Chapter 14
14
“ Y ou aren’t going anywhere,” Colm barked, obviously having heard her last statement, as he walked into the room carrying a tray. He set it down on the coffee table, and she couldn’t help but stare down at it in surprise.
Hot chocolate and cookies?
Tonight felt more like a bourbon and... and more bourbon kind of night.
“Colm,” Miller said warningly.
“No one is going anywhere.”
Maybe she’d just go straight to the hospital and get this over with. But it was late... after midnight if the wall clock was correct and Sacha needed his rest.
Colm grunted. Then, a blanket was placed over her. Sofia gave a jolt of surprise, nearly hissing in pain as her back protested.
“You’re cold. I can see you shivering.”
She was?
Huh. She hadn’t even noticed.
After giving Miller a blanket, he moved to the window to stand silently.
Maybe she should insist on leaving again. But it seemed pointless. So she just stared at the hot chocolate and tried to get her confused brain to put everything together.
Sofia wasn’t sure how long they sat there until Rogan entered the room and sat on the sofa next to Miller, pulling her onto his lap.
Sofia waited for a stab of jealousy. But it seemed she’d managed to ultimately stifle her emotions.
Huh.
Well, that was probably for the best.
“What were you thinking? Why did you leave the house?” Rogan asked her.
“I got a call. The person said Sofia would die unless I came with them. And that if I told anyone, they’d kill her. So I quickly wrote the note, hoping they weren’t able to see me. I’m sorry.”
“Do you think Callahan had anything to do with this?” Colm asked.
“They never mentioned him,” Miller said.
Sofia shook her head.
Step Callahan.
Leader of the Seven Sinners.
She swallowed heavily. Thankfully, he’d never been on her radar until recently. He was the last person she wanted to see.
Well, other than Oleg, she guessed. Oleg had recently arranged for Miller to talk to Step Callahan at Solynshko.
Well, forced might be a better word for it.
Sofia didn’t like that. She was in charge of keeping her staff safe, and that bastard had just waltzed in and done what he wanted.
Typical.
Wait. Calm. Don’t let your anger slip through.
“I think Arnie acted on his own with Oleg,” Miller said. “Arnie didn’t care about the ransom money. That was Oleg’s thing. Arnie just really wanted you dead. He was driving the car that tried to run you off the road,” she told him.
Rogan rubbed his hand over his face. “Thank God you left a note. If we hadn’t had that time advantage...”
“Did you see the tattoo on his arm?” Sofia asked quietly. It was playing over and over in her mind.
The tattoo.
That damn image.
“On Arnie’s arm?” Miller asked. “You looked like you’d seen a ghost when you saw it.”
“I’ve seen something similar before,” Sofia told her.
“What did it look like?” Rogan asked.
“Three concentric circles, one white, one black, and one red. Inside the circles was a sword dripping with blood,” Sofia described it.
Rogan nodded. “His gang tattoo. The Seven Sinners each choose a sin as their tattoo. The three more common ones are greed, pride, and wrath, which is the most popular choice and the one you saw.”
“So a lot of people have that tattoo?” Sofia asked.
Crap. How had she not known that?
Maybe because you have nothing to do with the Seven Sinners. Because you avoid Step Callahan.
Although she didn’t think he knew her secret.
If he did, surely he would have used it against her. She knew that. And her world would have collapsed.
But she didn’t believe in tempting fate.
Sacha would never have allowed the Seven Sinners to get close to her. Although he couldn’t have factored in Oleg’s betrayal.
Perhaps if she had seen that tattoo before now, she might have...
Might have what? Pieced things together?
“I suppose. Why?” Rogan asked curiously.
Should she tell him?
Well, what did it matter now?
“Because I’ve been dreaming about it for months now. I even started drawing it. I’m obsessed with it. I’ve been having these dreams that I’m in a forest looking for someone. Then I hear this loud noise. I’m scared, terrified. Sometimes, the dream ends there, and I wake up. But lately, they’ve kept going. I see this man. He falls to the ground in front of me, but his face is blurry. The only thing I can really see is the tattoo. Then I take off running. I’m trying to find someone when I run into this woman.” Sofia stared at Miller. She’d always thought she looked familiar. But she hadn’t dreamed of the other woman’s face until today in the hospital. Why hadn’t it been clear until now?
Frustration bit at her. But then why would someone who looked like Miller be involved? That made no sense.
Ugh, you are completely losing it, Sofia.
“She kind of reminds me of you.”
Miller frowned. “Did the woman appear in your dreams before or after you met me?”
Huh.
That was a good point. Now that she thought about it, Sofia realized that when Miller showed up, it wasn’t the first time the woman had been in her dreams. Just that she’d never been so clear before.
“Before.”
Miller stood and Rogan reached up for her hand. “Where are you going?”
“To get something. I’ll be back in a minute.”
When she returned, she held an old-looking silver locket, which she handed to Sofia. “Is this the woman?”
Sofia stared down at the picture. It was faded and tiny. “It’s hard to tell. The picture’s so small, and my memory is kind of fuzzy. But, yeah, it looks like her. This was your mother?”
“Yes. She was murdered fifteen years ago. They never caught her killer.”
“Around the same time that Gerard Callahan disappeared,” Rogan said.
Sofia glanced at them both. What were they trying to say? Who was Gerard Callahan? Maybe a relative of Step Callahan?
And his disappearance was somehow tied to Miller’s mother?
“Gerard was the former leader of the Seven Sinners and Step Callahan’s father,” Miller explained, obviously seeing her confusion. “I’m surprised you don’t know this already.”
Sofia shrugged. “Aleksandr is old-fashioned. He doesn’t talk to me about work . The Seven Sinners don’t come near Solnyshko, and that’s where I spend most of my time. I’ve never seen that tattoo before. Except in my dreams, that is.”
“Gerard Callahan has also been identified as the body they pulled out of Lake Medina,” Colm added. “Step Callahan thinks Rogan’s father had something to do with his death.”
“Why?” Sofia asked. That seemed a strange conclusion to come to.
“Because my father, with the help of your father and Iker Florez, was trying to run the Seven Sinners out of the city at the time,” Rogan explained.
“I don’t remember any of this,” Sofia said.
Lord, she was getting a headache. Perhaps Sacha had been right. It was better if she stayed out of all this.
“You must have only been about eight,” Colm told her, moving closer.
She wished he’d sit down beside her.
Maybe pull her onto his lap.
But you can’t have any of that, Sofia.
“What if Sofia saw Gerard’s murder?” Miller asked. “What if Step Callahan is right and my mother’s disappearance is somehow connected to his father’s murder?”
“How could you have been there?” Rogan asked Sofia.
Sofia rubbed at her forehead. Was it possible? Was that dream an old memory that she’d repressed as a child?
Had she seen Gerard Callahan being murdered? By her father? And by Rogan’s father and Iker Florez?
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.” So much of it was blurry. She only got bits and pieces. And she didn’t understand why she was now dreaming so much about it.
Maybe because of Miller. Perhaps she tweaked something in your memory.
Or perhaps it was all the stress lately stirring things up.
“Why would my father have taken me?” she asked. But she did remember him putting her in a car and telling her to sleep. “And how could I have forgotten what happened for so many years?”
“You were young. Maybe you buried the memory,” Colm suggested.
Please touch me.
“But I need to know what happened,” Sofia insisted. “I can’t stand having half the story.”
“I wonder if my mom saw something they didn’t want her to see.”
“ A thaisce ,” Rogan said in a soft voice.
Damn. That was sweet.
She remembered Colm calling her Mo leannan .
She wanted that again.
What an idiot she’d been.
“Everyone who would know the truth is dead,” Miller said.
Right. Everything except . . .
“Except for me,” Sofia said in a quiet voice. She pushed her hands under the blanket, pressing them together anxiously.
Keep it together, Sofia.
“And I’m missing chunks. What if I can’t remember anything else? All I’ve got is these flashes of images and feelings.”
Although the nightmare had become clearer lately. Which was making it even harder for her to sleep.
Rogan sat forward. “Sofia, you can’t tell anyone what you remember.”
Sofia stared at him in bewilderment. “What about Sacha?”
“Tell your cousin, but make sure you’re completely alone,” Rogan replied. “I’ll be with you if you want. We need to tell him about tonight, anyway.”
“He’ll be furious.” Sofia chewed her lower lip. She knew she had to tell him. But she didn’t want to upset Sacha.
He was all she had.
“He should have protected you better,” Colm snarled.
“He’s in the hospital!” Sofia snapped back. No way would she sit here and listen to Colm talk badly about Sacha. “He nearly died.”
“That’s no excuse,” Colm muttered.
Sofia glared at him. What the heck did he expect Aleksandr to do from his hospital bed?
He sent her home to rest. He didn’t realize she was going to get kidnapped by her boyfriend, who was blackmailing her into a fake relationship.
Rogan cleared his throat. “Why don’t I talk to Aleksandr first? We’ll do it tomorrow.”
Sofia nodded. She wished she could let Rogan do that, but she knew she had to be the one to tell Sacha what had happened. And first thing tomorrow. “I suppose I should go home.”
Maybe she could go to a hotel.
Fuck. Where was her phone? What if someone was looking for her?
And how had Oleg gotten onto the estate grounds?
“I think it would be best if you stayed here,” Rogan countered.
“No, I’d rather go home.” Sacha wouldn’t like it if she stayed here.
“You’re staying here,” Colm growled at her.
Sofia scowled up at him. He needed to realize that he wasn’t the boss of her. “I’m going home.”
“I won’t sleep if you go home, Sofia. I’ll just spend all my time worrying about you. Please stay. For me,” Miller begged.
Sofia was silent for a long moment. Then her shoulders slumped and she nodded. “I guess I wouldn’t be able to sleep either.”
“Do you want a sleeping pill?” Colm asked her.
She shook her head, hugging herself. She hated sleeping pills; they made her feel out of control. Like she couldn’t handle things. And then the next day, she’d wake up feeling awful.
Sofia was already on a knife’s edge and didn’t want anything tipping her off that cliff.
She watched as Miller and Rogan spoke before Rogan helped Miller up. He was so careful with her. So kind and caring.
I want that so badly.
“Colm, show Sofia to a guest room, please.” Rogan turned to give Sofia a firm look. But there was a hint of kindness in it. “Please don’t leave without letting someone know. You’re not a prisoner here, but until your cousin is out of the hospital, I feel responsible for you. If something were to happen to you under my watch, he’d kill me.”
Sofia nodded. Sacha wouldn’t be forgiving if she was harmed while under Rogan’s care. Even if she still wasn’t sure she should be here.
But she was at the end of her tolerance. She’d hit a wall and just needed to get away from everyone before that wall crumbled.
And everything came out.
“Don’t worry, Boss,” Colm told Rogan. “I’ll make sure she stays put.”
“I’ll put some of my clothes into your room,” Miller told her.
Miller and Rogan walked out as Sofia glared at Colm. “You’ll make sure I stay put?”
“Yeah, Squirt. I will.”
She nearly winced at him calling her Squirt. It seemed deliberate.
A reminder that she was no longer his ‘baby.’
She was glad she hadn’t looked up the translation of Mo leannan . It would have hurt worse knowing what it meant and that she’d likely never hear it again.
“I don’t think that’s up to you.”
Colm raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “Then you obviously don’t know how this works. At the moment, you’re in my territory. You’re under my command. And that means you do as I tell you to.”
“And if I don’t?” she challenged.
His jaw seemed to tighten. There was a tick on his cheek. “You don’t want to find out.”
A shiver ran through her at the memories of all the times she’d gotten into ‘trouble’ with Oleg.
“Sofia? Hey, Sofia. Look at me. Look at me, baby.”
“Please don’t call me that,” she said hoarsely.
His head flicked back, his face filling with surprise and then hurt for a brief moment before it grew cold again.
Sofia wanted to cry. She wanted to beg him to show her how he really felt. But the words were stuck on her tongue.
How did she do this?
How did she let this man in?
Give him everything and trust that he wouldn’t twist that? That he wouldn’t turn it all against her?
She couldn’t. Because she couldn’t afford to trust him. She’d trusted the wrong person once and it had nearly ruined everything.
However, she did know that Colm would never hurt her physically.
Colm wasn’t the sort of man who had to harm a woman to make himself feel better. Or who gave into his rage. Or needed to control someone else through physical intimidation and force.
He was already intimidating without the need to be an asshole. Besides, people seemed to defer to him naturally.
“Of course.” He stood from where he’d been crouched in front of her.
He’d gone so cold.
Don’t cry.
You can’t let anyone see you break.
“I will show you to your room. But I should warn you that you will not be able to leave. This is for your safety, not because you are a prisoner.” He was at the door by now and held it open, waiting for her to get up. To move.
Sofia stood carefully as her back had seized up. She knew she was going to be in a world of trouble tomorrow.
The best idea was to keep moving, even though the pain could be agonizing.
She didn’t have any medication with her to ease the pain either. She couldn’t remember where her handbag was, but unless Oleg had taken it when he kidnapped her, it was likely back at her place.
“I need my phone,” she muttered.
“After you’ve slept, we’ll take you to see Anisimov and then you can retrieve it. There’s only a couple of hours until dawn.”
Right.
Which meant she was probably better off not even sleeping.
He headed toward the stairs and she followed him.
She was entirely overloaded, to the point that she could barely function.
One foot in front of the other.
Get somewhere private.
Sofia wasn’t sure how she’d managed to get herself up the stairs, but she breathed out a small sigh of relief as she did. Colm turned to glance at her, but she didn’t meet his gaze. She was too busy holding herself together.
When they reached a door, he held it open for her so she could slip inside.
“There is an attached bathroom. I’m in the bedroom next to you. I’m a light sleeper.”
Right. Message received.
If she tried to get out, he’d hear her.
The truth was that she wasn’t going anywhere tonight.
“Hear me?”
“Yes, sir!” she said sarcastically.
His gaze narrowed, heat flaring. “Don’t push me, Sofia. I’m holding back because I know you don’t want me and you’ve been through a lot tonight. But I am close to the edge too. And being a brat might push me over.”
What did that mean?
She had no idea. But she was still staring at the door long after he’d shut it.