Page 24

24

LOCHLAN

W hen Evie finally adjusts in her seat and buckles in, I stop going off on her. She's not supposed to know about this world. It's supposed to exist around her in plain sight without her being aware of any of it. But here we are after a fire fight, with her sobbing in my passenger seat with her innocence shattered. She's a damn fool is what she is, and I'm an idiot for letting her walk out of my house. I'm just thankful I decided to follow her.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I ask again, shaking my head.

"I was fine," she blubs, covering her face. I hear the anger in her tone, but there is fear there too. She wasn't fine. She isn't fine. She is realizing for the first time the dangerous world we live in and she's in shock that her father willingly partakes of it. If she thinks his laundering and extortion are the worst of it, she has no clue the pain she's about to experience.

My hands trip the wheel so tightly, my knuckles are white. I'm not thinking rationally. My mind is racing too fast for that.

"You were about to be killed or raped. Do you realize that? Can't you see? You were warned so many fucking times, Evelyn. Your da told you to listen to me. I told you to stop fecking around with that man. You just keep walking right back into danger like you're invincible and you're going to get killed."

"Stop it!" she screams. Her hands fall from her face as she glares at me. Her eyes are red-rimmed, tears streaming down her cheeks, and she pounds her fist into my shoulder so hard it actually hurts. Then she pulls her hand back, cradling it. "Just stop. You don't fecking own me. I keep telling you that. And why the hell did you follow me?"

"Because you're a lunatic. You ignored direct orders, put yourself and this entire mission in danger. You walked into that building and?—"

"What building!" Evie screeches, and I hear a horn blasting in my ear. I jerk my head around to see an oncoming car and I’m in their lane, so I swerve back into mine and slow my pace. The speedometer shows I'm going twice the legal limit without realizing it. My hands are trembling at the near miss.

"What fecking building? What are you talking about?"

After nearly getting us killed in a head-on collision, I keep my eyes locked on the road but my stomach clenches, my entire chest feeling paralyzed. Everything I've thought about Maelyn and her choice to ignore my orders and go into that building all those years ago is fresh in my mind.

I see the last expression on her face before she vanished, the nod she gave, the fear in her eyes. I see the building explode and the shrapnel rain down on me. I see her dead body, dismembered and strewn out on the cold dirt, and I see how badly I’m losing it.

"Nothing," I growl, peeling around a corner and up Draco's street. "Your little boyfriend is the fecking enemy. You'd know that if you took a minute to listen to people around you who care about you." It was the closest I think I'd ever get to telling her I love her. But I do—more than I ever loved anyone else. "Your da will flip the feck out."

"You can't tell him," she whimpers. "Please do not tell him. He can't know." There is more fear in her eyes now than there was when I threw her into my car with bullets whizzing past us. "You can't tell him, Loch."

I'm not sure why she's so on edge about this, but I have no choice. Draco needs to know that Evie has been sneaking around with a Doyle.

"What were you doing with him?"

"Nothing, I swear. I did not sleep with him. I'm not out whoring around. Just please don't say anything." Using her shirt sleeve, she wipes her eyes, stains the white material black from what's left of her eye makeup.

I turn into Draco's driveway and see his car there. By now he's probably heard there was another shooting at the docks. The Garda are going to install more security around there if this keeps happening.

"Go to your apartment and this time, fecking stay there. Do you understand?" I slide the shifter to park and she looks away from me.

"Don't tell him, Lochlan. If you care about me and my family at all, just let me handle it." Her trembling hand rests on the door handle, and I glare at her.

"There is nothing between us at all unless you stop sneaking around. I can't be with someone who doesn't respect my orders." As I say it, I wince.

Evie's shoulders drop and she climbs out. I watch her walk past Draco's car into the back yard, past the house. Those were the last words I said to Maelyn too, and then I lost her. But Evie isn't walking through a warzone into a burning building. She's headed to her home where she's safe—for now.

And I have to go deal with her father and sort this mess out. Somehow, Connelly is involved in this push from Cormac Doyle. They want our shipping routes and our influence over dock workers. Well, it's not going to happen because I'm cutting off their access to it, starting with Darren Connelly's fascination with Evie.

I climb out of my car thinking about it. It's probably one of Cormac's other long games, having one of his men cozy up to Evie and manipulate her somehow. I'm certain that after that bullshit at the docks, Evie is never going to speak to that man again. Still, we can't be too careful.

I want to respect her wishes because I care about her, but Draco has the right to know how big of a risk his daughter has been taking. Maybe she's naive, and maybe she didn’t know until it was too late, but my gut tells me something bigger is happening here.

Draco opens the door before I get to the first step, and he glares at me as he says, "Get in here."

"What now?" I grumble, wiping sweat from my forehead. If the bullet holes in the side of my car aren't enough to clue him in that some nasty shit is going down, he's too distracted to care. He stalks toward his liquor cabinet where Jasper is pouring a few drinks.

"Add another," Draco says as I shut the door behind myself. Miriam isn't around, probably chased off by Draco's sour mood, so it's just the three of us as I stalk over and down my glass of whiskey in one drink.

"It's not just Byrne now. O'Malley called. How the feck are these arseholes getting our intel? Doyle is threatening to go public, the bastard. He has proof we've paid off a few of them and they're running scared. We have to fix this." Draco drags a hand down his face then drinks his whiskey. Jasper plays the bartender, refilling our glasses as he sips his own.

It's not the right time to tell Draco about Evie's dangerous involvement. He'd just lose his temper and drag her in here. She's just been shot at, nearly pissed herself, and she needs a few moments to decompress. Our dangers are coming at every angle now, but as long as I keep her locked up on this property, at least that much is under control.

"Da, you're gonna give yourself a coronary." Jasper's comment draws a deeper scowl from his father, then his face softens as he grips Jasper's shoulder.

It reminds me that family is everything and that if Draco's daughter really is in danger and I keep it from him, he'll kill me. These are his children, not just men he's formed contracts with. If it were my family, I'd want to know.

"Draco, there's something you should know, and before you do something foolish, just know I'm handling it." I set the empty glass down on the liquor cabinet counter and lean on it hard, palm splayed out on the cold wood.

"Feck's sake, Loch. Your brother is going to kill me for letting this get out of control. Don’t tell me there's more." Draco's concern is very real. The minute Doyle found out my brother, the chief, had replaced his late soldier with Draco, they started targeting him. His business has been under fire, then his son. They threatened bodily harm, attacked at the picket lines, and now his daughter. They see Draco as the weak link, and they're going for the jugular, all in hopes of destroying the O'Rourke name.

"It's Evie," I grunt, and when I look up at him, I see a rage in his eyes like nothing I've ever witnessed.

"No…"

"Alright, she's fine," I say, holding up a hand to calm him. "She's back in her apartment. I've got her there safe and sound, but you should know they're getting at her too. Sent one of their footmen to manipulate her. She's been dating him behind our backs, sneaking around. It's not safe, and I put an end to it this afternoon?—"

"At the docks?" Jasper asks, cutting me off. "That shooting was you just now?" He scowls at me and Draco's glare worsens.

"It was, but she's fine… But she knows a lot more than you think, and she's terrified. You should talk with her, but she's not a kid, Draco. She's asking questions, and she knows things. But she understands how dangerous this is now. I think she won't be seeing him anymore." My body feels tired, like my adrenal glands have given up the ghost and stopped caring whether I'm in danger or tired. I'm numb and hollow, and all I can think about is that Evie is safe now, locked in her apartment. It's the only thing that grounds me.

"But they're smart, and they won't quit. They'll come at us another way." Draco shoves his whiskey glass in Jasper's hand.

"We'll be ready," I tell him, nodding at my own glass.

"I'll keep her under lock and key," Draco breathes. It makes me feel better knowing he understands this risk.

I have to understand why they'd target her, and I have to find out why very quickly, before she gets any stupid ideas again. If being shot at doesn't sober her, nothing will, and something tells me whatever it was Connelly wanted, he's not going to stop until he gets it. He'll come back, and when he does, I'll find out how deep this rabbit hole goes.