CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Balor
H olding Ella’s coat, her perfume hits me in the chest. I smile, watching her take the little girl’s hand over to the snack table.
She’s going to be an amazing mother. What the hell kind of father will I be? Especially if I had a monster for one. All I have to go by is Kieran, whose twin sons are toddlers, and he can’t stop hugging and kissing them.
The kind of affection we never got growing up, only Shea-Lynne.
Ella sits across from Lia, engaging with her without getting too close. She smiles and eats the cookies, getting Lia to eat as well. Ella speaks, pointing around the room, and Lia follows her hand gestures.
“She can’t stop begging for cock, right?” Lachlan whispers to me with that deep baritone voice of his. “From the hormones and all.”
I roll my eyes, but I’m still a man with an ego to maintain. “Oh yeah.”
“I knew it.” Lachlan smacks my arm. “I didn’t see a ring on her finger.”
“I haven’t given it to her yet.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re taking it slow.”
“Not when a kid is involved. Kieran won’t allow you to—” He stops when I glare at him.
“Careful how you end that sentence. You can pummel me, but I can cut off the electricity in your house.”
“And put my wife at risk?” He stands over me.
I push him away. “Stop with that hovering. It doesn’t work on me.”
“I’m just preparing you for what I know Kieran will say. We can’t have a woman walking around Astoria pregnant with your wee-one in her belly without at least a diamond engagement ring on her hand.”
He’s not wrong. It goes against everything we stand for as far as our treatment of women.
“We’re seeing her doctor in a couple of weeks. Just to make sure everything is all right. I’d hate to make a big announcement and then disappoint people in case...”
“In case what?”
“Her home tests weren’t accurate.” As the words fall from my lips, my chest tightens at the idea she’s not really pregnant.
It confirms how much I want this.
“She’s with child. I’ve inherited Da’s knack for sure. Of all the things to inherit, right?”
“So long as you don’t hit—” I stop, flinching that I almost spilled the secret I’ve been keeping about my father.
“And when the doctor confirms, you’ll marry her?”
“Aye. I’ll ask her when we’re ready.”
“You’ve done background checks and dug into her past?” Lachlan scoffs. “Everyone’s got secrets and skeletons. Katya knows my past sins.” He looks up, his eyes blinking, like he’s running through all the people he killed.
It’s a fucking encyclopedia.
“I have all I need to know about Ella. I did more digging, however, on her ex. The prick who abused her,” I say, tasting acid on my tongue and rage in my veins.
“Yeah? Who is he? I’ll kill him after I kill her father for you.” He shrugs. “Or before. Dealer’s choice.”
“Down boy. I sent Snow to Tokyo. Shane is tracking all his coding activity and his postings to the dark web.” A thought comes to me. “What if you just torture him at the black site until he gives me the password to his online vault? We can threaten to hand him over to the FBI. ”
Even though I’m sure he fears the feral cyber community more than the Feds. They’re still recovering from his holiday stunt. That, and I’ve impregnated his daughter. I have a ton of leverage over this man.
At the same time, getting Ella pregnant and falling head over heels for her throws a wrench in any plans I have to hurt Snow. In any capacity.
“I’m not sure the level of punishment is up to you,” Lachlan says, rubbing his chin.
I wish that weren’t true, but it is. “I’ll speak to Kieran,” I say regardless.
“The ex. Give me a name. I’ll pick him up and—”
“He’s a cop, Lachlan.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “And not just any cop.”
“Who?”
“Michael Brennan.” My hands curl into tight fists of fury.
“Riordan’s informant?”
“He used his middle name with Ella. She knows him as Wesley.” I watch Ella with Lia. “There aren’t two Michael Wesley Brennans on the force. I checked the records, hoping there was. So yeah. The one and only.”
“What did he do to her?” Lachlan cracks his knuckles.
“All those tattoos you see on her arms and legs cover his sins,” I say with murderous thoughts running through me.
Never mind me, Lachlan’s neck turns that shade of red when he’s about to strike. “He’s dead.”
“Wait.”
“He can’t keep breathing.” Lachlan shrugs. “It’s simple. She’s carrying our bloodline and he hurt her. I’ll handle it with Riordan.”
If I don’t say anything, Wes will be in the morgue by sunrise. I grab Lachlan as he goes to walk away.
“Wait. Don’t say anything to Riordan yet. I don’t know if Brennan cataloged all the sins he’s helped us bury.”
Deep inside, my visceral instinct is the same as Lachlan’s, to gut the fucker. Just not if it will take down my entire family.
Seeing someone suffer on a daily basis always felt more satisfying than murder, and I have the tools to do it. I can hurt Brennan more effectively. Like putting his name on the rotation for random drug tests and then falsifying the records to keep him off the streets.
“You’re putting me in a fucked-up position. I’m already keeping your kid a secret, now this, too?”
“Let me do some surveillance on Brennan first. These guys plant tripwires, Lach. They leave instructions to third parties to deliver evidence if they wind up dead or missing.”
Lachlan thinks about this and finally nods.
“Once I know our family’s clear, then Rior can cut him loose and you can gut him,” I add, knowing that could be just as dangerous for us. “I promise.”
Lachlan pats me on the back and struts to the snack table, where a few little girls shriek in glee at the sight of him. They stand on their chairs and literally jump onto my brother’s back.
They pound on him, calling him the monster. And he threatens to eat them. He carries them, three at a time, back to the lesson area. With such gingerly grace, he lowers them in front of the ballet barre one at a time. The girls roll on the floor hysterically laughing at him.
If I didn’t see this with my own eyes, I’d never fucking believe it. But it puts a smile on my face. He’s looking forward to being a father. And to a little girl, who he’ll be gentle with, of course, but he’ll also make sure she’s a badass.
Ella works with Lia one-on-one, following Katya’s steps. Before snack time, I’d seen Lia strangling the bar and kicking her feet wildly. My Ella has the little girl focused and following the lesson, moving to the steps in perfect pace.
The metaphor strikes me. I’ve been barreling down the highway at a fast and furious speed. Ella forced me to slow down. Smell the roses. Like the ones I bought her. Thanks to her, I get to watch a little ballet rehearsal. Just breathe and live my life for me.
Measured and graceful looks better on me. Because of her.
Ella points to the ballet barre hanging on the mirror, signaling she wants to stay for the rest of the lesson.
I nod happily and take a seat on the wooden window bench to watch. I should be dissecting every keystroke her father is typing a world away. But here, watching Ella with a little girl who needs her...
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.