CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Balor
B y the usual looks I get from Kieran and Riordan at the Thursday meeting, I relax, knowing Lachlan didn’t blab about Ella being pregnant.
Eoghan sends a quirky smile my way and sits back, crossing an ankle over his knees with a wink, like he’s ready to ask for popcorn when I make my announcement.
Motherfucker.
As if he has anything to jeer about after the fucking disaster he created in Las Vegas because of Jillian.
Kieran ends his call, and the meeting begins. Lachlan once again boasts about his rather gruesome black site kill last night, making my stomach queasy for the first time in a very long time.
Is Ella pulling my center away from this crazy life?
I breathe in and out until Kieran asks me for an update. I report the progress I made with the drone weapon testing using the custom chips.
I used Lachlan’s house to launch a few prototype drones since he lives on Astoria Harbor. I flew them up and down the tributary to test speed and agility.
Ella came with me. She and Katya seem to be getting friendly. It sparks warmth in my chest knowing she’s comfortable with my family. Heck, if she can handle Lachlan without passing out and Eoghan yelling at her, she can handle anything.
“Is that all, Balor?” Lachlan asks, practically stifling a laugh.
“What the fuck is so funny, Lachlan?” I bark.
“Nothing.” He turns icy.
“What’s going on between you two?” Kieran asks, looking from me to Lachlan like a peacekeeper.
Dragging this out is wrecking me. It’s not that I got a woman I’m falling for pregnant. It’s the unfortunate baggage she comes with. And none of it is her fault.
“Ella is pregnant,” I say, just to get it out there.
“Congratulations.” Kieran sits back. “When are you marrying her?”
Except that...
I exhale. “We’re...figuring that out.”
“I would figure that out soon. We don’t have babies in sin , I heard Ewan say once.” Kieran lets out a soft chuckle, mimicking his best friend.
“She’s my assistant. That makes things sensitive. Plus, her father...”
“Aww, fuck, Snow. That’s right,” Riordan says, shaking his head.
“I wasn’t on board with killing him.” I slide a glance at Lachlan. “I have the means to keep people in line without burying them six feet under. And with this new...”
“We won’t kill him,” Kieran gives the order. “He’s going to be family. And like you said, his attack wasn’t personal against us.”
“How is your audit on him going?” Eoghan asks, his elbows now on his knees.
“He’s done the work I’ve asked him to do.” Well, I hope he has. “When it all comes out, I plan to tell him that I know the global attack was him and demand the ransomware code he used as assurance.” I stare at each of my brothers. “He knows who we are. He knows what we can do to him.”
“And if not, then I’ll bring him to Dunbar Valley to change his mind,” Lachlan warns.
“I can live with that, ” Kieran says, nodding to Lachlan.
“I’m trying to get this woman to marry me, you brats. Do not ever fucking say any of this to her. Do you understand?” My eyes fly to Eoghan. “And do not say anything to Jillian. These women... They look out for each other.”
I consider the pack of she-wolves I had to impress two weeks ago.
“It’s sensitive all right,” Kieran says.
“Do you love her, Bale?” Riordan asks.
I sit back and throw a hand over my mouth. Love wasn’t part of the plan with many of their marriages. In that respect, I’m not an anomaly.
Her father is just one hell of an albatross hanging around my neck.
“Well, do you, Bale?” Eoghan asks, sounding sincere and eager to hear my answer.
“I’m crazy about her. We have a good thing going right now. I like her in my bed. I like waking up next to her. She takes care of me. I fucking love that. She doesn’t want anything from me, and I respect the hell out of her for being strong. She’s staying with me in the townhouse while her father is in Tokyo. She also...” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’m treading lightly because of the abusive ex.”
Do not say his name, Lachlan!
“Have you figured out who he is?” Lachlan asks instead in a voice that sounds alien.
Christ, he’s a terrible actor, but no one picks up on it.
“I’m handling it. It’s been almost eight months since she’s seen him. It’s why she’s hesitant about our relationship. She wants to take things slow. So do I. I want to make sure she actually loves me first.” I hold my breath. “And we’ll get married when we want to, okay?”
I direct my pushback and faint hope for a blessing mostly at Kieran.
He gives a curt nod. “Keep me posted on your relationship with her. Any woman we open our homes, hearts, and beds to is a potential risk.”
“I get that,” I say quickly. “Remember, I’m the one you’ve all been calling these past two years to delete your shit from public cameras, change shit on websites, hack into gynecologist records...” I kick Eoghan and yell to get my point across “I did it all because I understand the risk.”
No one dares to yell back at me.
We finish the meeting and by the time I leave, everything feels normal. But when I head to my car. I find Lachlan leaning against it.
Here we go...
“You seriously need to tell Riordan about Brennan.”
“I know, Lachlan.”
“This cop knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak.” He means the black site, which I’ve often seen guarded by an unmarked cop car.
I never asked questions because paying off the police isn’t my responsibility. Just hacking into their computers when needed.
“I say we just end the fucker right now. Bring him to the black site, I’ll get him to admit if he’s got that tripwire you were talking about. I do this all the time, Balor. Dead men in shallow graves don’t snitch.” His deep jagged-sounding voice speaks to who he really is—the man I’m not sure his wife sees. “Riordan found Brennan, he’ll find someone else. Only we’re indispensable, Balor.”
Shaking my head, I blame myself for not vetting Michael Brennan’s police record deeper when Riordan brought him up. I don’t even remember off the top of my head when Riordan made contact with him. That kind of stuff is so far in the background compared to my computer work.
“If his last breath is on us...” I stick my finger in Lachlan’s massive chest. “I end him.”
I give Denton the rest of the afternoon off and get into my car. I want to drive myself, but instead of going to the command center, I head straight to Ella’s school.
I get there and park the Rivian. The weather still brisk, I pull on a jacket when I see Ella in the playground with a little boy, something I want to see better up close. She mentioned Jory, the student she’s assigned to as a special education aide. Watching her with kids is my new favorite pastime. She’s so gentle. So patient. So loving.
I never thought about having kids. The trauma of witnessing Da beat our mother burrowed into me like barbwire, and my hang-up of only wanting to bang escorts was born. All ideas of relationships and a family were dismissed. How stupid of me to think love wouldn’t find me.
Fate put Ella on that plane. Opened the floodgates for me to act on the feelings I never let go of after our first night together. Her father is just a damn thorn in my side because I don’t really know him. Or what he’s capable of if cornered. Was the Christmas Ransomware Virus just a tease of what he can really do?
He hid his background under a shatterproof veil. Once I confront him, he has to come clean.
With my eyes on Ella and Jory, I walk right into the roughly textured bars of the school’s wrought iron fencing, and it knocks me out of my thoughts. I step back and laugh at myself. I’m obsessed with the mother of my child.
Now I get what Eoghan went through last year.
Movement across the courtyard catches my attention.
Several other people gather on the side closest to the school’s entrance. I assume they’re parents and not sure why someone would be leering from all the way over...
My blood runs cold in my veins as my gaze sharpens. It’s a man, and from what I can tell he’s staring at Ella. Or Jory?
Is that the boy’s father ?
Taking out my phone, I snap a photo. Zooming in, I shoot it through my facial recognition app.
When it pings, I want to throw up.
Michael Wesley Brennan
My feet move before I tell them to.
I end him...
A threat from Ella’s past was easy to brush off considering his involvement with Riordan. Something I didn’t think I’d have to face. God, was I wrong. Here he is, watching Ella. My Ella. The mother of my fucking child. And it ignites a fury that will rage out of control.
I hike toward him, not sure what I’ll do. My gun is in the car, per the school’s firearms rules. Brennan is tall and looks thick and husky. But I’m strong with power and muscles from my martial arts training. Most people don’t realize that I can do a lot of damage.
Brennan turns his gaze to me, and a flicker of recognition flashes across his face.
He knows who I am. Good, but it’s not likely he knows why I’m heading toward him clenching my fists, looking like I’m ready to choke him. Instead of confronting me, he ducks into a dark-colored sedan and peels away.
I spin around to see if Ella noticed, but she’s already back inside the school.