Chapter Thirty-Seven Quinn
A fter spending a couple of weeks in Belfast with Mam and Eamon, I grew anxious to get out of the city. Or I suppose I should say Northern Ireland since Mam had insisted we go to our beach house for a few days. She desperately clung to the idea that a little sun and sea air might clear the dark melancholy I found myself in.
There was one person I was anxious to see. So, for the first time in a decade, I took a commercial flight. After Mam gave me Maeve’s schedule, I arrived just as she was set to get out of class. One phone call to her bodyguard later and I found myself outside of Trinity college.
As I leaned against the car I’d rented, I watched men and women scurrying around the campus, arms laden with books or a coffee in their hands. I wondered for a moment what my life might’ve been like had I not been born into the clan. Sure, I’d graduated from Queen’s College in Belfast with the traditional business degree that the men in my family earned. But my experience hadn’t been like other carefree college students. In between classes, I’d interrogated and tortured men.
At the sight of Maeve striding across the green, I rose off the car’s hood. She chatted animatedly to someone on the phone. I couldn’t remember when I’d seen her so happy.
When she glanced at the car, she caught sight of me. Her face lit up even brighter. After saying something to the person on the phone, she ended the call. Sprinting towards me, she cried, “Quinnie the Pooh!”
Normally the nickname she’d called me when she was a child mortified me to no end. But today, it was the purest music to my soul.
She dove into my waiting arms. “Oh my God, it’s so good to see you,” she said, as she squeezed me tight.
Not shying from her touch, I squeezed her back. “I feel the same way.”
When she pinched my back, I jumped. “What the feck was that for?”
She giggled. “I was just trying to see if you were real.”
With a chuckle, I replied, “Aren’t you supposed to do that to yourself?”
“Maybe,” she replied with a wink. “So, what are you doing here?”
“Do I have to have a reason to see my baby sister?”
She grinned up at me. “I meant, what are you doing in Dublin?”
“As I’m sure Mam has told you, I’ve been visiting with her and Eamon.”
“Aye, she did.”
“So, I decided to take a little trip to see you while I’m across the pond.”
Her emerald eyes stared intently into mine. “What’s wrong?”
I forced a smile to my lips. “What’s with all the suspicion?”
“For starters, you might love Belfast, but you hate Dublin.”
“That’s because I’m a Northern man through and through.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m serious, Quinn.”
With a shrug, I replied, “I just wanted to check on you.”
“Bullshite!” she countered.
“Listen to your mouth. Mam would have your hide if she heard you.”
She laughed. “It’s the hazard of having five brothers.”
A genuine smile curved on my lips. “Aye, you never stood a chance, did you?”
“Never.”
“You have my apologies for corrupting you.
“I’d rather you buy me a drink.”
“Cursing and drinking now, eh? Where did my innocent little sister go?”
Maeve’s bright eyes darkened. “She died a long time ago.”
I winced at her words. “I’m sorry I said that, Mae.”
“It’s okay. We’ve both had our traumas.”
“Regardless, the last thing I would ever do is hurt you.”
“I know that, Quinnie.”
With a mirthless laugh, I replied, “But you know what? Maybe you shouldn’t trust me. I mean, I say I would never, ever hurt people, and then I do.”
Her auburn brows furrowed. “What’s really happened?”
“I’ll tell you over a pint.”
She nodded. “There’s a decent pub just up the street. Fancy a walk?”
“Yes, the air would be nice.”
After a quick word with Maeve’s bodyguard, we started walking to the pub. Silence hung heavy around us. “Did something happen with Isla?”
Since I wasn’t ready to talk out in the open, I countered, “Who were you all smiles with on the phone?”
Maeve’s porcelain cheeks flushed. “None of your business.”
“So it was a man?”
She jerked her chin defiantly at me. “I asked you a question first.”
“Does this man know who you are?”
“We’re not talking about me. It’s you who mysteriously appeared, saying you hurt people when you don’t mean to.” Lowering her voice, she added, “Since we both know hurting people is part of your job, I’m to assume that it means you’ve hurt a certain woman you care about very much.”
“You’re too smart for your own good, Mae.” With a grin, I held open the pub’s door. After we swept inside, we took a seat at a booth in a far corner. After a waitress came and took our order, Maeve crossed her arms over her chest.
“Out with it.”
“I’m in love with Isla.”
Maeve’s face lit up. “Oh Quinnie, that’s wonderful.”
“She left me.”
“No!” Maeve exclaimed.
I nodded. “But she had a very good reason.”
“There could never be a good reason to hurt you.”
“No one can fault the lass considering she was kidnapped and psychologically tortured because of me and my world.”
Maeve gasped. The waitress returned with our drinks. After sucking down half of my pint, I began to tell Maeve what had happened with Isla and Mikita. When I finished, tears glittered in her green eyes.
She reached out to grab my hand in hers. “There aren't enough words to express how sorry I am. For you and for Isla.”
“I want to leave the clan.”
Maeve’s green eyes shot wide. “But you can’t. You took an oath.”
“Aye, but oaths can be broken.”
“Not without bloodshed.” She shuddered. “Not without death.”
“I don’t have anything left, Mae. I loved Rian like a brother, and this world took him from me. Then I truly gave my heart to a woman for the first time, and this world takes her as well.” I slowly shook my head. “I don’t know if I can take all this pain, Mae.”
She squeezed my hand. “Our family needs you. I need you.”
I exhaled a ragged breath. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Find the will to get up in the morning. Resist the urge to just end it all.”
Maeve’s expression grew grave. “Because then they would win. In my case, it doesn’t matter that Father and Oisinn are dead. By giving up, they’ve won, and I will never, ever allow that as long as I have a breath within me.” Jerking her chin up, she added, “I’ll survive and I’ll thrive out of pure spite.”
“That’s talking like a true Kavanaugh.”
“Thank you, brother.”
“Gah, you’re so fucking strong, Mae.”
“Most days, I don’t feel that way. I wonder if I’ll ever not wake up screaming because of that night. If I’ll truly ever be able to give myself to a man without seeing Oisinn’s face or feeling his hands on me.”
I momentarily shuttered my eyes at the thought of what she endured. When I opened them, I had to ask the question that had been on my mind for such a long time. “Were we wrong to never ask you about that night? I know it’s a delicate matter, but did you need us at least to ask? Did you need to tell us what happened?”
Maeve gave me a shadow of a smile. “As much as you all have sheltered and protected me, there’s some horrors I need to keep to myself.”
“Kellan had to talk to Isla about what happened.”
“I’m glad he did. It’s liberating when you free yourself of the pain.”
“You aren’t angry he shared what happened?”
She shook her head. “I want him to be able to be in my presence without crying. I want him to be everything he can be in our family without being riddled with guilt and remorse.”
“I think he’s well on his way to doing that.”
“Good. Now we can just focus on you.”
“I might be a lost cause.”
“Never.”
“I want to believe you.”
She gave me an encouraging smile. “We will find a way to get her back.”
“I think that’s as much a lost cause as I am.”
“Trust me.”
“I’ll try.”
Maeve rose out of the booth. “Got to nip to the loo. I’ll be right back.”
“Do I need to come with you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Quinn? I think I can go to a random restaurant’s loo alone without you or my bodyguard.
“Fine.”
Maeve had just gone down the hallway to the bathrooms when her phone rang. I couldn’t help glancing down at it. When the name Rúnsearc flashed on the screen, I almost came out of the booth. Rúnsearc meant my secret love.
Who the fuck was Maeve calling that?”
Without a second thought, I grabbed the phone and answered it. “Who the fuck is this?”
A pause came on the line. “I suppose I could ask you the same thing.”
My brows furrowed. I knew that voice. “Rafe?”
Another pause. “Quinn?”
The world spun around me. Raphael Neretti was Maeve’s secret love? Oh hell no. This wasn’t happening. “What the fuck are you doing calling my sister?” I growled.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
A dark chuckle came from my chest. “Oh, I bet Callum would love to weigh in on why my sister has you saved into her phone as ‘secret lover’.”
“Maeve’s a grown woman, Quinn. I think she’s allowed to make her own decisions without her brothers’ consent.”
“You cheeky bastard. You’d be losing your mind if the tables were turned, and Caterina had someone saved as a secret lover.”
“Considering she was in a religious order when you and your brothers kidnapped her, that would have been very surprising indeed.”
Of all times for my phone to start ringing, now wasn’t the time. Since it was Callum, I knew I needed to answer it. At that moment, Maeve appeared. The sight of me holding her phone to my ear caused crimson to flood her cheeks.
I shoved the phone at her. “I have to take this call from Calum. But when I’m finished, we’re going to have a little chat about Raphael Neretti.”
Before she could protest, I then spun around and grabbed my phone out of my pocket. “Yeah?”
“I need you to step outside the pub.”
Furrowing my brows, I asked, “How the fuck do you know where I am?”
“Your tracker.”
“Was it necessary to stalk me down? I told Mam I was going to Dublin to see Maeve.”
“Just go outside.”
I flung open the door and stepped out into the street. “What am I to do now? A little dance?”
“Look up the street to your right.”
“Jaysus Christ, Callum, I’m not in the mood for your fucking games. I flew thousands of miles to get away from your bullshit”
“Just do it.”
When I whirled around, I stared up the street. The phone dropped to my side at the sight of a tiny blonde standing just a few yards away. “Little Dove,” I murmured.
She was so close yet so far away.
We stood there for a moment, staring at each other like we feared the other might disappear before our eyes. And then I took one step forward.
That was all it took for Isla to start running to me. My heart leapt into my throat at the sight. She’d come for me. She still loved me.
Hope wasn’t lost.
And just before we could reach out to touch each other, a dark figure swept from the alley, grabbing Isla off her feet and jerking her back against his front. My heart dropped to my feet at the sight of Mikita holding a gun to Isla’s head. He dragged her further away from me.
When I reached for my gun, a pop went off. Anguished horror rocketed through me that Mikita had shot Isla. When I saw her unharmed still struggling against him, relief filled me. It was short lived at the sight of Maeve’s bodyguard sinking to the ground, blood and brain matter spraying from a wound in his head.
Screams and shouting rang out all around me as people began to drop to the ground or scramble to try to find safety behind cars or bins in the street. After a few seconds, nothing stood between me and Mikita.
“Throw down your gun and any other weapons you have, or this will all end sooner than later.”
I stared into Isla’s frightened eyes. Slowly, I reached inside for my gun. I tossed it to the ground and then added my knife next to it–the same one I’d used to give Isla pleasure.
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“I hope for her sake it is.” Tilting his head, he mused, “Bet you never thought you’d see me here.”
“Look, this is between the two of us. It has nothing to do with Isla.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You see, your girlfriend and I had a deal. She would leave and break you, which perfectly enacted my revenge. In turn, I wouldn’t hurt her sister and nephew.”
“What?” I questioned Isla more than Mikita .
Mikita laughed. “She was pretty convincing, wasn’t she? Considering how you’ve left home and tried to leave your clan, revenge was looking really sweet. But then, she just had to go to your brothers and spill her guts about what had gone down between us.” He tsked at Isla. “That was supposed to be our secret. I’m going to have to punish you for that.”
Bringing his hand up from Isla’s waist, he sent a stinging slap across her cheek, causing me to lunge forward. “Don’t fucking take another step.”
I froze. Desperation pricked along my spine. I didn’t know how the fuck I was going to get Isla out of this.
“After tattling to your brothers, the next thing I knew she and her sister were packing up and coming here to hide from me.” Turning his attention to Isla, he maniacally laughed. “I bet you never imagined when I gave you that sedative, I also put a tracking device in you.”
“Obviously not,” she bit out.
With a shake of my head, I said, “You left me because of him?”
Tears streaked down Isla’s face. “I had to. He threatened Brooke and Henry.” A sob tore through her chest. “I didn’t want to leave you, Quinn. I love you. I always have.”
Agony rocketed through my chest. I had to fix this. I couldn’t lose her. Not now when I was getting her back. “What do you want, Mikita? Territory? Money? Drug routes? Whatever it is, I’ll ensure you get it. I’ll work with the Neretti brothers. We can uphold the alliance you would’ve had with Carmine if he and Alessio hadn’t been killed.”
Mikita narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you honestly think I would ever trust you?”
“Stranger deals have been struck by men in our world. Trust is always built on quicksand when it comes to alliances. But we don’t have to sink beneath the surface. We can rise.”
“There’s nothing that you can give me but your suffering.” He cocked his gun–the noise ricocheting through me. “I thought I could achieve it by keeping her alive, but she double crossed me. You and I both know what happens to traitors in our world.”
“NO!” I screamed as I charged forward.
At the crack of a gun, the world slowed to a crawl around me. Mikita and Isla’s bodies jolted back before collapsing to the ground. I sprinted to close the distance between us. After falling to the ground, I drew Isla into my arms. With shaking hands, I searched her head for a bullet wound. When I didn’t see one, I felt along her chest.
“Now’s not the time for that,” a soft voice said.
I jerked my gaze to her face. “You’re not hit.”
A shaky smile curved on her lips. “No.”
A sob tore from my throat. “But how–”
Isla jerked her chin over my shoulder. Glancing behind me, I sucked in a harsh breath at the sight of Maeve with a gun in her hand–a satisfied expression on her face. “You?” I demanded.
“Even with a bodyguard, I’m never without a gun.”
Turning back to Mikita, I surveyed the gaping wound between his eyes. “Fuck me, Maeve. Most men couldn’t make that shot.”
“I’m not most men.” The corners of her lips quirked. “I’m a Kavanaugh.”
“Damn straight.”
As I pulled myself to my feet, I swept Isla in my arms. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“Considering I just survived being almost killed, I’m more than okay.”
“I’m sorry, Little Dove. In light of what just happened, I won’t blame you if you want to leave me again.”
She shook her head. “I can’t say that I’m not fearful of something bad happening again. But I know it’s not worth forsaking the love and happiness I have with you.”
“I’m so glad to hear you say that. I didn’t think I could do life without you.”
Just before I could bring my lips to hers, the Garda Síochána appeared. “What the hell happened here?” a tall officer asked.
I glanced between Maeve and Isla, giving them a look that said let me do the talking. “Well officer, that man over there was stalking this woman. He had a gun to her head. I was walking down the street when I saw it. I drew my weapon and shot him before he could kill her.”
The officer narrowed his eyes on Isla. “Is that what happened?”
“Yes, sir. He tracked me in from the states.”
“What’s your name?”
“Um, Isla Vaughn.”
The officer scribbled it down in his notebook. His gaze fell on mine. “And your name?”
“Quinn Kavanaugh.”
“Kavanaugh?” He blinked. “As in the Belfast Kavanaughs?”
“Aye. I came up to Dublin to visit my sister,” I replied, motioning to Maeve.
“Right. Well, um, thanks for the information.”
When he started walking off, his partner stopped him. “What the feck are you doing?”
“Keeping myself alive.”
As they hurried away, I glanced down at Isla. “Let’s get out of here.”
“We have suites at the Shelborne,” she said.
“Whose we?”
“Dare, Kellan, Brooke and Henry.”
Her eyes popped wide. “Brooke and Henry are here?
“We were planning to hide them away here while we took care of Mikita.”
“And he took care of himself.”
A shudder ran through Isla. “That’s true.”
“I have a rental car up the street.”
“You don’t need to carry me. I can walk,” Isla protested.
I grinned down at her. “I’m not letting you out of my sight or out of my arms anytime soon. In fact, Maeve can drive, and we’ll take the backseat.”
Maeve snorted. “As long as there’s no shenanigans.”
At Isla’s blush, I laughed. “I can’t make any promises.”
Isla rolled her eyes. “You’re a caveman.”
“Aye. And a beast.”
Isla smiled. “I love you just as you are.”
“And I love you.”
I then started up the street feeling lighter than I had in weeks.