Page 164 of Three Irish Kings

Telling the truth hasn’t worked, and as far as I can tell, this man will never believe I’m not Maggie, so I have to play the game. I have to pretend to be Maggie, pretend to know something. And I suppose Idoknow something.

Liam does have a woman, and he’s sharing her with his two best friends. And she’s pregnant.

For once in these crazy few months, being Maggie Sullivan is less dangerous than being Isla Quinn.

I swallow hard. I need to get back to my men. Liam, Cillian, or Dare will come for me. Maybe they’ll all come for me.

And Reese will be sorry he ever touched me.

Cormac waves a hand in the air. “We all go, love. She lived a good life. But you know as well as I do your wiles are useless with me. Matilda Grace is the only woman who could have swayed me, and she’s gone.”

I blink.

Not that I was thinking of offering, but he has such a weird moral code, given what I know about him. He traffics barely-of-age girls, boys, whatever he can get ahold of.

It’s all about money and power for him, and he’s got plenty of both.

I pretend to take a sip of my drink, and my eyes water at the fumes alone.

What is this thing?

“So, what now?”

“Now, Magpie, you sing. You tell me everything you know, and Reese won’t have to hit you again.”

I flinch and shudder. “What if I don’t have anything to tell you?”

“Then I don’t have any use for you, Magpie,” he says casually, almost cheerfully, grinning up at me. “But something tells me you’ll talk.”

Fear rushes through me, threatening to make me drop to my knees, tell him everything just so Reese won’t hit me again.

“You remember where you found me? I’ve been keeping my distance for a while now, lying low. How would I know anything? But I can find out. Let me go, and I’ll tell you what I learn.”

He laughs, loud and hard. “Funny, very funny. Time to start singing, magpie.”

I touch my nose. “Fine, but can I see a doctor first? My nose is fucking killing me, and my eye is useless like this.”

“Reese can be… overzealous.” He waves a hand toward me. “Back to your room, Magpie. I’ll send for a doctor, and when you’re all patched up, we’ll talk.”

“Aye.” I sigh.

I bought myself some time, bought the guys some time to get to me.

As I head back to my room, I pass Reese in the hallway and give him a wide berth.

Back in my room, I hurry to lift my shirt.

Purple and green fight for space on my belly.

I touch it, but it’s too tender to keep my fingers there for longer than a second or two at a time.

Fucking Reese.

Clothes have appeared on the bed, along with fresh towels.

Heading to the bathroom, I start undressing, relief flooding me when there is no blood on my underwear. I can just pray all is well with my baby and that it is as tough as his dads.

I groan when the hot water hits my skin. I took a bath before, but I was too dizzy from the beating to stand up. This is so much better.