Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Annie
“What time do you call this?” Emily teased as I walked into the kitchen.
Embarrassment swept over me. I hadn’t meant to sleep through the entire day, but every time I woke, I told myself I needed another five minutes and drifted off again. By the time I finally struggled out of bed and into the shower, it was already evening.
My exhaustion was entirely Ciaran’s fault. When we got home from the club, he fucked me senseless in the shower. He took me twice more during the night, once with me on all fours on the bed and then at a more languid pace with me staring into his gorgeous brown eyes. He’d reached for me this morning, but obviously he took my threat to cut his dick off seriously because he immediately backed off. There was only so much of a good thing I could take before I needed a break, but Ciaran seemed to be insatiable.
“Blame your over-sexed brother.”
“Ugh!”
Smiling at Emily’s disgust, I headed for the coffee machine and made myself an espresso. One sip was all it took to make me feel more human again. I leaned back against the countertop and watched Emily as she stirred something in a pot on the stove. A delicious, meaty aroma from the oven filled the air.
“Can I help with anything?”
“Well, this sauce is proving trickier than I expected, so perhaps you could take care of dessert for me. I’ve made meringues and whipped some cream, so if you could cut some strawberries and mix it all together, that would be great.”
“You’re making Eton mess?” I drained my espresso cup and put it in the dishwasher by the sink.
“Yes. I thought I’d try another good old British dish in your honor.”
Since my arrival at the lake house, Emily had been going out of her way to make me feel at home by preparing British foods. Her bangers and mash had been a triumph, and I hated to admit it, but her sticky toffee pudding was even better than my grandmother’s.
I fetched the strawberries and a bowl of mixed cream from the refrigerator and found the meringues on a cooling rack on the kitchen island. They were cold to the touch, so I crushed them, one after the other, into the cream and mixed them together. Then I grabbed a chopping board and a knife and got to work on the strawberries.
“Thought I’d find you here.”
I looked up and smiled as Ciaran came into the room. He leaned across the island to place a quick kiss on my lips. Pinching a strawberry from the tub, he settled back on a stool on the other side of the counter.
“Something smells good, Em,” he told his sister.
“It’s venison. I’m making a Cumberland sauce.”
“You get redcurrants here?” I thought they were a British thing.
“I couldn’t find any in the grocery store. Fun fact for you, until recently they were illegal in the States.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, they carried a disease or something that killed other plants. I’m not up on my fruit facts. Anyway, I’m using cranberries instead.”
“That should work.”
“Doubt I’d be able to tell the difference.” Ciaran winked at me.
Trying to ignore the way my spine tingled whenever he looked at me, I carried on cutting the strawberries. They were plump, so I quartered them before dropping them into the cream and meringue mix.
An unsettling feeling came over me as I realized how much at home I was. Thoughts of my real home were fading, and it crossed my mind that I should hand in my resignation at work.
As I realized how deep in I was with Ciaran already, I lost focus and sliced into my finger.
“Shit!” I cursed as I dropped the knife.
I scanned the countertop for a towel or something to stem the bleeding, but Ciaran was by my side before I could find one.
“Get the first-aid kit,” he barked at Emily as he put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me over to the sink.
He turned on the cold water and held my hand under it. I watched as blood trickled down the plughole.
“Ciaran,” I grumbled. “It’s too cold.”
He pulled my hand out of the stream of water and shut off the faucet. Grabbing a clean dishcloth, he wrapped it around my finger. Steering me back across the room, he picked me up and set me down on one of the stools at the island. When Emily returned with the first-aid box, they both hovered over me as Ciaran peeled back the white cloth.
“How bad is it?” Emily asked. “Does it need stitches?”
“It’s just a cut!” I snapped. They were fussing over nothing. “Shouldn’t you be stirring your sauce?”
As Ciaran inspected my finger, I looked over my shoulder at his sister. My tone with her had been harsh. “I’m sorry, Em. Pain makes me grumpy.”
“It’s okay. You should see me when I’m on my period.”
“Can you not?” Ciaran growled.
“Look at that.” Emily grinned wickedly. “The big bad mob boss can’t handle the mention of a perfectly natural bodily function.”
Ciaran’s shoulders stiffened. We’d danced around the subject of his involvement in organized crime, but now Emily had confirmed it. An uncomfortable silence descended on the room as Ciaran stared at me, waiting for a reaction. Though I didn’t like the thought of him being a mobster, I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. I was sure I’d get used to it, eventually.
“So, what’s the verdict?” I said lightly. “Will I live?”
“Uh, yes.” Ciaran reached into the first-aid kit and took out a small spray bottle. “It’s not too deep.”
I hissed as he squirted disinfectant on my finger without warning me first. He got a bandage and wrapped it around the cut.
“All better?” he asked, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead.
“Yes, thanks.”
As I jumped off the stool, Seam came into the room. His gaze landed on the first-aid box, open on the counter. “What’s going on?”
“Annie cut herself,” Emily explained.
Sean’s brow furrowed. “You okay?”
“It’s just a scratch.”
“Good.” He turned to Ciaran and tilted his head toward the door. “Need you, brother.”
As Ciaran followed Sean from the room, I put the bottle of disinfectant back in the box and closed the lid. “Where does this go?”
“Just leave it on the counter,” Emily replied. “I’ll put it away later.”
“Okay.”
I returned to the task I’d abandoned. I didn’t think I’d gotten blood on the chopping board, but I wasn’t prepared to take the risk. Thankfully, I’d put a decent number of strawberries into the cream before I cut myself. I finished prepping dessert and put the bowl in the fridge before starting to clean up.
As I wiped down the chopping board, Ciaran came back into the room.
“Sean and I have to go to the city. Don’t hold dinner for us.”
The urgency in his tone told me something bad had happened, but I didn’t feel comfortable asking him what it was.
Emily wasn’t so reticent. “What happened?”
“One of our warehouses is on fire.” Ciaran’s jaw clenched. “Will’s going to stay here in case you need him.”
I felt strangely at a loss as Ciaran turned and left without kissing me goodbye. The situation was clearly serious, but I wasn’t sure how worried I should be. The answer came ten minutes later when Will wandered into the room while Emily and I were chatting. His grave expression told me there was reason for concern.
“Let’s eat in here tonight,” he suggested, “since it’s just the three of us.”
He glanced over at Emily. Something passed between them I couldn’t decipher. Eating in the kitchen rather than the dining room was clearly significant, but I had no idea why.
“Okay,” Emily agreed. “It’s almost ready, so why don’t you set the table?”
While Emily took the venison out of the oven and quickly sauteed some asparagus, Will set the table. He insisted I sit while he went to get a bottle of wine from the cellar that was apparently accessed via the pantry. When he came back, he poured glasses for me and Emily and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge for himself.
“You’re not having wine?” I asked. He’d indulged in a glass or two when we shared dinner before.
He shook his head. “There’s just me and four guards here tonight. It’s best to keep a clear head in case….”
Almost as if he’d summoned trouble, the lights went out, and an alarm sounded on his phone. Emily turned off the gas burners on the stove as Will ran to look out of the window. Several loud pops came from outside. I’d never heard gunshots in real life before, but I knew that’s what they were. My heart lurched as Will pulled a gun from behind his back.
“Get to the safe room.”
The reason for eating in the kitchen became apparent as Emily ran across the room. Stumbling in the darkness, I followed her into the pantry. She pulled back a shelving unit to reveal a hidden door and led me down a long flight of stairs. There was light here. Had they come back on?
At the bottom of the stairs was a door. Emily entered a code on a metal keypad, and it swung open. We hurried inside. Footsteps thundered on the stairs and Will skidded into the room. He slammed the door shut and a whirring sound told me he’d engaged the locks.
My jaw dropped as I looked around the room. On one side was a small kitchen with a refrigerator and microwave. On the other, there was a seating area with a large sofa, two armchairs and a coffee table. A bookcase filled with paperbacks provided a means of distraction. Beyond the living space were four bunk beds. It was functional but lacked comfort. A door lay to the right of them. I guessed it led to a restroom.
A bank of security monitors on the wall flickered to life as Will switched them on. He picked up a cellphone from the cradle where it sat on the wall and pressed a button. “Shit. Can’t call out.”
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
“We’re under attack, but don’t worry. It’s safe here. Even if they find this room, it’s impenetrable and there’s a two-week supply of food and water.”
“Two weeks?” Panic flared inside me.
“We won’t be here that long.” Will smiled tightly. “Ciaran, Sean, and Max will get the same alert I did. Help will be here soon.”
I hoped he was right. Looking down at my hands, I realized they were shaking.
“Here.” Emily put an arm around me. “Let’s sit for a while.”
How the younger woman could remain so calm was a mystery to me. I found myself unable to look away from the security monitors as several men moved about the house. A couple of them wore bulletproof vests. I knew nothing about guns, but I’d seen enough American cop shows to recognize assault rifles when I saw them.
“The lights are on,” I said, confused.
“The backup generator kicked in,” Will explained. “They obviously didn’t know about it.”
Backup generators and safe rooms weren’t a part of any home I’d ever been in before. “You have an impressive setup here. Do things like this happen a lot?”
Emily shook her head. “No, we’ve never been attacked at home before.”
“But you have been attacked?”
“I haven’t.” Emily glanced at Will, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Clearly, this wasn’t a line of conversation he was going to allow.
As I scanned the security monitors, something caught my eye. I sat forward as the front door opened. Expecting Ciaran, I was surprised to see a young woman with long brown hair coming into the house.
“Who’s that?” I asked, nodding toward the monitor.
“Shit!” Will slapped his hand against the wall. “What the fuck is Erin doing here?”
Emily groaned. “She said she wanted to meet Annie. I didn’t think she’d just show up here without telling anyone.”
“Fuck! Where’s Vincent? He’s not meant to leave her side.”
“She probably gave him the slip. You know how she feels about being shadowed.”
We all watched on screen as Erin got down on the floor and crawled under the hall table. I couldn’t see what she was doing, but when she emerged, she had a gun in her hand.
“What’s she doing?” I asked.
“She must know there’s someone in the house,” Will replied. “She needs to go and hide.”
Unfortunately, that’s not what she did. She crept along the corridor, peering through open doors as she went. My heart almost stopped as she reached the kitchen, where one man was searching for us. Erin raised her gun. I held my breath as she fired, and the man went down.
“Now come down here, sweetheart,” Emily murmured. “Come on.”
Erin hurried across the room, but before she could reach the pantry, two men came into the kitchen. Ciaran’s youngest sister spun around, her gun raised. When the other three intruders arrived, Erin’s shoulders sagged, and she dropped the gun. One man crossed the kitchen, grabbed her, and forced her to her knees.
“I know him.” I recognized the stocky redhead as one of the men who’d brought me to Ciaran’s apartment the other day.
“Mike Bannon.” Will spat out the name. “Fucking traitor!”
“I wish we could hear what they were saying.” I hated that their lips were moving but I couldn’t make out a word.
“We can.” Will pressed a button at the bottom of the security monitor for the kitchen and sound came on.
“Come on, princess,” an ugly brute with a receding hairline and a large paunch at his waist said. “Tell us where your useless brother and the little whore are hiding.”
“That’s Danny Mulhearn,” Emily whispered.
Why had she lowered her voice? “Can they hear us?”
“No. I’m just….” Emily threw her hands up. “I don’t know.”
“It’ll be okay. She’ll be okay.” Will tried to reassure himself more than us. “Ciaran will be here soon.”
“Can he see what’s happening?”
Will nodded. “Yeah, he can access the cameras on his phone. He’ll have eyes on everything.”
“Where is she?” Mulhearn demanded when Erin stared defiantly at him. Of all the siblings, she looked the most like Ciaran. She had the same long straight nose and bow lips. “Where has William taken her?”
A thought occurred to me. I turned to Emily. “They don’t know you’re here. They think Erin’s you.”
“How do you figure that?” Will asked.
“He keeps asking where Will’s hiding me, not the women or the girls or whatever else he might call us.”
Will nodded. “You could be right.”
“Can we use that?”
“Maybe.” Will focused his attention on the screen once more.
He roared with fury as the man he’d called Mike drew his hand back and slapped Erin across the face, knocking her to the floor. “Motherfucker!”
Mulhearn tipped his head toward her. One of the other men dragged her back up onto her knees.
“Tell me where they’re hiding, or I’ll let each of my men fuck your ass before I put you on the auction block.”
My stomach churned. I couldn’t believe I’d wanted so desperately to meet this monster. What he was threatening to do to Erin was so disgusting I didn’t have the words to describe it.
“I’m going up there.” Will keyed in the code to open the door. “You wait here.”
“No, Will.” I was too late to stop him. He stepped outside and pushed the door closed behind him. It locked with a quiet click.
Emily got up and tried to use the cellphone again. She cursed as the call didn’t go through. Unable to take my eyes off the screen, I watched as Will emerged from the pantry, firing off bullets that hit two of Mulhearn’s men before he was taken down by a shot to the shoulder. It was so surreal, like watching a movie. I couldn’t process what I was seeing.
I turned away from the screen as Emily opened a cabinet in the bedroom area and withdrew a rifle like the ones the men upstairs were carrying. The way Emily handled the weapon told me she knew how to use it.
“What are you planning?”
“I’m going to help my family.”
As she headed for the door, I stepped in her way.
“Come out, little whore.” Danny’s voice drifted over the intercom. “You have one minute. Then I’m going to make this one watch while we take turns fucking his sister before slitting his throat.”
Emily tried to barge past me, and I shoved her back into the room. “Wait,” I urged her. “Let me go up there. They don’t know you’re here. I can distract them.”
“Yeah.” Emily nodded. “There’s only Mulhearn, Bannon and that other guy left. I can take them.”
She didn’t sound confident enough for my liking, but there was no alternative. We had no idea if Ciaran had gotten the alert about the intruders, and I couldn’t just sit here and watch his family being torn apart.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and motioned for Emily to unlock the door.
As I walked upstairs, I felt Emily’s presence behind me. I held my hands up as I emerged into the kitchen. Two guns swung toward me, and I yelped.
“Ah, this must be Ciaran’s little slut.” He looked me up and down. “I must say I’m disappointed.”
“I’m disappointed too.” My voice was steady despite the fear coursing through my veins. “When I came here to connect with my cousin, I didn’t expect him to be pond scum.”
“Ah, yes, I heard we’re related.”
“Distantly.”
I glanced at Will, who was slumped in the corner. A lanky skinhead held a gun on him. I turned to Erin, whose assailant was an older man with a thick gray beard. He held her by the hair, a gun pointed at her head.
“Hmm, and yet you spread your legs for a Reilly. Where’s your family loyalty?”
“I didn’t know about any of this when I met Ciaran.” I took a few more steps into the room, moving away from the door so Emily could get a clear shot. “And we’re not really family, are we?”
I edged toward the wooden table at the side of the room, hoping it would give me cover.
“Down!” Emily yelled. I threw myself under the table and covered my head with my arms as all hell broke loose.