Chapter 36 Maeve
Maeve
I watch in horror as a wild-eyed Kellin flattens two of Brody’s men.
He’s so fast on his feet, they can’t pin him down. And he’s a powerhouse with his legs.
Kickboxing? Martial arts? Whatever his training, they can’t seem to get near him.
Until he trips over a set of chairs and one of the goons tackles him while the other piles on top. By the time they lift him, they’ve succeeded in zip-tying his hands behind his back.
Brody approaches Kellin and punches his already broken nose. “That’s for my sister, asshole.”
I clutch Brody’s arm. “Stop! He’s had enough!”
His men shove Kellin through the door and down the back hallways used by staff and for deliveries.
I trail after them, hoping to prevent what comes next. “Brody, please listen. He didn’t touch me. He’d never hurt me. Just let him go.”
Brody whirls but gazes past me rather than at me. He whistles as if calling a dog.
What the hell?
The bald goon with the neck tattoo barrels my way. These guys literally come out of the woodwork on command, I swear.
This one hooks his beefy hand around my bicep. I yank my arm to no avail. Feigned compliance becomes my only viable choice.
“Take her to her room.” Brody spins back around to follow his men as they drag Kellin down the hall.
Bald Tat and I round the corner to an elevator.
Accompanied by my babysitter, I smash the up button and wait the longest two minutes of my life so he can escort me to my room and free up my brother to hurt Kellin.
When the doors open, we step inside, captor and hostage.
“Do you mind?” I gesture at his hand.
He releases me, and I approach the panel and press “six” for my floor. Then I pivot, knee the guy in the balls, and slip through the doors just as they’re closing.
I race back the way we came, hurrying after Kellin and Brody.
I know the Cypress better than the men in my family.
I know where they took him.
I zip left, right, left, and into the hallway off the second kitchen—the prep room—that eventually leads to the back entrance where we receive deliveries. The door to a secluded storage space sits right next to it.
Damn! I watch that door slam, my heart sinking when I realize I left my key card and purse—along with the tattered remains of my life—in the chair room.
Five excruciating minutes later, I’m in front of the storage area I use for extra dishware and linens and my father uses for torture and the like.
I pause outside the door to gauge what I’m walking into and hear my father’s voice through the metal.
“A Gallagher. You’re a fucking Gallagher.”
“You’re a fucking Gallagher. I’m a fucking Brennan.”
Even tied up, Kellin’s fighting.
“All that matters is you’re New York. Finn’s errand boy.”
“Actually, I’m an independent contractor.”
My father’s laugh scrapes my ears like sandpaper. “Well, you’re mine now. It’s about time that I won and you assholes lost. Did you really think you’d pull one over on me by getting my daughter to spread her legs?”
Rage colors Kellin’s words. “Don’t you dare talk about her like that!”
“The little whore could’ve shown better taste in men.”
A sword to my heart.
Thanks, Dad, for the kind words and vote of confidence.
I shake off what I just heard. I’m not about to let this man drive me to tears. It’s not the first time he’s called me—or any other woman in my family—a whore and probably won’t be the last. I’ve never hated my father more, though, than I do at this very minute.
Kellin growls. “I told you to stop talking about her. Don’t even say her name. You got that? This is between you and me.” An audible scuffle ensues.
I swallow a gasp. Kellin’s trying to break through the zip ties.
My father howls in response, then I hear a loud smack.
A fist connecting with a face. My father likely just punched a man who’s tied to a chair or a rafter. A man who can’t defend himself.
That’s the third punch Kellin’s weathered in half an hour.
I unlock the door and fling it open.
Dad shoots me a quick glare and just as quickly disregards me.
I was wrong. Kellin’s not tied to anything. The two guards who zip-tied him are holding him up, restraining him.
Brody hovers a little beyond my father like an obedient shadow. What else is new?
Two more goons hover behind him. They must’ve come with Dad.
I stare at Kellin.
He meets my gaze before coughing up some blood and wiping his mouth on his shoulder. “Maeve deserves better than you, Declan. If you loved her, you’d give her the hotel free and clear and take your business elsewhere.”
My chest tightens. Stupid, stupid man.
Kellin, while I appreciate the shout-out, I’m pretty sure you have bigger problems to deal with at the moment.
My father hauls off and sucker punches him in the gut.
I race up and grab the man’s wrist. “Dad, enough!”
My father whirls to shove me off, then stops. “What the hell happened to you?”
Brody skirts Dad and lunges forward. “Brennan did that.”
“No, he didn’t.” I must have dried blood and tears all over my face. When I swipe with my sleeves, the material comes away red. “I’m fine. See? There’s nothing wrong with me. This isn’t my blood.”
At a total loss, I bite my lip. Why am I even here?
I wish I could demand my dad and brother just let Kellin go. Leave him for me to deal with.
However, our family doesn’t work that way.
And I doubt anything I say will change my father’s mind.
Kellin tilts his massacred face toward me again. “Maeve, I’m so sorry. It wasn’t all a lie. It may have started that way, but things changed. You know they did.”
My father sneers. “Does she know you offed my guy?”
My lungs seize. What? Kellin…killed someone?
“Guess that’s one more thing you didn’t share.”
Brody touches my arm. “Cops found Shout’s body under the pier. I didn’t get to tell you everything on the phone.”
Shaking his head, he shoots Kellin an angry stare.
My father picks up the story from where Brody left off. “You tried to be sneaky, Brennan. But one of our cameras caught you leaving the hotel grounds around the same time as Shout and then returning alone. Conveniently, you were gone during the same window when our guy thinks he died.”
Brody folds his arms over his chest. “It’s not a coincidence, Maeve. They found the guy unarmed and buried in the sand. Beaten. Neck snapped.”
I shudder. So, I didn’t imagine that murderous gleam in Kellin’s eyes that night.
Kellin scoffs. “He wasn’t unarmed. And at least I care enough about Maeve to want to keep her safe.”
My father punches Kellin again.
“Dad, stop!” I rush to Kellin, but my father inserts himself between us, a mountain of flesh and fury intent on holding me back.
Kellin’s struggles increase, and the men grappling him grunt with the effort. “Let go of her!”
“Son, get your sister the hell out of here. Now.”
Though I try to circle past my father, Brody intercedes.
I glare at him. “Don’t you dare.”
He gently but firmly maintains a grip on my arm while steering me out of the storage-room-slash-torture chamber.
I’d run for it, except my earlier babysitter’s tailing us, so there’s no point. I doubt I’d succeed in fooling him twice.
The three of us take the back elevator up to the sixth floor.
“Please, Brody.” I’m not above begging. I know what my father is capable of. And I can’t remember the last time I saw the man this incensed. “Please, don’t let Dad kill him.”
The plea burns like acid on my tongue, and everything in me wants to pretend this isn’t happening.
But Kellin’s death has become a real possibility. My father’s killed men for less.
“What the hell, Maeve? After what he did to you, why do you care what happens to him? Plus, he killed our guy. You want to save a fucking murderer?”
“He did that for me. I realize it’s messed up and totally warped, but Shout was going to rape me. If Kellin hadn’t heard me, the man might’ve even killed me.”
Brody regards me like I’m a stranger. Probably accurate enough for all the interest he’s shown in my life since I entered my twenties. Before that, even.
I cross my arms over my chest. “What are you staring at?”
“I thought you wanted to stay away from that kind of life?” Brody’s voice is…tender.
I hate his pity.
“Look, I did. I do. I…” How do I respond when I don’t even know who I am anymore? “It’s not right, what Kellin did. But he killed a bad man. For me. He killed him for me.”
Brody laughs under his breath.
The elevator doors open on my floor. Bald Tat waits off to the side as Brody escorts me down the hall.
I clutch my brother’s sleeve. “When has Dad ever done anything to keep me safe?”
“He doesn’t know how to show his emotions, Maeve. You can’t do what he does and be soft.”
I curl my lip. “How can you defend him? You do what he does, and you’re not like him.”
At that, Brody shuts up.
Defending our father’s actions is an exercise in futility. The man has never truly cared about any of us, apart from our ability to carry on his legacy.
I’ve wondered more times than I care to count why he even had a family. Our mother was so miserable, she chose a slow march to death over all of us. Dying was her only comfort.
She hated my father more than she loved us. Whenever I reflect on her tragic life, that’s all I circle back to. In the end, no one ever chooses me.
We reach my door.
Brody’s silence infuriates me. I just want to know what he’s thinking.
“Dad only humored me with this hotel so he’d have another place for his business. It was never actually about me.”
“Listen.” Brody props both hands on my shoulders and lowers his voice. “I don’t think Dad will kill Kellin. Finn will lose his shit if he does. And even though Dad’s trying to build an empire here that rivals that of the NYC Gallaghers, he needs to play it smart. Connor won’t let Kellin die.”
“Connor hates Kellin. You saw the way he glared at him over dinner.”
“That’s just his face.”
Despite this shit show of an evening, Brody’s statement almost startles a snicker out of me. What he said, though true, is sadly not helpful.
We enter my room, and I close the door with a snap.
Brody rests against the wood. “It’s too big a risk to kill Kellin. So much wrath would rain down on us. We don’t have the money, influence, or manpower to win that battle. So, Dad won’t even start it.”
“Then what’s he doing with the guy upstairs? Won’t that stoke a war?”
“That’s different. Don’t worry. Kellin will be all right.”
I believe him, but I can’t help but wonder what kind of condition Kellin will be in when our father finishes with him.
I shiver.
In a rare moment of compassion, Brody tugs me into a hug.
I stiffen initially, as I don’t even remember the last time anyone hugged anyone in my family as a form of comfort. But then I hug him back.
“I’m sorry, sis. I…I’ll try to do better.” He pulls away and reopens the door. Back to business. “Stay in your room for the remainder of the evening. I mean it.”
I nod, and at that moment, I mean it too.
Though my silent agreement hardly matters. The only way past the guard that Brody will post in the hall is out a sixth-story window.
I’m a prisoner in my own hotel, which reminds me more and more of an armed camp.
Once he’s done delving out orders, Brody walks away from the guard, and I shut and lock my door before sagging against it.
Waiting is my only option.
Not that I really know what I’m waiting for.
I catch a glimpse of my savage appearance in the mirror on the opposite wall and grimace.
No wonder my brother lost his shit. With Kellin’s blood smeared across my lips and chin, I could probably pass for a vampire after a hearty meal.
Unrecognizable.
I’ve lost control of my life.
The only thing I do know is the one thing I can’t get myself to say out loud.
I’m definitely in love with Kellin.
So in love with him that I forgo cleaning myself up in the bathroom and crawl right into bed instead.
Where I can sleep with his sweat, his stench, his blood, and his cum all over me and inside me, because if I can’t be with him, I’ll do whatever I can to hold him to me.
If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.