Chapter 6
Cillian
Chapter Six
“I’m planning to smoke him out.” I press my phone to my ear.
I’m talking to Virgo. I’ve just arrived at work for a meeting I couldn’t rearrange, then I’m going back on the road to meet Jaxon.
We’re heading to Brooklyn to see some people Harlan might have worked with.
“Smoke him out. I like this.” Virgo sounds like he’s already coming up with a battle plan. “Kind of like what he did to you with Jaxon.”
“Yeah, except I plan to destroy his ass. We know some of his business contacts. All we need to do is fuck with them and mess up his plans. So, instead of trying to find him, if we pin him down somewhere, we screw with his plans.”
“So basically, we start a war.”
I’m silent for a few beats as I think of the gravity of this new plan of mine, then I sigh. “Yes. We start a war. This is going to be dangerous.” I turn down the corridor leading to my office.
“No more dangerous than we are. Have you run this past Dante yet?”
“Yes. He kind of gave me the idea. He’s going to discuss it with the Creed at the next meeting. He’s calling all enforcers from the council. He wants eyes everywhere and all hands on deck.”
“Now this is what I live for.” I can almost see him nodding.
“This has gone on long enough. It feels like I’ve spent most of my life chasing demons.”
“Because you have. We’ll catch this bastard, Cillian.”
“Just be sure to watch your back, Virgo. This fucker will come at me through my family. He already has.”
“Don’t worry about me, or Olivia. I’m not going to let anything happen to her ever again.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“I’ve got to run. I’ll let you know by tomorrow about the weapons. I have a plan of sorts. I just need to test it out.”
“Alright, speak to you later.”
We hang up and I continue down the corridor to my office. The moment I see that the door is open, I frown. I hate when people go into my office without checking with my secretary first. She would have told them to wait outside.
Whoever is in there must have some balls.
My steps quicken and when I reach the door and see the woman inside, my temper flares.
Jessica Riley turns to face me, flashing me her trademark sassy smile.
Seeing her face reminds me of Erika. They were identical twins, but to me they were different. I could always tell them apart. Except the one time it mattered, when I was drunk. Still, all Jessica managed to get from me was a kiss. Even in my drunken state I knew her kisses weren’t Erika’s.
It pisses me off that she’s here already, getting ahead of herself.
Even though I agreed to find a wife, this woman is the last person I want to see right now.
But this is such a Jessica Riley move. No doubt she spoke with Seamus and planned to be here first thing today.
Most men would call me crazy. She looks every bit the wild fantasy she is, with her long raven hair, bright green eyes and flawless porcelain skin. But to me she’s the devil.
“Cillian O’Ridian, it’s been a while.” She speaks first, giving me a one-shoulder sassy shrug designed to show off the generous curve of her tits.“I hope I haven’t intruded.”
She knows she damn well has. I’d tell her so, but I decide to be polite for Seamus’ sake.
“Is there something I can do for you?” That’s the best I can do.
She seems thrown by my coldness, but I know her. That’s just going to make her push harder.
“I spoke to Seamus about our possible marriage and I thought I’d get a head start.”
I walk over to my desk and set my stuff down. “That’s not the way things work with me.”
“Well, how do they work with you?”
“I contact you when I wish to see you.” I sound like the asshole I am but I don’t give a fuck. I don’t have time for shit or games.
“Wow, testy, testy. You’ll be a fun husband.”
I laugh without humor. “You and I haven’t said I do yet, so please don’t call me your husband.”
“God, it’s been ten years and you still blame me for Erika, don’t you?”
It’s hard to believe so much time has passed because it feels like yesterday.
“It’s best I don’t answer that question. You know what you did.”
Erika was going through the roughest time of her illness, and it was clear we were going to lose her. I used to drink to forget.
The night before Erika died Jessica waited in my bed for me, naked. She knew I’d been at the bar drinking and I’d be drunk when I got home.
I mixed the twins up. Even if it was just a kiss. I still mixed them up, and Erika saw me kissing her sister. Jessica planned for Erika to come by my place, just at the right time to catch us.
The next morning she broke up with me even though I told her what happened, and she understood. She said it was her way of setting me free. No matter what I said, she stood by her word. By nightfall she was dead. Her mother found her in the bathtub surrounded by all her pills.
Jessica gives me an emotionless smile. “Erika was on her way out. I was simply trying to open your eyes to who you should have been with. But it’s funny how things work out. Here I am.”
“And I still don’t want you.”
She moves closer and stops in front of me, unfazed by my rejection. “You and I fit, so I still have faith that you’ll warm up to me.” A seductive smile spreads over her face.
She must think I’m an idiot. “I won’t and it’s not because of what you did. It’s just you. If I decide to marry you, it will be business. That is all.”
“But it’s something, because I’ll still be your wife.”
The buzz of my phone on my desk interrupts us.Looking at the screen, I see it’s Luann, my secretary. I press the button to talk to her but keep my eye on Jessica. “Yes, Luann?”
“Hi, Cillian, I have a Miss Chloe Ricci here to see you.She doesn’t have an appointment.Can you fit her in? She promises she won’t take up too much of your time.”
Well, damn. That was faster than I thought. I also thought that I would be the one to see her first.
My interest should be piqued at the possibility that she could be here with news of Harlan, but it isn't.
It’s piqued because of her.
I also gather that if she’d seen Harlan, she’d have called me.
“Send her in.” I keep my tone purposely flat so Jessica can’t detect any emotion from me.
“She’s on her way.”
“Seriously, don’t you even want to arrange to meet up or something?” Jessica flashes me a look of indignation.
“That won’t be necessary.”
A moment later Chloe approaches the door. She stops in the doorway when she notices Jessica.
Jessica and I both look at her.
Dressed in a little blue skater dress and her hair down in loose waves, Chloe looks completely different to how she did the other day.
She’s more beautiful, and her gentle, elegant appearance contrasts with the dragon woman before me who couldn’t hold a candle to her.
Chloe doesn’t look like she belongs in my office or anywhere near me, yet here she is. And the more I look at Chloe, the more Jessica fumes.
“You can leave now,” I tell Jessica.
She cuts me a hard glance and summons the filthiest rude-as-fuck look she can manage to throw at Chloe before she storms out.
Chloe looks taken aback as she watches her go. When she looks back at me it’s clear that she’s even more anxious about me than she previously was.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you and your girlfriend,” Chloe stutters.
Girlfriend. I almost laugh. “That is not my girlfriend.” I want to tell her that I would rather cut off my balls and wear them around my neck than be with Jessica Riley, but I bite my tongue.
“I apologize. I’m doing this all wrong.”
“And what would that be?”
“Trying to be quick.”
“How about you come in first? I swear I don’t bite, despite the rumors.”
Her cheeks flush and she looks like she doesn’t know what to say to me, then she walks in.
“How can I help you, Miss Ricci? I take it Harlan hasn’t made an appearance yet.”
“No. We don’t think he’s coming back. He’s stolen everything from my mother. It seems he set her up.”
I was right. Just once—even just for this week—I wish I could be proven wrong.
“So, you’re here because?”
She couldn’t look more uncomfortable if she tried, but there’s something about her meekness and desperation that calls to me.
“I came to ask for an extension on the loan repayment date.”
“And you thought I’d agree?” I raise a brow.
Her shoulders fall, drawing attention to the staggered rise and fall of her breasts. “No. But I thought I’d try.”
“Harlan Jacobs borrowed that money from me knowing he had no intention of repaying it.”
“I know, but my mother didn’t know what his plans were. I’ve only just come back and learned about this mess. Please give me a chance to fix it.” She pulls a check from her purse and approaches me, filling my space with the scent of magnolia. “That’s everything I have.”
I take it from her and my brows knit when I read the amount. “Fifteen grand, Lass?” Jesus, I feel like I’m taking candy from a child.
“I know it’s a drop in the well, but I’m working on getting the rest.”
“How?”
“A business investment loan. I stand a good chance of getting one because I don’t have any debt. I have an appointment with the bank in two days.”
“What if you don’t get the loan?”
“Then I failed, but I have to try something. I can’t let my mom lose her home and her restaurant. My great-grandparents built that restaurant when they first moved here from Italy. They poured everything into making sure it was the best in the city. That’s my legacy.” She presses her lips together and the devil inside me conjures the image of those lips on my cock.But those big light brown eyes of hers make the fantasy fade, and I see her desperation.
I’m not known for compassion. Not at all. I’m the kill-first-ask-questions-later kind of guy people fear, but there’s something about this girl.
“I’ll give you three weeks, so you get until the end of the month to pay up. That’s it.” Those words sound wrong to me because I highly doubt she’ll come up with the money. That’s reason enough for me to say no, but I won’t.
Hope sparks in her eyes. It looks foreign on her, but it brightens her face. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m so sorry this has happened.I will do anything and everything in my power to find a way to pay back the loan.”
I’m hooked on the words anything and everything. Poor lass. She doesn’t seem to know thatyou don’t say shit like that to a man like me and not expect him to have indecorous thoughts of what anything and everything might mean.Or how far she’d go.
“Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
My gaze drops to her lips. She notices me staring and instantly looks flushed.
“I should go. Thank you for your time.” She gives me a polite, good-girl smile and tries to walk away, but I’m not done with her yet.
“What was a girl like you doing with a guy like Nathan Ferrera?”
She stops in her tracks and turns back slowly to face me. The unease returns to her expression.
“You looked up the case?”
“You told me to.” I give her a clipped smile.
“I… didn’t know he was like that. He played on my dreams and I believed his lies.”
“What were your dreams?” Curiosity has me again.
“To dance on a stage so the world could see me.”
“And you did.”
She pulls in a little breath. “Not long enough.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve given up.”
“No, it’s not that. Nathan clipped my wings. Literally.”
The way she says that makes my gaze drift to her legs, and I remember what I read about the GBH charges in relation to her. I didn’t go into specifics. Now I wish I had.
I would have known before now that the asshole broke her legs.
I don’t know her, but a flash of anger ripples through me when I think of what he must have done to her. And how she suffered.
As I stare back at her, I realize what interests me so much about her. She looks like a person who already knows what it feels like to lose everything, and she’s trying to find her way back.
She backs away, breaking my thoughts. “Good day, Mr. O’Ridian.”
“Cillian,” I correct her. “Call me Cillian.”
“Cillian.” She says my name like she’s just trying it out, then she dips her head and leaves.
I watch her until she disappears from my sight, then I stare at the door like I can still see her.
Miss Chloe Ricci definitely has my interest but now she also has my attention.
And I want to know more.