Page 15

Chapter Fifteen

L ike a magnet, I’m pulled down the row of photos to my brother’s picture. Without anyone else around, I can let myself study him, remember him. Although this version of him isn’t the one I knew. To me, he was my older brother, my mother’s other child. Twelve years my senior, he looked out for me, took me to the movies, drove me to Tae Kwon Do, made silly jokes, teased me. This tough guy on the wall is a mystery.

“You like the look of that one?” Derry’s voice startles me.

Inside, I curse myself. Getting caught up in my own thoughts here is a bad idea.

“Do they all die in the ring?” I glance at him, trying to pretend his presence isn’t unnerving.

“Nah.” His lecherous grin fades. “That one was shot down like a dog in the street.”

“By you?” I raise my eyebrows. My mind races, straining for the truth.

“Not even. Wicked Wickie was our gravy, sweetheart. We woulda gone to war over his loss if we’d ever found out who did it. He was a hell of a fighter.”

His loss is so much greater than a fighter. I keep my face blank. My hands inside my pockets are sticky, liquid oozing between my fingers. “Shame.”

“Hell of a shame.” He holds out an envelope. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, sweetheart. You’re gonna get caught in the crossfire.”

I smirk. “I don’t have a problem with danger.”

Crossing his arms, he shakes his head. “I got no use for women in this business.”

“Clearly,” I say with a chuckle.

“I don’t know, something about you seems kinda familiar. So I’m gonna give you some advice. Get outta that house. They’ll tug you between them until they rip you apart.”

“I don’t break easily.” I tap the envelope in my palm.

He scoffs. “Gives them more incentive to try harder. They ain’t good people.”

Coming from him, it’s not much of a caution. Lorcan inferred Derry would have no trouble raping or killing me. Finn’s warning before he left the building turned those ideas to concrete. Derry’s a busybody who wants to feel more important in a situation that’s out of his control.

“I’ll take that into account.”

“You should.” Derry rests a hand on the wall and leans against it.

On another man, it might be an attractive pose. On him, it makes his stomach even more prominent. Given my height, his bald patches are obvious. A faint whiff of body odor hits my nose, and I school my features. It’s not the pleasant scent that comes off men when they’ve been working but rather what happens when a man is sweating out his fear.

“I’d hate to think of a pretty little thing like you getting hurt.”

The two things I wish I could do—make a puking gesture or roll my eyes—are out. Instead, I’m left with every woman’s response when faced with a man who, for better or worse, wields more power. A saccharine smile is pasted to my lips. “Thanks, Derry. That’s so sweet of you. I should get going, though. Ian is waiting in the car.” I wag the envelope. “I’ve got what we came for.”

“You might want to serve it with an Irish Car Bomb, soften him up.”

“He’s not going to like it?”

“Who knows with Finn. He works angles nobody else can see.”

That tip is far more useful than his warning about the two brothers using me. Knowing Finn is impossible to figure out even for people who have known him longer, is a comfort. It’s also scary. My life depends on me reading people to protect myself from any threat.

“See you around, Derry.” I make a beeline for the front door.

“Hopefully not too soon. Take my advice.”

I give him a wave above my head. Today, I’m not worried he’s going to shoot me. Even though Finn isn’t here, it’s clear who carries the bigger gun.

When I climb into the passenger seat, Ian glances at the envelope. “We’re good?” He puts the car into drive.

“Hope so.”

We ride in silence, and I’m grateful for it. Derry’s admission about my brother’s fighting skills is surprising but also not that much. Chad always had pocket money and often slipped some to our parents. Chad’s father was a deadbeat who never helped our mom. It was only when she met my father, Chad said things turned around for them. I met Chad’s father a handful of times. He was never around. Stories about life before me and my dad was Chad’s favorite thing to do with me over a burger and fries, sitting in a parking lot after he picked me up from one event or another.

Then it got blown to hell.

Glancing down at my hands, I shake my head a little. I can’t afford to get lost in memories. Vengeance, yes. But not memories. Thinking about the disintegration of my family only leads to madness. My mother is the proof.

“You want me to deliver that?” Ian eyes the envelope as we cruise through the gates of the property.

“No.” First, I need to slip away somewhere private, take photos of the contract, then send them off. “I’ll take them to Finn after I use the bathroom. The O’Malleys don’t clean their toilets.”

Ian chuckles as he climbs out of the car. “Not surprising.”

As soon as we enter the house, I duck into the two-piece bathroom near the entry. Taking out the contract, I snap photos, email them, and then delete everything off my phone. With a deep breath, I tuck the papers into the envelope and open the door. Finn is entering the house.

“You got it?” He extends his hand.

I pass it over, but he tucks it into his back pocket without checking it.

“He behave himself?”

“Yes.” Except for some of his comments, but I realize that isn’t what Finn means.

“You gonna tell Lorcan what I did?”

One side of my mouth twitches in amusement. “That’s the point, isn’t it?”

He chuckles and taps my nose. “You catch on quick. I might have to steal you away from my brother.”

I bat at his hand, but I’m too slow. With a chuckle, Finn steps around me and heads for his rooms.

Over his shoulder, he calls, “You’re going to have to be quicker if you intend to keep ahead of me.”

As soon as he’s out of sight, I search for Lorcan, but I can’t find him anywhere. Back in my room, I pace. Derry didn’t kill Chad. As sleazy as he is, he seemed sincere in that moment. It could have been another fighter, someone jealous of his success, someone who lost a bet or a great deal of money, a rival of the O’Malleys. The possibilities are endless again.

I need something to take my mind off of this. A run. A long one. Clear my head, figure out what the hell is going on in this house, with these brothers, and across the organization. Because I can’t, I ache to talk to Malik.

As I’m getting on some running clothes, there’s a sharp knock. “Who is it?”

“Your favorite Donaghey brother.”

A laugh escapes me as I go to the door to open it. “You realize you don’t have much competition, right?”

His hazel eyes are filled with amusement. “Thank God for that.” Lorcan smirks at me. “Where are you off to?”

“A run.”

“Not alone, I hope.”

“Around the property.” I make a looping motion with my hand. “I’ll stay in the gated portion.” Using my finger, I trace a cross over my heart.

“I’ll come with you. We can chat about what you got up to today.” Lorcan’s lips quirk up in a half smile, and his dimple peeps through, charming me.

I suppress a sigh. A few minutes alone, the wind in my hair, darkness surrounding me, is all I wanted. “Sure.”

“Walk with me.” He gestures toward the hall.

“You’re in a good mood.”

“Very productive day.” His smile is sly as he winks at me. “Thank you for that, by the way.”

“You’re thanking me?”

Raising his left hand, he waggles it. “While the right hand was out of the house, he couldn’t know what the left hand was doing.”

“You knew where we were going today?”

“Not necessarily. Probably best we chat outside.”

He opens the door to his room and ushers me inside. I sink into a chair, tapping my knees with my fingers as I wait for him to emerge out of the bathroom.

When he does, he’s frowning. “I was thinking.”

“You don’t look happy about that.”

He chuckles. “Well, I’m not sure if you’ll be annoyed with me. I was going to see if Carys wanted to come for a visit in a few weeks. Starting over somewhere is challenging, and the two of you seemed close.”

My heart squeezes in my chest. Words stick in my throat. “That’s… very thoughtful.”

He shrugs a little. “’Tis nothin.”

“Well.” I stretch. “It’s something to me. It would be good to see her.” I’d also be able to find out if the agency managed to get Yssamae maneuvered into position in her organization. I couldn’t do that introduction in case the dominoes tipped.

We head out of his bedroom together and wander to the back door, the one that leads to the pool and tennis court. Maybe I should have asked him for a game instead? Pounding a ball across a net might be as good as running, especially if I wasn’t able be alone, anyway.

“You’re not going to do any of the crazy sprinting, are you?” My training at the bureau was extensive, and we ran a lot, at a senseless pace with the understanding our lives could be on the line. Or someone else’s life might depend on us getting somewhere fast. That wasn’t what I wanted tonight.

At the edge of the backyard, I survey the vast expanse of lawn. The house is on a property more like a farm than a place in the suburbs. Still, that’s exactly what it is. With the exception of a buffer zone, other houses peer into the field. Solar lights illuminate a trail along the fence line. There’s a chill in the air, and a light breeze ruffles Lorcan’s hair.

“Some sprinting is a must.” He puts his hands on his hips. “We’re training for real-life situations in this job, not just trying to keep from getting old and fat.”

I laugh and admire his physique out of the corner of my eye. There certainly wasn’t much fat on him. I grin. “Real life, huh?”

He brushes the stray hairs the wind has tugged from my ponytail. “How was today?”

“Okay,” I say. “The Zhangs and then the O’Malleys.”

He grimaces and glances away from me. “If you thought someone killed your father, would you do business with them?”

I gape. “That’s pretty much what I already asked you . The answer, for me, is no. I’d kill them. No hesitation. There wouldn’t be enough money in the world.” Before me, out in the yard, my father’s image rises into view in the darkness, wispy, infirm, dead. Chad’s death was gory, real, in my face. My father’s death was an accident. Something dumb. Nothing to avenge but stupidity.

“The answer for Finn is also no.”

Understanding dawns on me. “You set him up.”

“I suspected O’Malley would give me shitty terms, that he’d be an ass to you at some point. I wasn’t sure how much I’d have to poke my brother to get him to step in. Not nearly enough.”

If Finn thought the O’Malleys killed his father, he wouldn’t become involved with them, or he’d seem reluctant to do it. He even warned me Lorcan associating with the O’Malleys was like declaring war. Then he swooped in and stole the deal, but not before sweetening it first.

“You knew.”

Lorcan gives me a brisk nod. His whole body is primed with tension. Deep down, he doesn’t want Finn to be guilty. “He’s all the family I’ve got left.” His voice is quiet in the night.

“Have you talked to him? I mean, actually asked him?”

Lorcan runs a hand through his hair and chuckles. “You don’t understand him yet. Asking is as good as saying I think he did it. I do. He won’t admit it if I ask. It’s not worth the trouble it would cause.”

“Then what am I doing here?”

He raises one hand and then the other. “Left hand, right hand. You’re the distraction as much as the detective. He might let something slip. If he doesn’t, he’ll be so focused on trying to get the best of me through you he’ll never know what I’m planning.”

“Can I know?”

His mouth twists into a half smile. “No.”

“Maybe I could help?”

“Finn would smell your lies a mile away. You can’t know. Tell him what you like. Plan A and Plan B exist for every move.”

The chilly air hangs around us, and I shiver. A strange, companionable silence develops in the darkness.

“Was Derry decent to you today?”

“Enough. I can handle myself.”

His gaze roams over my face. The tenderness in the hazel depths unnerves me. “Shall we run?”

“Are you leading?”

“Sure,” he says, amused. “I don’t mind being chased once in a while by the right person.” Lorcan smirks at me before taking off at a steady pace.

I fall into step behind him, letting the pounding of my feet on the trail lull me into oblivion. I was chasing him, and it wasn’t only on the path.