Page 39 of Stolen Temptation (Irish Kings #3)

I don’t know whether to be grateful I survived, or awed by these women who can hold their own in a man’s world, or utterly terrified, so I’m all three. As I run my fingers over the plush leather seat beneath my thighs, the vehicle starts to feel like an extravagant cage.

“You okay?” Harper asks just around the time I’m about to start hyperventilating.

“I don’t know.” I’m still dazed from the attack. “What just happened?”

“We were hoping you might be able to tell us .” Riley handles the wheel like a racecar driver, shooting me a reassuring glimpse from the rearview mirror.

Harper twists around in her seat to talk to me. “We were in my room down the hall when we heard you scream.”

I try to shake off the last hour’s lingering nightmare. “I was asleep, and when I woke up, that guy burst into my room.”

Harper’s mouth presses into a line. “Did you recognize him?”

“No. Should I have?” I don’t find any answers in her angelic face. “Wasn’t that guy one of yours ? Wasn’t he there to take me back to…”

I choke on the words because tears are pouring down my cheeks.

“We have no idea who that guy was or what he was doing, but we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” Riley promises, strength in her voice. “Our priority in the meantime is keeping you safe.”

She says those words like she means them. As if she’s entirely unconnected to the Kings and their agenda to use me for their gain.

My eyes drift back and forth between them. “You’re part of the Kings, aren’t you?”

Harper nods. “Our dad works for Shane. I’m engaged to Cian, and Riley’s engaged to Finn.”

I do my best not to flinch. “Finn, the guy with the scar that runs past his mouth? The heir?”

She beams. “That’s him.”

I’m starting to wonder if maybe she’s just a teensy bit insane. “He’s terrifying.”

“Not to me.” Riley sighs. “Though I agree that he’s been in an awful mood lately. Lots of pressure on him at the moment.”

“Ah.” I’m not sure I want to know. “Where are you taking me?”

To another Gallagher property? How do I even know they’re telling me the truth?

Sure, they saved me from that man, but they could be working for their family. What if the guy who tried to get me was working for Leo? And the only reason they rescued me is because Shane still wants to use me for some reason?

“A hotel downtown.” Riley gives me a little smile in the mirror. “One of my personal favorites.”

A hotel? I don’t know what to say to them, so I just nod and pretend I’m not in the middle of a quiet anxiety attack.

The little shred of calm I’ve been carrying around with me has vanished, and there’s nothing and no one who can save me from the panic.

Rory’s face materializes in my mind, but instead of feeling the warmth left by our connection earlier in the library, I only feel emptiness.

He might as well be ten thousand miles away.

I’m on my own.

The levels of panic in my system start to rise, so I roll down my tinted window and let the night breeze blow my hair away from my face. The burst of chilly autumn air grounds me.

When my eyes focus on the scene around me, I realize I’ve never seen the city after sunset.

And Manhattan is completely different at night.

Streetlights, neon signs, the glow of restaurants and clubs…people sitting out at late-night cafés, talking and laughing, like it’s a normal thing to do.

Outside my window are scenes from a movie I’ve never seen, where people just move about their lives, oblivious to the chaos that churns in the city’s dark underbelly.

Honestly? Despite the twins and their confidence in what they’re doing, I’m still spiraling through fear. The fresh air only crystallizes the terrible danger I’m in.

Rory said he would do everything in his power to protect me, but…

The noblest promise in the world means nothing if the one who’s promising doesn’t possess the power to keep it.

Though I try to ignore it, the worst question of all keeps drifting back and forth through my mind.

Was that guy one of Leo’s men?

Even with all the security, power, and weaponry the Kings have at their disposal, was Leo able to sneak one of his men onto the estate, right up to my room?

A shudder racks my shoulders.

I don’t know what to do.

Though I know it’s ridiculous to feel this way, I care about Rory.

But he despises me now. He made that obvious in the library. He’d probably like nothing better than for me to disappear from his life for good, so it would be pathetic for me to stick around. Or let my feelings for him override the truth of my life and who I am.

He doesn’t want me. I’m the blood of his enemy. The child of a vicious rape. A liar. On top of that, all the horrible things I’ve experienced and everything my mother suffered has deepened my own mistrust of men.

At the end of the day, though, it’s the thought of Rory’s eyes clouding with the same disgust as Leo’s and Enzo’s that wrecks me the most.

Ugh . I don’t know anything and it’s killing me, filling me with so much anxiety that I want to?—

Wait.

I recognize this intersection.

Even in the dark, I know the part of this vast city that I’ve been to the most.

We’re near my and my mother’s favorite bookstore, the one we used to visit all the time. The store’s owner became friends with my mom. And he told her…

I sit up taller in my seat.

Hope and fear animate me. My heart begins to pick up speed, like a train leaving a station. A traffic light changes ahead of us. Yellow slips to red, and Riley eases the car to a halt as she and Harper talk quietly in front of me.

Slowly, my hand finds the door handle.

I don’t wait another second.

Throwing the door open, I leap from the backseat onto the pavement, sprint to the nearest sidewalk, and keep running.

I think I might hear the twins shouting after me, but I don’t glance back. Not even once.

The night air feels incredible. My body cuts through it as I race down the street.

This is the first time I’ve ever been completely and totally free. No supervision. No guards. No walls. No locked doors. No place to go back to.

Just me. On my own.

I dart through the semi-dark streets, weaving until I reach a shop that looks like it might work. Slipping inside under the watchful eye of the thin Indian man behind the counter, I slink through the narrow aisles, praying that the convenience store will have what I need.

Luck must be on my side, because the last aisle contains tools. A quick inspection doesn’t turn up bolt cutters, but I do spy wire cutters…and the bracelet is pretty thin…

Let’s hope this works.

I spend the next minute awkwardly attempting to slide the tool under the band. The stupid thing is so tight that I scratch my skin more than once, drawing blood.

Finally, I manage to get the bracelet between the teeth. Five attempts later, it snaps.

Relief sweeps through me as I rehang the tool from the hook. I’m just glad Rory fitted me with the bracelet tracker and not an injectable implant requiring minor surgery to remove. I’m lucky he underestimated my ability to escape the estate grounds.

Before leaving, I drop the device in the trash can by the door and wave at the frowning owner.

Then I jog through the streets toward the bookstore. The place I’ve always felt the safest.

A neon purple moon still shines in the window even though the store’s closed. The glossy sign above the door proudly declares its name: Midnight Books. Warmth oozes through me as I finally slow to a stop at the familiar entrance.

My bruised heart aches, but at least I can find comfort in my old friends, books. They’re the only ones I can count on.