Page 23 of Little Death
He turns, lifting a brow and leaving his damp tumbler on my glossy oak desktop without a coaster. My fingers twitch at my sides.
“Was I supposed to clear my schedule with you, Aiden?” Cian asks, a thin blade of a smile splitting his even thinner lips underneath his salt-and-pepper facial hair.
Of course not. My stomach knots, but I show nothing. I’d let myself believe that crossing an ocean might loosen his grip on me.
Eamon was right.
I am a feckin’ eejit.
“Never mind that,” he continues with a wave through the blue mist of smoke. “I’m here because I need you to do something for the family.”
I’m numb, something I never thought I’d be in Cian’s malevolent presence. There’s always another job. Another body to bury. Another chain lashed around my neck, dragging me down. I’m covered in so many of them that there’ll be no clawing my way out. Something I have no doubt he knows as well as I do.
I’d fought it, at first. But I soon learned that dealing with Cian is a lot like Newton’s third law of motion: For every action, there’s an equal but opposite reaction. Each attempt at freedom only ends up with people I care about hurt.
“I need you to find Gallagher.”
I blink, go completely still. “Senator Rory Gallagher?”
“The one and only. The remainder of his payment is due. The house was supposed to be a down payment on the ten million he owes me. You’ll find him and get the remainder. Five million and not a penny less.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Well, he has some family, doesn’t he? I’m certain you can get creative.”
“Of course.”
Cian sucks his teeth. “He has some valuable connections here in America I don’t want to waste so the sooner the better. But I want you to make it clear to the man that I’m not to be trifled with. Either he pays in money or we have his blood.”
I nod stiffly.
“I’ll take that executive suite,” Cian says as he ambles to the door, leaving the sweating glass of ice on my otherwise perfect desk.
“Of course,” I repeat.
“Your mother sends her best.”
I don’t say anything.
It’s been a long time since I moved from my frozen place near my desk. Long enough that the light coming through the windows has shifted direction. My joints creak as I fall into the chair and fire up my computer. Connecting to my home security network, I pull up the video from the night before, starting with the moment she arrived.
Catriona Gallagher.
My little pet is Senator Gallagher’s daughter.
One night should have gotten her out of my system.
It should have rid myself the need to know her, feel her, taste her.
But it hasn’t.
I may not be able to have her, but I’ll hunt her down along with her father.
Because like I told her…
There’s nowhere she can run where I won’t find her.