Chapter 32 Ramsay
Akiva pressed her warm, furry body to my legs as we sat with Quinn at a corner table in the Lantern.
I rubbed a soothing hand down her back. My girl had missed me. More than that, she was smart, and she hadn’t seen Silver since the traumatic moment on the harbor. She was anxious and in need of comfort.
“Bottom-feeding scum,” Quinn muttered, glaring over my shoulder to the bar.
I knew there were a couple of journalists there having a drink.
“Not all.” I shrugged. “The woman who helped Silver … that kind of reporting matters.”
“Aye, but these guys are tabloid scum.” Quinn threw back the last of his pint. “They’re not welcome here. They shouldn’t have served them. If Aodhan was here, they wouldn’t have gotten served.”
“Ignore them.”
“You’re lucky they don’t know who you are.”
“Who am I?” I asked dully.
“Tierney’s … you know.”
As if she’d heard her name, my mobile buzzed, and I turned it over. The screen said Silver Calling.
I switched off my phone.
When I looked up from it, Quinn’s expression had turned … withering. This time it was directed at me. “What?” I snapped.
“I know your moves, McRae.” He gestured to my phone. “You’re going to end it with her, aren’t you?”
My chest felt like a fucking ton weight crushed down on it, but I didn’t deny it.
Shaking his head, Quinn let out a huff of disappointment. “After everything you did for that woman … everything you’ve risked. Make it make sense.”
It didn’t need to make sense.
All that mattered was Silver was safe.
But I couldn’t be what she needed going forth. She was noble like her parents.
I wasn’t noble.
I’d become the darkest part of myself to protect the world while they’d used the best of themselves to do the same.
If Silver knew the truth, she’d turn her back on me.
I’d known only loyalty to my country.
To people … well … I’d learned far too young that unless you wanted your spirit crushed beyond imagining, when it came to people, you had to leave them before they left you behind.