Chapter Twenty
I’d had one of my men watching her for days now.
I knew her every move, especially since she was such a predictable creature of habit.
Reagan did the same things every day. She would bring Ciara to her elementary school, then head to the clinic for work.
Most days, she would go to lunch with coworkers, or the woman I had later learned was a friend of hers.
After her shift was over, she would pick up Ciara and head home, unless it was on Wednesday, when she would stop by a neighborhood market for groceries.
If I had to guess, I would say that was her payday. Other than that, she would go home and stay until the next day, when she would do the same thing all over again. That sense of predictability was one of the first things I had ever noticed about her at Summit Crest Preparatory.
As much as some things change, others stay the same.
As I forced my thoughts back to my research, the only days that were different were the weekends.
Just last week, I’d been at the park watching her read a book while Ciara played with other kids her age on the swing set and slides.
They’d often stop at a street-side vendor for lunch and/or ice cream, before going back home.
I had expected much of the same tonight until Oscar told me that she was headed out alone in a dress that could stop traffic.
The idea of her dating filled me with a rage that I couldn’t quite describe. And I had no idea why it did, only that knowing some other man would touch what had once been mine had me seeing a shade of red I had never seen before.
Not when I was forced to endure torture because of her.
Not when my grandfather threatened her life.
And definitely not when he’d ended it as I’d once believed.
Although I’d been so beside myself during that period of grieving that even blue couldn’t accurately depict that I’d been. Pitch black, and until learning I now had a daughter, it’d been what I was. Dark and black inside.
But now, I could see another man drawing out the same sort of cries I once had, and feeling her tight warmth wrap around his cock, resembling the closest thing to Heaven on Earth, but mostly touching, fucking, kissing, and seeing what I had branded myself upon so many years earlier.
I’d put my fucking ring on her damn finger, and marriage was until death do us part.
Only you didn’t die, but you will soon. Once you do, it’ll have been at my hands and no one else’s.
I knew then that I had to make my move tonight. She hadn’t been dating anyone up until this point, and I couldn’t allow whatever this was to get serious for her. The very idea of another man raising my child also sent my blood boiling. Tonight, I would have all that was mine.
And hanging onto some masochistic thread of self-destruction, I’d personally followed her to the restaurant. Stalking was so far beneath me, but I hadn’t been able to help myself. Reagan had always had the ability to make me act uncharacteristically, and she still did. That too, also infuriated me.
I’d tagged along in the shadows though, and it took everything inside of me not to do more than growl at the sight of her date’s hand low on her backside as he’d led her into the restaurant.
The remembrance of all that soft skin had me stuck in an endless warp of memories that didn’t bring comfort, but my possible downfall instead.
They did not bring joy, but rather felt like a noose tightening around my neck.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to intervene or even cause a diversion because by the time dinner was done, she’d left alone and gone straight home. After she disappeared through the doors, I got out of my parked car and quickly followed her.
Oscar had been able to compile quite a profile on this Rowan Lynch.
She was my Reagan, no matter which name she decided to go by.
I knew her mannerisms, and had often seen them in both my dreams and nightmares as I’ve relived every second I’d ever spent with her over the years I’d thought she was gone.
I’d mourned her, and still was. Not anymore.
“Tonight, you’re going to be mine once again,” I said aloud as the elevator shot upward.
A few minutes later, I was standing in front of her door.
While I could just knock, I needed to proceed carefully.
Early on in my discovery, another of my men had gained access to her loft and placed a small camera inside.
Since she had not even let on that she suspected anything, I assumed she hadn’t yet located it.
I pulled up the app on my cell phone, and careful not to play the volume when she could be right outside that door, I went frame by frame until I found her still wearing the same dress from before.
She had taken off her shoes, stockings, and the belt, and the dress had been unzipped.
It then fell from her body, making me incredibly hard as I stared down at her naked backside.
All that pale flesh I’d dreamed of touching one last time was now on full display.
Reagan went into the bathroom and shut the door, and I knew she intended to shower.
That only gave me a small amount of time.
Quickly breaking into her place by picking the lock, I could still hear the sound of running water overhead.
Eventually, it stopped. I quickly moved to the breaker box, then flipped a switch, which sent the entire loft into a state of darkness.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I heard moments later. “I’ve told Al a million times that the damn breaker box has been tripping on its own.”
I quickly moved behind the pillar as I saw her descend the stairs with nothing more than the flashlight of her cell phone to illuminate the space. She walked right over to the breaker box and opened the door, but before she could do anything else, I sprang into action.
I jerked her to me as she screamed, then quickly covered her mouth with my large hand. Reagan tried to bite down on my palm until my other hand went to her throat. She was still squirming until I spoke, then her entire body tensed and she froze in place.
“Shhh! I’m going to uncover your mouth, but you’re not to scream. Is that understood?”
I felt her head as she nodded, then I slowly removed my hand from her mouth. “W-who are you? And what do you want from me?”
“Is that not obvious, Reagan?”
A slight gasp was her only reaction to her name, and reaching in front of us, I flipped the switch, then let her go.
She immediately spun around, and her blue eyes widened to the size of saucers.
Our eyes met, and she immediately turned away.
As I reached for her, she slipped to the left, then slowly started to head toward the door.
That was when the towel she had wrapped around her fell, leaving her gloriously naked once more in front of me.
She ducked out of sight as she quickly grabbed it from the floor, then hastily covered herself with it. “W-who are you?” she asked again as she tried to remain innocent.
“You know who I am, Reagan. I’m—”
“This is a mistake,” she whispered. “My name’s Rowan. I don’t know any Reagan.”
My mouth tipped in a feral smile as I stared down into her face. She looked like a deer in the headlights, but I had to applaud her attempt to keep up this ruse. In fact, I did as I slowly started to clap my hands.
A sob escaped her, but she kept her shoulders squared. “My license is in my purse. I promise I am who I say I am.”
“Documentation can be forged.”
“No, no. I’m telling you the truth. Please, just look.”
“Reagan had a sister named Rowan. A sister we both know died in a home invasion,” I said to her.
“I-I don’t have any sisters,” she said to me as she continued on with the lie.
I reached out and grabbed her by the throat. From there, I pinned her against the wall. “Don’t play with me, Reagan. I could snap your neck in two right here, right now. So, tell me the goddamned truth.”
“Please don’t hurt me. I have a child...A daughter...I—”
“My daughter,” I said as my voice exploded, making both of us flinch.
“No,” she cried out. When I didn’t do anything else, she finally added. “Reagan was my sister, and she was murdered. I—”
“Anamchara,” I interjected, practically having to spit the words out as they fell from my lips. I no longer believed the one thing I always had when it came to her. There was no way she could ever be my soulmate when she’d betrayed me the way that she had.
“Cillian,” she said, then froze as she realized she had given herself away. I had never given her my name, but she knew it. If I would’ve had any doubts before, I wouldn’t now, as she all but confirmed her identity.
Still, she tried one last time to cover. “My sister told me about you. About—”
“Liar!” I growled. “I’m not here for you anyway. I want my daughter, and I’m not leaving without her.”