Chapter 2
C assie
Sin stared then huffed a strangled laugh. Lottie brushed her hands over her lap.
“Well,” she started.
The apartment door burst open, and a small, dark-haired missile of a boy dashed inside. “Cassie!” He threw himself at me.
I caught Magnus, Sin and Lottie’s youngest, in a hug. “Oh no! It’s a Mag attack.”
In his superhero jammies, the six-year-old knelt on my lap and put both hands to my cheeks, commanding my attention. “You’ve been gone for ages.”
“Did ye miss me?”
He stuck out his tongue, then his gaze slid to the constrained Riordan. Coming back to me, he cocked his head, and I braced myself for an awkward question over why I had a stranger tied up on my couch.
“Can ye drive me to school?”
Ah, man, kids. “Not today, but I’ll be here when ye get home.”
The boy pouted.
Sin muttered about the time then collected his son from my lap. Magnus yelled in protest, so Lottie took over and carried him out, a look returning my way to say our conversation wasn’t done.
Left alone with me, Sin held his gaze on mine. “We have to get the kids ready. Do I need to be worried? Any more than I already am, I mean.”
He didn’t specify about what, but it wasn’t necessary. I’d turned up with a body at the crack of dawn and with no good explanation beyond my wild claim. He needed to know if I was running from something.
Slowly, I inclined my head, fear tightening my belly.
He gave a short nod. “Bad timing. Or maybe good. The older kids are at camp, and nearly everyone else is away.”
My four brothers, their wives, and a whole army of kids lived in our mansion. It was good that they weren’t here.
A yawn overtook me. “Can you activate security then we’ll talk later? I need to call Arran because of what I did.” I flicked my fingers at a still slumbering Riordan. “But first I need sleep. Give me a few hours?”
“I can’t protect ye if I don’t know the full story.”
“Why do ye think I brought him?”
Sin muttered about hot-headed women then left me to lock my door.
For a moment, I drooped against the frame. It was after seven, and the first tendrils of daylight filtered into my apartment. An apartment which held what would be a very pissed-off Riordan once he woke. Maybe it was better that Sin had trussed him up with tape. That way, he wouldn’t be able to escape until he’d heard me out.
With a sigh, I kicked off my shoes and shucked my jacket. Then I knelt next to Riordan on the sofa and examined his biker boots. I’d seen him take them off once previously and figured out the buckles, dropping both to the floor with heavy thuds, the tape just out of the way.
“I’m sorry if I scared ye,” I said as I worked. Being busy with my hands meant I didn’t have to meet his eye. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I promise no harm will come to ye. Not from me and not from my family. You’re completely safe here. I don’t know how long you’ll be unconscious for, and I don’t want to ring Shade to ask. Not until I’ve spoken to Arran, and I’ll wait until you’re awake to do that.” Another yawn overtook me, and exhaustion threatened my consciousness. “I’ll explain everything soon.”
Climbing onto the sofa, I curled around his feet like a kitten. Then I let sleep claim me, secure in the knowledge I’d managed to get us both to safety.
Even if Riordan had no idea from what.
A few hours later, I woke, sensing someone’s focus burning into me.
I blinked and found Riordan’s furious eyes trained on mine.
“Oh, hi. Awake?” I stretched out my limbs and unfurled myself.
He didn’t answer, instead, slowly wriggling upright on the sofa cushions. His movements were slow and clumsy, and guilt oozed cold in my veins.
“I don’t know if you heard anything I said earlier,” I began.
“I heard.”
His gruff voice was music to my ears. His brown hair fell in his eyes, and I resisted the urge to reach out and brush it aside. With his cut jawline and protective-German-Shepherd energy, Riordan was too pretty. Which was a huge part of the problem I had with the man.
Well, aside from kidnapping him.
I needed to make a better impression. Spreading out my hands, I gestured around us. “Welcome to my home. It’s called the Great House, and we’re in the Cairngorms National Park. I live here with my family.”
“You told me your mother was dead and your father a people trafficker.” Riordan took in the room, probably looking for exits if he had any sense.
“All that’s true.”
“Then the two people in here earlier were figments of my imagination.”
It took me a second to work out what he meant. “Oh, no. That’s Sin and Lottie. My brother and his wife. They raised me from the age of six, and I call them my parents sometimes. They have their own kids, though.”
Riordan finally brought his attention back to me, hostility in his hard gaze and mistrust as deep as Deadwater’s river. “What am I doing here?”
I pulled a face. “I needed to leave the warehouse in a hurry and I got scared. No excuse, but I wanted to take ye with me.”
His eyes widened. “So you just did? You drugged me.”
“I know, and I’m really sorry. I’ll never do it again. I can be impulsive, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
He gave a snarl of incredulity. “Are you kidding? How the hell did you even get me out of the building? Scratch that, why am I here? What’s going to happen to me?”
“You’re here because you’re mine. I can’t explain any better than that, but I will call Arran so he knows where ye are. There’s something else I need to tell everyone as well. Let me get Sin and Lottie back first so I don’t need to repeat myself.”
I found my phone in my pocket and sent a text. In under a minute, my brother thumped on my door, and I let him in.
“No Lottie?”
He glowered at Riordan but answered me. “Should be along in a minute. She’s feeling under the weather.”
Internally, I fist-pumped. My sister-in-law had paused in having babies once Magnus was born so she could go to university and get a midwife’s degree. The minute she graduated, I knew the two of them would get on with baby number five.
Now probably wasn’t the time to celebrate.
“Your boy’s awake, then.” Sin gave a head tilt to Riordan.
He got an equally dark glare in return.
I ushered my brother to a seat then video called Arran, keeping the screen on me.
He picked up. “Cassie. Finally returning my calls. Is there a reason Manny spotted you on the CCTV smuggling one of my crew out of the building?”
I’d known Arran since I was a child and considered him family. A relationship which now needed mending after I’d thoroughly abused his hospitality.
My confidence wobbled.
With my gaze down, I launched into my story. “Last night, I had to leave the warehouse in a rush. Shade left his knockout kit in your office, and I borrowed it.”
On the screen, Arran narrowed his eyes. “How did you get into my office?”
I rummaged in my bag and produced a set of keys. Jangled them. “Ye gave us these, remember?”
We were investors in Arran’s warehouse, myself included.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “What was Will doing with you?”
Will was the security guard I’d paid to carry Riordan. “Dude took a bribe before I even finished the sentence. He also sneaks off duty to vape and leaves the back door unguarded. You need to kick his arse to the kerb. I’ve done ye a favour in exposing him.”
Arran just stared. I pressed on.
“That’s confession number one. The second is a bit more complicated.”
I panned the camera around, showing him the man on my sofa.
“You knocked out my new recruit using the stolen drugs then bribed my guard to kidnap him?”
Why was everyone so hung up on that? “Yes, but he’s awake now.”
“Right,” he drawled. “Is he okay?”
“Unharmed, though fucking confused,” Riordan reported back.
Sin spoke up. “Arran, tell me about your employee.”
“Thought I spotted you there, Sinclair. Any clue what’s happening?”
“None. Tell me what I need to know.”
Arran grumbled but answered. “Riordan’s Gen’s brother. Works hard. What are you asking?”
“Cassie claimed him. Need to know if he’s good enough.”
“She claimed him?”
Riordan’s lips parted. A wash of panic chilled me, and I held up a hand. The last thing I wanted was to scare him off. I’d called him mine, but if everyone else did, too, it could be a bit much.
“There’s a reason I acted like an insane person. Something else I need to tell everyone that might help explain my actions.” From my pocket, I pulled a white piece of paper. “This showed up in my room last night.”
I put it on my lap and sent a photo to Arran, then passed it to my brother.
Arran squinted at his phone. “What am I looking at?”
My heart beat erratically. Sometimes, I did thoughtless things. Like driving too fast because I was hurt and angry. Or moving three hours south to live above a brothel because of the need to find myself. Drugging and kidnapping a man was definitely up there with my best.
Then again, it had been a long time since anyone had threatened my life.
“A message from Deadwater’s serial killer telling me I’m next.”