Page 114 of The Apprentice

Fionn’s eyes met mine, and we both laughed, until he groaned and touched his chest. “That hurts.”

“Well, you did get shot three times. Don’t do that again, boy.” I squeezed his fingers. “I’ll spank you if you do.”

Fionn waggled his eyebrows. “Don’t tease me with a good time, Daddy Daire.”

“Okay, both of you. Enough.” Sloan glared at us.

“Oh, he doesn’t like the PDA when it’s someone else,” I said, and Fionn tried to laugh again, but it came out as more of a cough. He cringed in pain, and I rubbed his shoulder. “But it’s fine when he fucks Conall in front of everyone.”

Sloan growled, which did nothing to ease our amusement, and after a small while, he was smiling, too. “You’ve made your point.”

“Oh, I’m just getting started, Uncle.” Fionn flashed him a wide smile.

Sloan patted his thigh gently. “Before you do, you haven’t answered me. Would you allow me to officially adopt you?”

“You never asked, you said you were going to,” I pointed out, which had Sloan rolling his eyes.

“Fine.” He dragged a chair closer to the bed and took a seat. He held on to Fionn’s hand again. “Fionn, allow me to adopt you as my son. Can I do that?”

Fionn hummed and pouted in thought, and Sloan groaned, which had Fionn chuckling again. “I’d like that, Uncle. Very much.”

The smile Sloan gave him was as real as it was going to get. “Me too.”

An hour later, Fionn fell asleep when his pain started to get worse. The nurses gave him more pain relief, and he drifted off to somewhere nice. Sloan left to go home and check on Conall.

I stayed with Fionn until Sloan messaged me a few hours later.

Boss

Come outside to the hallway. Now.

Frowning, I rose and placed a gentle kiss on Fionn’s forehead. He grumbled but settled again quickly. Nodding at his nurse as I went past, I rubbed my eyes as fatigue hit me. It was well into late morning, and I was beyond tired, but I couldn’t bring myself to go home, not until Fionn was ready to join me. I’d showered, so I wouldn’t stink up the place, at least.

As soon as I got through the locked ICU doors, I paused at the sight of Sloan standing to one side with his arms crossed, looking displeased as two men in suits—detectives, I presumed—stood in front of him with notepads and pens. Every nerve inside me buzzed, alight with alarm and ready for whatever action the cops wanted to throw at us.

I stalked over to them and caught the conversation as I came to a stop.

“Thiago Reyes has been arrested for obstruction of justice, and we’ll be adding charges to that. Work with us, Mr. Killough, or you’ll find yourself in the same position.”

Sloan smirked and squared his shoulders. “I have nothing to say to you other than it was dark, and I didn’t see a thing.”

One of them, a short man with thinning brown hair and a thick mustache, grunted. “Do not make us arrest you for Obstruction of Governmental Administration in the Second Degree like Mr. Reyes. We will do it.”

“That’s a mouthful. Try and I’ll be out within the hour. My lawyer is that good,” Sloan drawled.

I stepped in beside Sloan. “Why are you here? Sloan’s nephew has been shot. You should be out finding the shooter, not harassing Sloan.”

The second detective, a man with a clean-shaven head and a scar below his mouth, laughed. “You’re funny. We know who you are. Daire Reardon, Killough’s ass kisser. Mr. Killough’s nephew is in here because of his mob ties. You brought this on yourself. Both of you can answer our questions. What happened this morning?”

“I went for a piss at six. Is that what you want to hear?” I cocked my head. “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet, but I’m hoping to do that soon.”

“There’s a nice bathroom down the hallway.” Sloan pointed to our left. “Very clean.”

Detective Mustache made an irritated sound. “With your witness statement, we could put Reyes away for a long time, Killough. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Sloan’s smirk widened. “It was dark. Now, if you would be so kind, gentlemen, my nephew’s waiting for me to return.”

“Enjoy it while you can, Killough, it won’t last long.” Detective Scar waved his hand dismissively, and they walked away, looking over their shoulders more than once as they went. I waited until they’d turned the corner before I slid my attention to Sloan.