Page 23

23

EVIE

I 've made up my mind, though I don't know how to actually make my play. I'm meeting Darren at the docks. I sent him a message saying I'd be there, and this time, I fully intend to make him back off.

As I drive there, my mind is racing. Lochlan is everything that I want, while simultaneously being so many toxic things I am terrified of. But even though he has a horrible way of showing it, he does care. He wants to protect me, even if that protection comes in the form of an iron grip that seems controlling. And no matter how much I fight it, I know I'm in love with him.

My eyes well up and I blink back the tears so I can see straight while I'm driving. What started as infatuation and deep-seated lust that drove me to be wildly flirtatious has turned around now. I see that look in his eyes, the one that says I really do belong to him. Somehow, he's gotten it into his head that I'm his and he isn't shy about it. Having a man make such an outrageous claim about me, almost treating me like his property, I'm not sure how to respond, but it feels strangely comforting.

When I pull into the parking lot at the docks, I see Darren's car right away. He's standing next to it, leaning on it like I’ve seen him do a few times before. He's an arrogant man, betting on his own ability to intimidate me, but this time, he's in for a surprise.

I park my car but leave it running, door open as I stomp toward him with the burner phone in hand. He gave me orders to bring him the times and locations of my father's meetings with Ronan O'Rourke, Loch's older brother and the chief of their organization. I'm not a fool. I know he intends to use that information to either set them up or have them killed, and I won't give him the assist.

"Smart girl, Evelyn. Now where is my information?" Connelly unfolds his arms, pushes off his car, and stalks toward me. And when I slam the phone into his open palm, he narrows his eyes at me.

"I'm done," I tell him, starting to back away before he even registers my words. "Find someone else." My back is toward him, which may be a mistake, but I walk toward my car with even, determined steps.

Darren's low, deep chuckle makes my hair stand on end. I know he's a cruel man, and I don't doubt he's capable of wicked, vile things, including killing me, but I won't be bullied. Not by him, not by my parents, not by Lochlan. I will live the life I want to live.

"Do you know you're signing your father's death certificate?"

Reeling around, I glare at him, narrowing my eyes to thin slits. "You're a fool, Connelly. You've made mistakes." The blood thrumming past my ear drum is enough to make me realize how bad this fight or flight in my body is, but I don’t back down.

"Oh?" he says, lifting his eyebrows. "What mistake is that?" He moves closer to me slowly, as if he's trying not to spook me. I'm not worried. There are plenty of people here to hear my scream. Even if they can't stop him from hurting me, they will know who he is. He'll be caught eventually. The important thing is that I'm breaking this tie. I'm not playing his pawn anymore.

"Yes, you led me right to my own answer. Your very proof that my da is guilty is what gave me the idea. My father has Garda officials, politicians, and lawyers on his payroll. If you think he's going to go down for anything, you're wrong. He has the whole fecking city in his back pocket." My hand trembles on the top of my open door as I continue. "You can't touch him."

Darren moves swiftly, coming after me, and I try to launch into the car. But he's faster than me. His hands grab around my waist, the phone skittering across the pavement, and he yanks me out kicking and screaming.

"You little bitch," he growls, grabbing me roughly and tossing me to the ground next to the running car.

I scramble backward, crab crawling as fast as I can, but he swings a booted foot and kicks my ankles out from under me. When I think he's going to pin me down, we both hear squealing on the pavement of someone's tires and he looks up. It gives me enough time to jump off the ground and start running before I hear gunfire erupt. I don’t know where it's coming from, Darren or someone else. All I do is run.

The booms are so loud, I cover my ears while I race away, not even sure where I will go now. My car is still there, running with its door open, but I can't turn back and run into the fire fight. I duck behind a large metal shipping container to catch my breath and feel tears streaking down my cheeks.

The gunshots continue, and I can't even allow myself to peek out there to see what's happening. I hear more squealing tires, and then an engine approaching. When the car skids to a stop, I leap up to run again but I see Lochlan's angry eyes and instead run toward him. He opens the door, pulls me in, and presses on the accelerator, peeling out.

My chest is heaving. I'm sobbing, hands shaking, and I crawl across the center console to curl into a ball in his passenger seat. Lochlan had to have followed me, and I've never been happier to know he is so obsessive.

"What the hell were you thinking, Evie?" He's angry, and rightly so. Darren was going to kill me. There is no doubt in my mind.

"I wasn't," I sob, palms pressed against my ear as he continues to shout at me while he drives.

"You leave my house after I tell you I will speak to your father, tell him I want you, and you go straight to that bastard's arms?"

The car lurches as it weaves, slamming me into the door a few times, and all I can do is sob and wonder if I've just dropped a nuke in my own life. Lochlan will never forgive me. I ran right out of his arms to Darren Connelly, and he thinks I'm ducking out on him to see another man. It's so overwhelming and I've royally fucked up. I need my da to fix this because this time, I don’t think I know the way out.