock with mine in the rearview mirror before he returns his attention to the road. What is it with his intense checking out of my reaction? He should mind his own business. Otherwise, Cillian might have the inkling to skin him or shoot him in the back.

“No. But I think he’s someone from my past. Someone I saw on a regular basis.”

“Like a boyfriend?”

I shrug. “Maybe. He said I gave him the gift of time.”

Then there’s the riddle. God, what was it again? I wrack my brain, and finally, what he said lights up bright in my mind.

“He also said something else. My enemy is my enemy, or is he my friend in disguise, drawing me out from beneath my guise?”

“What the fuck?”

“Cillian.”

Cillian grunts. “My apologies, sweetheart. I’ll ease up on the language.”

“Thank you.”

The SUV stops in front of a gated estate. The driver doesn’t roll down his window. He brings out his cell phone and taps something on the screen. The gate opens, and after setting his phone down, he drives down a long driveway before parking in the circular driveway. The other SUVs park behind us.

I open the car door. Cillian stops me with a hand on my arm.

“My estate is well-guarded, but anyone can take a shot at you. Wait for my men.”

The door opens, and the driver extends his gloved hand to me.