Filthy Greed (O’Sullivan #3)

1. Prologue

Prologue

Kayleigh

I have always been raised to be quiet and polite because it is a man’s world we live in. At least, that is what my Mama would always tell me growing up. Was my father ever abusive to me? Never. I don’t think he could do it without getting physically ill. Peter O’Sullivan is known to the world to be ruthless, and his name is feared in the streets of Ireland for a reason, and he has raised my brothers to be just as ruthless; just because I don’t see them physically torture people doesn’t mean I am not aware of it.

I’m the one who always patches my brothers up afterward. I have wanted to be a doctor ever since I was a little girl and snuck out of my room late one night looking for Daid and found him being patched up by Adam. Granted, he knew I was there and called me in. I watched Adam as he put stitches in Daid’s shoulder. Adam explained how he took a bullet out and was stitching it up.

Of course, hearing your dad had been shot would upset any little girl, but Adam reassured me now that it was out, Daid would be better—sore for a bit, but he would live a long life.

I smile at the memory before focusing my attention on the present again.

I have been watching Emilia De Luca since she arrived here, and even though she is recovering from her own injuries, gotten when her family’s mansion was blown up, and her husband is missing, she holds her head up high. She has to be breaking on the inside. I have heard the whispers from the men about how intense Mateo and Emilia love each other. They call it weak; I can only hope I will find that one day.

Knock. Knock.

I close up my textbook I was supposed to be studying before getting lost in my own thoughts.

Knock. Knock.

“Keegan, you impatient brat. Give me one fucking minute. Oh, you’re not Keegan,” I say as I swing the door open and see Connor, my father’s underboss’s son.

“No, I’m not,” he says, smiling with his usual creepy grin. Connor is two years older than me, and I have never liked him, so I’ve been keeping my distance while still being respectful. I wish I could say the same for my friend Hailey; she thinks the sun and moon rise and set for him.

“What can I do for you, Connor?”

“Move aside and let me in. We need to talk.”

“We can talk out here,” I say, gripping the door tightly in my hands. Connor doesn’t take my rejection well, and before I can react, his hand comes up and smacks me across the face. I fall to the ground. He takes that opportunity to step inside my room. I hear the door shut, and then I’m being lifted from the ground by his hand around my throat. I claw at his hand, but it is no use and his grip tightens around my throat. I try swinging my legs, hoping to kick him in the balls.

“Now, things are about to change around here, starting with you thinking you can say no to me,” he says as he walks me over to my bed and throws me onto it.

I gasp as I try to catch my breath. I should have run, but Connor takes the opportunity and pushes me back on my back so he can straddle my hips.

“Connor, stop,” I tell him and try to push him away, which only angers him more. He slaps me again and grabs my hands. I fight, not wanting to be pinned down by him. I know once I am, I will be at his mercy.

I’m unfortunately not strong enough, and he is able to put my hands above my head. He uses his other hand and unbuckles his belt.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” I scream.

“Shut up, you stupid whore.”

He pulls his belt through his pants and wraps it around my wrists. I continue to fight, thrashing under him. He squeezes his legs tighter around me, trying to hold me in place.

“Get off me! HELP! HELP ME!” I scream as loud as I can. Connor smacks me in my face again.

“Shut the fuck up if you know what is good for you,” he says as he jumps off my bed and heads into my closet. I sit there and sob. Where are the guards? Are they in on this? Where are my father and brothers? Why isn’t anyone around?

Connor stalks out of the closet toward me, lifts my head, and uses my belt to gags me. He straddles me again then, saying, “Now that you are tied and gagged, I can tell you about our future.”

Our future? What the hell is he talking about?

“I will fuck you and get you pregnant. Then your father will have no choice but to have us marry and I can take my rightful place as a capo in this Mafia. I have busted my ass for this family and for what? To be cast aside because your whore of a mother kept getting knocked up.”

I shake my head, but he continues. “If you don’t, then I will go fuck the twins. They are teenagers—old enough to fuck and get pregnant.”

I scream at him through the gag as loud as I can until it hurts.

I hear someone bust through the door and hear a gun go off multiple times. I close my eyes, zoning out, and Connor is dragged off me. I can hear people yelling around me but it sounds like they are in a bubble. I can hear them but can’t understand what they are saying. I feel someone sit next to me on the bed and look to see it’s Emilia. I start to sob. She gently removes the gag from my mouth and unties me from the bed.

She wraps her arms around me. “I know, sweet girl, let it out. I got you now.” My body shakes as I sob my heart out.

“Shut up; this will not save you. You will marry me and be the mother of my child,” Connor yells at me.

Emilia turns me to him. “The more you talk, the worse your punishment will be.”

He starts to laugh. “A woman can’t punish a man. You are just as weak.”

She chuckles at him, and there’s no humor in it; it’s just scary. “No worries. I will show you and every other man in this Mafia exactly what a woman can do to men who cross her.”

Marcello says, “Nice knowing you. I almost feel sorry for you.”

“No, you won’t be able to do anything to me because of who my father is and his importance to Peter,” Connor says cockily. Marcello shakes his head.

“You think Peter is going to let the man who tried to rape his daughter live and go unpunished?” Emilia asks.

“He wouldn’t do that to his future—” Connor starts.

He is cut off as someone slams the door open. I jump in Emilia’s arms and start to shake again. “Shh, it’s your dad.”

I look up from where I have my head on her shoulder to see Daid. “Daidí” I cry out his name with tears rolling down my cheeks. I watch his face as he tries to figure out what happened, but the moment he sees me, he takes two steps to be at my side and wrap me up in his arms.

“ Mo stór beag, what happened?”

“Connor…he…he…” But I’m cut off by Connor yelling at me.

“Don’t you dare lie to him, you bitch.” I watch as Emilia backhands him and he falls to the ground. I have no idea when they restrained him, but his arms are tied behind his back and his legs are tied together.

“I am gonna kill you, stupid Italian whore.”

“Is that the best you can come up with? I have been called worse than that and people have been threatening to kill me for years. Come on, be a bit more creative.” Emilia raises her eyebrow at him, looking completely bored.

“Emilia, what the hell happened?” Daid asks her while still holding me in his arms.

“When I came here to see if Kayleigh wanted to go to the gym with me, I heard what sounded like someone struggling inside the room. I didn’t knock before I opened the door, and I saw a man on top of Kayleigh, trying to force himself on her. I didn’t ask who he was; I shot him in the back of both his kneecaps. After he fell off the bed, I rolled him over to see it was none other than Connor.”

Daid walks over to him and draws his gun, pointing it at Connor, and demands, “Why were you trying to rape my daughter?”

“I deserve to be in the upper ranks of this Mafia, not just some capo.”

Emilia kicks him in the head, glaring at him while she yells, “You don’t deserve to lick the dirt off my shoe.” I am… I guess you would say honored that she has defended me. She only met me a few weeks ago and she shot Connor, protected me and my innocence. Not many people would do that for someone they barely know.

Daid tells the guards, “Hang him in the basement by his wrists.”

They drag Connor out as he is fighting them and yelling out, “I will kill you, bitch. I would have gotten what I wanted if it wasn’t for you. You are a good for nothing whore. All women are useless whores.”

Emilia slams the door after he leaves, silencing any further insults.

“I am going to take Kayleigh to our medical wing to get her wounds treated. Would you mind waiting for me in my office?” Daid asks Emilia.

“Actually, I want to go talk with Connor, if you don’t mind, and see what else he has to say. He might be willing to talk more with me because of his hatred toward women.”

“Just be careful. I don’t need Mateo killing me if you get hurt.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t even touch him. Just taunt him verbally.” She comes over and kisses my forehead, tells me, “I am here if you need me at all.”

I nod and snuggle further into Daid I know she is being nice, but I can’t stand the thought of anyone besides Daid touching me. Emilia and Marcello leave my room. I hear Daid on the phone.

“Clear the halls from Kayleigh’s room to the medical wing. She was attacked.” He pauses, listening to what sounds like a pissed-off Cillian on the other end of the phone.

“She seems okay besides being in shock.” He pauses again before adding, “I will meet you there.”

He hangs up and I hear him call Mama next. He tells her the same thing: that I was attacked. After he hangs up the phone, he lifts my head up from his chest to look in my eyes.

“Mama is on her way so she can help you get dressed, then I’m taking you to Adam, okay?”

“I-I-I’m okay.”

“I need Adam to tell me you are.”

I nod and snuggle back into his chest. Daid keeps apologizing and promising nothing like this will ever happen again. Not even three minutes later, Mama rushes into the room and pulls me into her arms.

“Oh, my baby. Look at your face,” she says as she gently cradles my face in her hands. “What happened?” she asks me, but Daid answers first.

“Connor tried to rape her and got rough with her. Thank god Emilia was coming to workout with Kayleigh and heard some noise and saved her.”

“Thank God,” Mama says quietly.

“I’m going to step out while you help her get dressed, then we can take her to see Adam,” Daid tells her.

“Okay, dear,” she answers, and heads into my closet to grab some clothes as soon as he shuts the door. It doesn’t take long for Mom to bring me clothes, and for the most part, I can dress myself. I feel like my body has been run over. I know it is from the adrenaline spike and now my body is crashing. I try to walk to the door, but I keep tripping. Mama catches me but then yells for Daid.

“Peter!” Daid comes barreling through the door and immediately is at my side and swoops me into his arms. Cillian, Oscar, Aiden, and Keegan are all outside my door with their arms crossed, looking pissed enough that if they were cartoons, steam would be coming out their ears. The moment they see me in Daid’s arms, they all soften and walk up to us, which has tears gathering in my eyes and spilling over. Aiden steps up to me and wipes the tears off my cheeks.

“We will be here every step of the way,” he tells me gently. I nod, and we all walk through the halls. Adam has the door open, waiting for us. Daid gently lays me down, but when Adam walks closer and Daid walks away, I reach for him.

“Daddy, please.”

“Shh, I’m not going anywhere, my stór beag.”

“Kayleigh, can you tell me what happened?”

I squeeze Daid’s hand as I retell everything that happened. When I get to the part about why he was going to rape me and his threat that, if I didn’t let him, he would go after the twins, Aiden loses his temper and punches a hole in the wall, making me jump.

“Hey, hothead, go to the gym if you need to punch something. Kayleigh doesn’t need to see that, nor do I want anyone to destroy my medical wing,” Adam barks at him.

“Sorry. I’m sorry, Kayleigh.”

I nod saying, “It’s okay.”

Adam clears his throat and turns to me again. “I’m so sorry, Kayleigh. Do you want everyone to leave?”

I shake my head since they all have seen that I’m bruised on my face, neck, mouth, and wrists.

“Okay then.” Adam walks up to me, and I flinch when he gently touches my bruised cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him.

“You have nothing to be sorry about; you went through something traumatic.”

I nod but have nothing else to say. While Adam is examining my bruises, I start to shiver. Cillian immediately grabs a pile of extra blankets.

“Can I lay these on her?”

“Yes, go ahead. It is just her adrenaline crashing.”

Cillian lays all the blankets over me and gently runs his hand through my hair.

“You okay?”

“I will be.”

“Yes, you will; you are an O’Sullivan.”

“Family. Loyalty. Honor. Even beyond the grave.” Cillian smiles at me reciting our family motto.

“Yes, but you are also strong and you can get through anything,” he tells me.

Adam leaves, but before he goes he gives me something to help me sleep. Dad holds my hand while Keegan climbs into bed with me, promising he will protect me. It is so sweet that Keegan, who is five years younger than me and not out of high school, wants to save me. But I know that no one will be able to save me from the nightmares that will destroy my sleep from now on.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I scream, I can’t be raped by him. I don’t want to be tied to a monster for the rest of my life.

“Kayleigh!” Someone is shaking me.

“Get off me,” I yell and try to hit Connor, but he grabs my hands.

“Kayleigh, stop! It’s Cillian.”

“Stop lying to me.”

“Open your eyes.”

“No.”

“You would think you wouldn’t still be as stubborn as you were as a child,” I hear him grumble, and I open my eyes. I see Cillian looking down at me, a mix of worry, anger, and frustration in his expression. I pull my hands from him and cover my face as I start to sob.

“Easy, stór,” Cillian coos as he pulls my body into his.

“I-I’m sor-ry,” I try to say between tears.

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about,” he tells me and pulls my body tighter against his.

“I’m still so scared. What if he comes back?”

Cillian kisses the top of my head, “He isn’t coming anywhere near you again. I will stay here all night.”

“What about Meredith?”

“She will be fine without me. You need me, and I will always be here when you need me.”

I don’t argue as he lays me back down and lays next to me. I look over and see him grabbing his phone and sending a text before sliding it back in his pocket.

“Oscar is standing guard outside your door. Now close your eyes; you are safe.”

“Thank you,” I whisper and try to relax enough to fall back asleep.

I wake up later hearing Cillian quietly talking to someone. I open my eyes and see Daid on his phone; he notices I’m awake and gives me his undivided attention.

“Hey, stór beag. How did you sleep?”

“Okay,” I say yawning.

“Cillian said you had a nightmare.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Someone will be staying with you until you feel safe.”

“No. I don’t want to be a bother—” I start, but Daid cuts me off.

“You are not a bother; you are supposed to feel safe in your room and that was ripped away from you. So if you need someone to stay with you until you get that security back, that is what we will do, and I won’t hear any complaints from you.”

“Okay,” I say quietly.

“Good. Now we will leave you to get dressed so we can eat,” he says, giving me a kiss on my cheek before leaving the room.

“You, okay?” Cillian asks. I didn’t realize he was standing against the wall watching me.

“Not now, but maybe one day.”

“You will be,” he says and follows Daid out the door.