Page 46 of Twisted Secrets (The O’Malleys #3)

Three more deaths for him to shoulder. There wasn’t a damn thing she could say to that, either.

They might have known the risk when they signed on to work for the O’Malleys, but no one had expected Sergei.

Those deaths are as much my fault as they are his.

She followed him to the car. “We both asked them.”

“This isn’t your fault, sweetheart.” He shook his head. “Give me a minute.”

She watched as he combed the car, searching the front, back, trunk, and undercarriage.

He even spent some time on the engine. Checking for bombs .

Olivia shuddered. As much as she didn’t like to contemplate death, if Sergei wanted her dead, he had plenty of opportunity while she slept.

So she wasn’t surprised when Cillian gave the all clear. “He didn’t even slit the tires.”

“He wants me to follow.” He’d get his wish.

There wasn’t another option. She just hoped and prayed to any god who was listening that he managed to take care of Hadley in the meantime.

She was only a baby. She needed diapers and cut-up food and…

Stop. You’re going to start panicking again, and that won’t help Hadley or you .

Cillian took the bag from her. “We’ll get her back.”

“I know.” There was no other option.

“Stay here. I’ll be back in a few.”

The dead men . She climbed into the car and did her best not to think too hard about everything that could go wrong as he disappeared around the side of the house.

Part of her chafed at the delay, but those men had given their lives trying to protect her and Hadley.

The very least they deserved was to be kept safe until someone could be sent to deal with them properly.

A car passed hers and drove straight to the barn.

She watched Cillian appear to talk to a man who couldn’t have been more than twenty-one.

They hurried into the barn and shut the door behind them.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed before he reappeared.

It could have been five minutes or five hours with how her growing panic distorted everything.

Cillian walked out of the barn, his expression bleak. It took him mere seconds to cross to the car and slide into the driver’s seat. “Mark and Rodger will live.”

A small comfort. Part of her wanted to reach out to him, but she couldn’t afford to have her calm shattered, and Cillian’s touch would definitely do that.

So she stared straight ahead and clutched her purse.

“We need to be at that meeting today.” The only way she’d get to Dmitri was if he wasn’t expecting her, and he sure as hell wouldn’t think that she’d show up to something with the O’Malleys.

“I know.” He entered the freeway and picked up speed. “ We’ll make it.”

She put her phone back together, trying not to notice how her hands shook.

If Sergei was waiting for a call, she’d damn well give it to him.

She scrolled through her old numbers and called him.

The line rang and rang and rang, finally clicking over to an answering service.

Damn it . She dialed Dmitri next, with the same results.

Wherever they were right now, they wanted her hurting and worrying and generally driving herself out of her mind.

That would do plenty of damage and they wouldn’t have to lay a finger on Hadley. She hoped.

That didn’t stop her from trying to call both men repeatedly as they crossed the state line back into Massachusetts. Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. It was enough to have a scream fighting to make its way into the world. A scream and horrible accusations.

You promised we’d be safe. You promised you’d keep them from us. You promised this wouldn’t happen .

If I hadn’t been so determined to sex him up, I would have run and taken Hadley with me. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but they wouldn’t have caught up to me so quickly. I let my personal desires get in the way of my daughter’s safety.

I am the worst mother ever.

“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”

She didn’t look at him, her gaze on the highway, as if she could will them over the distance faster if she just concentrated enough. “It’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is. If I’d just fallen in line, he never would have taken this step.

” She’d effectively chosen Cillian over her own daughter.

Just like her mother had chosen Andrei over Olivia over and over and over again from the time she was born.

The one thing she’d promised herself she’d never do—the lowest bar she could have possibly set for herself—and the first man who gave her a bit of attention had her throwing all those good intentions right out the window.

Now Hadley was suffering for her choices, just like Olivia had suffered as a result of her mother’s.

“You got out. That’s not something most people in our life can say.”

“If I’d actually gotten out, this wouldn’t be happening right now. I should have run as soon as I realized he wasn’t going to leave me alone.” Weeks wasted. It made her sick to her stomach.

“Olivia, look at me.” His voice was so harsh, she instinctively obeyed. The expression on his face was even harsher than his tone. “We don’t have time for the pity party you’re indulging in right now.”

She tensed. “You don’t get to tell me how to feel. That monster has my daughter .”

“And you’re so wrapped up in blaming yourself that you’re going to play right into his hands.” His grip tightened on the steering wheel. “The past is the past. You can’t go back and change it. You can only move forward and ensure that the mistakes you made don’t define you.”

“Pretty to think so.”

“No, it’s not. It’s fucking hard. You think I’m not tearing myself up over the deaths of those men?

They are my fault. You said that Romanov might know where we were, and I ignored the potential threat.

That’s on me .” He wound through slower traffic, the speedometer approaching triple digits.

“I’m going to have to be the one to tell their families that I was too goddamn cocky, and they died as a result. ”

Just like his brother had. Her chest tightened, but she couldn’t afford sympathy. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

Instead, she focused on what she’d do once they reached their destination.

It seemed to take forever and no time at all to get back to Boston.

Cillian drove them straight to Beacon Hill, stopping in front of a town house that looked like every other town house on that street—massive and expensive.

The trees lining the sidewalk barely did anything to soften the look.

She got out of the car and stared at the wide door that would be at home in some lord’s castle halfway across the world.

“Let me do the talking.”

She nodded, though she had her own plan.

Olivia slipped her purse over the crook of her arm and walked with him up the stairs and into the town house.

The interior was just as intimidating as the exterior—possibly more so.

From the home in Connecticut, she’d gotten the feeling of a building well loved by the family that lived there.

Here, everything was stark and expensive and uncomfortable, as if it had been designed to remind visitors just who they were dealing with.

As if she could forget.

He led her into a study filled with people.

She recognized Cillian’s sister, Carrigan, and her…

whatever he was. They weren’t married, but calling James Halloran her boyfriend seemed juvenile.

Next to them was another O’Malley—judging by his dark coloring—and a blond woman.

From the possessive way he stood behind the chair where she sat, as if ready to spring into motion at the slightest moment to protect her, she’d guess this was Teague and the Sheridan heir.

Then there were the two men standing on the other side of the desk, as if tr ying to put as much distance between themselves and the rest of the room as possible.

The younger man was nearly a carbon copy of the older—Cillian’s older brother and father.

Neither of which looked happy to see them.

His father glared. “Aiden specifically told you to stay the hell out of Boston while we cleaned up this mess.”

“The circumstances have changed.” Cillian shrugged, and if she wasn’t a step behind him, she wouldn’t have noticed how tense his back was. “I need to have a word with Dmitri.”

“Convenient that I’m here then, isn’t it?”

Olivia moved before she had fully processed the silky Russian voice. She grabbed her gun from her purse and spun, shoving him against the wall and the gun against the hollow of his throat. The only reaction she got was a slight widening of his eyes. “Little sister.”

“Half sister.” The response was automatic, and she pushed the gun harder against his skin. “Where is she?”

“Where is who?”

She was vaguely aware of raised voices behind her, but she trusted Cillian to keep them off her while she got answers. You think you would have learned after last night. Apparently not . Pushing the thought away, she focused on Dmitri. “Don’t play games with me, you bastard. Where is Hadley?”

Confusion played across his face, but she’d seen him use the tiniest expression to manipulate people around him.

She wasn’t going to fall for that shit. She moved in closer, the gun growing warm in her palm.

“You ordered Sergei to take my daughter , and you’re going to order him to bring her back to me, or I’m going to blow your fucking head off. ”

“What are you talking about, Olivia?” His accent thickened, and he switched to Russian. “I don’t have your daughter.”

“ Stop lying! ” She wasn’t sure if she was speaking English or if she’d made the switch along with him, because all she could see was the growing anger on his face. “You threatened me, and when I didn’t do what you wanted, you followed through on it. Stop playing games.”

“I never—”

“I swear to God, if you say you never threatened me, I will do something unforgivable.” Her breath was coming faster now, but she couldn’t dial it back in. “We both know what your intent was even if your words weren’t exactly that. Where. Is. She?”

“I. Don’t. Know.” He glared. “I didn’t order this. If it was Sergei, it was done without my knowledge.”

“ Liar .” She jerked back to hit him with the gun, but then arms were around her stomach, hauling her off him. Olivia screamed and fought, but they were iron bands holding her in place while someone else took her gun.

“Sweetheart, stop.” Cillian’s voice in her ear, angry but a thousand times calmer than she felt. “We’ll get answers, but if you kill him, we aren’t getting shit.”

“He’s not going to tell you the truth.” She lunged for Dmitri, more animal than human, but Cillian jerked her back again.

Then Seamus O’Malley was between them, managing to look down his nose at everyone in the room. “If you can’t control yourself, I’ll have you locked in a room until this is over. Decide.”

That got through to her. No one cared as much about Hadley as she did.

It wouldn’t be personal to them. Even if they decided to help her, it would just be a job.

She couldn’t afford to be shut out. So she let Cillian guide her to the other side of the couches—though she never took her gaze off Dmitri.

I’ll kill him if anything happens to Hadley.

Him and Sergei and anyone who gets in my way .

Seamus sent her a disgusted look, as if he could read her thoughts, and turned back to her half brother. “Explain yourself.”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you.” He’d taken the few seconds everyone was focused on her to straighten his suit, his calm mask firmly in place once more. “This is family business. I’m sure you understand.”

“I’m equally sure that you’ve been dicking around with us for months, Russian. The girl might be your sister, but she’s in our territory with my son. That makes it my business.”

“As I told my sister , I know nothing about that.” He looked directly at her. “You know how I work, Olivia. You know what I’m saying is true. If I was going to take her, it wouldn’t have been like this.”

She didn’t want to agree with him. In fact, all she wanted was to get out of Cillian’s arms so she could go over there and follow through on hitting him with the damn gun. But…he was right. She stopped struggling. If he didn’t order Hadley taken… Oh my God . “Sergei is off the rails.”

“It would seem that way.” He gave a shrug that meant nothing at all. “I do apologize, Seamus, but one of my men has decided to take matters into his own hands—without my knowledge, of course. There’s little I can do.”

Cillian hugged Olivia tighter. “Where is he?”

“How should I know? I’m not the man’s keeper.” That one moment where Dmitri might have been a real human being was dead and gone. He adjusted his cuff links. “If that’s all…”

“It’s not.” Seamus glanced around the room, his brows slamming down. “Everyone out except the Russian. We have other business to attend to.”