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Meg’s face is ashen.
When Lorcan’s hand drops, he towers above Danny. “Did you lie to me? You steal from me, and then you lie about it.”
Bobby is slack-jawed by the closed door. “You thought it was me,” he whispers, stunned.
“Danny told him it was you.” I pop open the door. “It’s your lucky day, kid. Get out of here.”
Danny doesn’t meet Lorcan’s gaze. Instead, he’s fixed on Meg. “Do what you gotta do to me, but leave Meg and the baby outta this. She ain’t done nothin.”
“Except steal from me.” Lorcan brims with suppressed rage. “She’s been stealing from me, and you’ve been covering for her.” His fists are clenched at his side.
Danny doesn’t say anything to Lorcan. His pleading eyes are focused on Meg. “It’s okay, baby. It’ll be okay.”
Lorcan’s elbow comes up and slams into Danny’s face, knocking him back. “You don’t steal from me.”
I don’t say a word, and I’m careful to keep my features neutral. I’ve witnessed people in my position lose their cool once the viciousness starts. Crying. Screaming. Begging. Not me. Living this life means I have to seem like I condone the violence. I understand it. Maybe I do.
Drawing back his arm, he drives his fist into Danny’s cheekbone, and Danny hits the concrete floor with a thud. “You don’t lie to me.” An unconscious Danny is sprawled on the floor, and Lorcan whirls around, pointing his finger at a sobbing Meg. “You got twelve hours to get outta town before I send a cleanup crew. You take even so much as one more dollar out of this organization, and your family is dead. You hear me?”
“Y-y-y-yes.” Meg is sobbing, and her agreement is almost impossible to decipher.
Lorcan throws the door open and scans the room, landing on Bobby. “Get my men in here.”
Bobby jumps up and crosses the room to the other door, calling in Lorcan’s two guards.
“Clean this shit up,” Lorcan says to both of them. “Ian, you stay with me and Kim. Sean, you look after Danny and Meg. They got twelve hours to be out of Boston, or you can kill them.”
Danny stirs on the concrete, and Lorcan gives him a swift kick to his ribs.
Up to now, Lorcan’s been restrained, but when he goes to kick him again, I say, “Don’t forget this kindness, Meg. You should be dead right now.” My heart pounds in my ears, but my voice is even. Every time I’m in this situation, I thank the deities out in the universe my training is rock solid.
My voice brings Lorcan up short, and he rolls his shoulders, gathering himself. Bobby would not have gotten the twelve-hour grace; even Danny on his own wouldn’t have. Assuming anything in my file is right, Lorcan’s got a soft spot for mothers.
“Outta town. You never come back, you hear me? I catch a whiff of either you or Danny or your kid, and I’m coming for all of you.”
Meg nods over and over, covering her face with her hands as each sob gets louder.
Lorcan opens the door to the office and jerks his head for me and Ian to follow. We both slip out behind him. Sliding my fingers inside my jacket, I brush up against the metal of a gun.
Once we’re back in the car, Lorcan stares out the window, flexing his hand. “Did you know she was pregnant before she came into the office?”
“No.”
“How’d you figure out it was them?”
“Danny couldn’t stay still. Wasn’t giving you clear answers without prompting. Reluctant. Bobby didn’t care you were there. He was doing his job, like normal. He thought he was getting promoted. Megan wasn’t doing anything but watching you. She should have painted a scarlet G on her forehead and then used an arrow to point at Danny.”
Lorcan’s mouth quirks up, but then he grows serious. “I would have killed Bobby.”
“I know.”
“For no reason.”
I meet his look, and a spark of sympathy stirs in me at the sincerity flowing out of him. Many of the men I’ve known in his position wouldn’t have cared.
“Thank you. I got enough on my conscience without adding to it.” The lilting softness is back.
An uncontrollable urge to grab Lorcan’s hand hits me. I want to touch him, solidify the connection. With a last glance at me, he focuses his attention out the window, and the moment passes.