Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
KIERAN
I don’t like leaving while Ada’s asleep. It makes me feel sneaky for some reason. It’s not like I need to report my actions to her, but I don’t like the idea that she’s going to wake up without knowing where I’ve gone either. I compromise with leaving a hastily scribbled note on the kitchen island. Maybe with some luck, I will be home before she even wakes up.
I leave my hideout to meet up with Liam. We have a lot of work to do in a very short amount of time. I have to make one quick stop beforehand. The jewelry store that I choose is the other way of where I am headed.
In a less than a half hour, there’s a slight weight in my pants pocket that I try not to think about too much. I have to focus on my work. Still, I wonder what she will say? I want to see her eyes light up when she sees the box and even more when I slide that rock onto her finger. It’s an generous size for a more than stunning woman.
It’s going to be a symbol no matter what. It’s going to show not only how serious I am about all of this, but also a sparkly mark of my ownership of her. I have claimed her body, and now I just need that one last piece of her mind before I can wholly make her mine.
I leave the garage on foot, feeling pain in every step, and head down to the location that Liam and I are meeting. I pull my leather jacket closer to my body, keeping the black ball cap on my head pulled low to keep from drawing too much unwanted attention to myself as I head to my destination.
The secluded warehouse that we are meeting at is something of a gem because it’s hidden in plain sight. Abandoned such a long time ago, it fell into disrepair and was mostly boarded up. Hardly anyone ever even gives the place a second glance as they walk past the various flyers and spray paint on the boarded-up entrance. I slip into the alleyway to the left and climb up the rusted ladder to the open window and hop down inside the dimly lit space. The scent of dust and old oil hangs heavy in the air. Liam is already here waiting for me. He’s leaned up casually against a stack of crates, his trademark smirk playing on his lips as I approach.
I want to be able to trust him, but now everything feels shaken. If he had never been in that office, our friendship would still be solid. Now, everything is precarious. I have to work with him, and I’m sure that he understands that it’s unspoken that he needs to earn back my full trust. That nagging feeling that somehow his father is in on this or knows about it is something that I just can’t seem to shake.
“Well, now that I’m here, what are you going to do with me?” I ask, the same teasing tone in my voice that Liam’s accustomed to. I’m willing to try so long as we both have the same mutual goal.
“Come now, we don’t have time for all of your sweet talk, cousin.” Liam grins, flashing almost too many teeth as he pushes off of the crates and takes a step toward me. “We will always have time to play later.”
The cheeky bastard winks at me. It makes me feel better, like everything is a touch more normal again.
“Good, I don’t want to be gone long.”
“You still think that it’s a good idea to involve her in all of this?”
I hesitate for a moment before answering. I don’t want to tell Liam too much of my plan so that I can remain cautious. Not until I’m completely certain. All this poses risks that I should never have to worry about.
Liam pushes just a bit further. “Our world isn’t really a place for somebody like her, Kieran. Is this the fate you want to resign her to?”
“Give her a little bit more credit than that, she’s stronger than you think.” I answer snappily. He saw her twice and he thinks that he knows her better than I do? Fat chance. Besides, Ada was raised in our world. Maybe not as involved as a princess as she will be as my wife, but this isn’t new to her. She knows the risks. Her eyes are open. “She’s not just a pawn to me, not anymore.”
Liam seems to study my expression, trying to find something there that I can only guess at. Irritation bubbles inside of me. Ada’s to be protected at all costs. She’s far more fragile than I realized but I’m never going to say that out loud. Least of all to Liam.
“Are you sure about that?” Liam asks.
It feels like he’s needling me. I cannot fathom why that might be. “How about you grow a pair and say what you really mean?”
There’s almost no space left between us now. I don’t have any desire to fight. But if he keeps running his mouth then I’m not going to have a choice but to put him in his place.
“I mean, are you sure that you’re the one that should be calling the shots here? How am I supposed to know that you have your head on straight? These are big fucking moves that we’re about to make, Kieran. I can’t have you fucking around. Ada’s another tool for my father to use against you. You know that right?” Liam’s voice raises in pitch and volume the longer he speaks.
“So, this is what you think?” I seethe, my teeth clenching together.
“I think you have no idea what you’re doing. She would be better off without you.”
That does it. I grab him by his coat and pummel my fist into his face, my patient snaps and I lose control of my body. If Liam were any other person, it would be a brutal beating, but he’s been systematically trained since birth, just like I was. It might not be a perfectly even match, but it’s going to be enough of a struggle.
Somewhere deep down, I think Liam might be right. That only fuels my anger. I just want to keep her safe. I know how things started out, but my motivations aren’t the same, not anymore. I can’t imagine not waking up beside her. I need her slight frame pressed up against me. I need to know that she’s there waiting for me, being there for me. Just as I intend on being there for her. Whatever petty insults Liam throws in my direction, I don’t want to hear any of them. My rage pumps my blood like a drum against my ears. I can’t even feel the powerful punches that Liam is throwing right back in my direction.
I don’t even know how much time has passed before Liam finally raises his hands in surrender. I’m almost moving too quickly to stop in time to pull my last punch. With the shitty things that he’s said to me, I shouldn’t even accept his surrender in the first place.
Liam’s otherwise handsome face is bruised, bleeding from both the cut on his busted lip and his swollen eye. “Okay, okay! I give!”
Given that he’s on the ground and I’m standing just above him, he was going to lose anyway.
Both of us are breathing heavily, I release him suddenly, and his body thumps to the ground, causing a small cloud of dust and grime to float into the air around us.
I shouldn’t give him a second chance. Does he truly deserve it?
“You may not like it, but I just had to be sure.” Liam pants, pushing himself up onto his knees. His body sways. I might have hit him in the head one too many times. He braces his knuckles against the ground to keep himself from falling right back over again. “With everything that’s happening…” Liam tried to shrug, but the motion seems to make him dizzy so he thinks better of it.
With great reluctance, I offer him my hand.
He takes it without hesitation. I pull him back onto his feet and he sags heavily into the crates that he had been using as a chair earlier.
“With everything that’s happening, I just had to be sure. Stuff at home is… well, I don’t even know where to begin. My father thinks that I am completely and utterly loyal to him. For now. He’s pissed that I didn’t bring him your head, of course. He wanted to serve it on a pike to the Dominio's to cement things. Now he’s scrambling. I can’t say how much time we have left, so we have to move quickly. I needed to be sure that you were dedicated enough.”
“So you wanted to get your ass kicked?” I scoff, incredulously.
Liam smirks. “Gotta be a little bit of a masochist in our line of work, don’t you think?”
I roll my eyes. Having him by my side as an ally is going to be crucial so for now a truce, if nothing else, is necessary. I hope he’s genuine. “So, do you have an idea here or are you just going to ride my coat tails?”
Liam chuckles. “Hardly. I suggest that we feed my father incorrect information. I don’t know how long I can get away with such a thing, but for now he thinks that I’m finally taking my role seriously. It would be best to capitalize on that.”
“Well, it will make my job a hell of a lot easier if I’m not having to keep looking over my shoulder for Patrick’s goons every few minutes.” I agree.
“So, you’re in?” Liam asks, hopeful.
“And what do you get out of this?”
“Out from under my father. I should have thought that was obvious?” Liam says, putting on an affected accent at the end of his words to try and lighten the mood.
It shouldn’t work, but it does.
I hold out my hand, and we shake on it.
“Good, I’ll be in touch soon. Keep me updated on where you plan on actually being, so I can send them the other direction,” Liam says, and I nod.
After we part ways, I have doubts the whole ride home. My mind is racing with all of the possibilities of how this is all about to go down. It could be another trap, but I have to go with my gut. I have to take my chances at success. I owe it to both Ada and myself. I can take on one boss at a time, but both at once would be a hell of a hassle.
When I arrive back at the hideout, Ada is sitting in the living room area with her bare feet up on the small oblong coffee table. She’s wearing my clothes again, even though she certainly doesn't have to anymore. Her hair is wet, braided and draped over one shoulder. She looks up at me with question filled eyes and I am struck by how stunning she is. She doesn’t attempt to run past me, there’s no longer any vitriol in her glare. She merely wants to know why I look the way that I do - beat to shit for the second outing in a row. She’s probably going to have to help clean me up again.
And yet, standing here looking at her? Whatever risk Liam poses, it’s more than worth it.
I stride over to her, unable to so much as blink before I fall heavily onto my knees in front of her. I pull the ring from my pocket, and snap open the box. Ada gasps. I don’t ask the question on the tip of my tongue, nor does she exclaim any sort of answer. But she certainly doesn’t fight me as I pull the ring out of the box and slide it onto her ring finger with a firm, almost mechanical motion.
There’s no grand proposal, no ritual question. It’s a statement, plain and simple.