Chapter 34 Arro
ARRO
Thane kindly allowed me to take over the office at the front of his house while I stayed with them.
The windows in my bungalow were standard size, so Lachlan had pulled in a favor with a company to get new ones fitted at the beginning of next week.
He’d already sent in decorators to repaint my walls and his flooring guy to rip up the ruined planks and replace the hallway flooring.
There would be no remnants of what happened to Mac, and as always, I was thankful for my eldest brother’s efficiency.
And as much as I loved my family and enjoyed being around the kids, I was looking forward to returning home. Mac would be home with me by then. We needed to pack up and move his stuff.
Was it too soon to ask him about building a house in Caelmore?
Since the shooting, I’d had to fight the urge to fill our lives with everything we wanted right away.
The panic hadn’t receded. I didn’t know if it would until Kilmany and Bankman were sentenced.
Or even then. It was like this agitation that kept kicking my heart rate up every time I didn’t have work or something else to distract me.
I needed Mackennon home. That would surely help.
My phone beeped by the computer I stared at dazedly. Flipping it over, I opened a text from Marcello.
Meet me at the new site. We need to talk. I’ll be in the Portakabin.
We hadn’t even started work at the new site. Confused, I texted back.
Is everything all right?
Minor emergency. No need to panic. Just need your help.
I sighed. Well, I could use a distraction.
On my way.
Grabbing my purse, I threw in everything I needed before striding into the kitchen to where I’d left my car keys.
Regan was already in there, emptying the dishwasher. “Hey, I was just about to come in and ask if you wanted another coffee?”
I shook my head as I grabbed my keys off the island. “Marcello texted, and he needs me at the new site at Fearnmore. It’s not far, so I won’t be long. Do you want me to pop by Morag’s, grab us a sandwich for lunch?”
“Oh, yeah, please. I like her chicken salad wraps.”
“No problem. See you in a bit.”
A few minutes later, I swung out of Thane’s driveway, looking back at the land along the coast and thinking of a future home there with Mac.
Would he be as comfortable living next to his daughter as I was living next to my brothers?
Hmm. Maybe we could build a little farther down the coast for more privacy if it was an issue.
Stop planning Mackennon’s future without him, I admonished as I drove down the country lane toward the main road.
Fearnmore Forest was about thirty minutes west of Caelmore, and I used that time to think about Mac coming home.
When I called him this morning, he said the nurse mentioned the possibility of him being discharged today.
Hopefully, my visit this evening would turn into a pickup.
I knew he was restless in that hospital bed, and his wounds this time around were actually less severe than the stab wounds had been.
The thought of how much he’d suffered in the last year made me shudder.
Nothing else was going to happen to that man.
He was mine to protect now.
My hands tightened around the wheel at the mere thought of anyone trying to hurt him.
Ten of those thirty minutes to Fearnmore were taken up by the single-track road all the way to the site.
It was a devil to deal with for our larger vehicles because it had some fierce bends.
I’d been granted permission from the Highland Council to bring the vehicles in down a straight single-track road to the west of the woods and create a new road in from there.
We were set to start work on that at week’s end, so for now, I was stuck with the old road to where we’d begun setting up the site.
Finally, I pulled into the clearing where we’d already built our modular cabin. We’d brought it in pieces on smaller vehicles before building it on site.
The car parked outside of it wasn’t Marcello’s.
What on earth was going on?
I hoped what Marcello had to tell me wasn’t anything too dramatic. I’d had enough drama to last me a lifetime.
Crossing the yard, muddy from last night’s rainfall, I hurried up the cabin steps and burst in. “I hope this—”
I froze. Everything in me froze.
Written across the back wall of the cabin in what looked like dripping blood:
You were once so very dear to me
But now so very dead to me
The note Lachlan received from Lucy and Fergus, along with a deer’s carcass at Ardnoch last year.
It hadn’t been Lee Kilmany tormenting me.
I whipped around to run from the cabin and a scream choked in my throat at the sight of the man standing in the doorway.
Everything in me recoiled in horror.
Guy Lewis, my bastard ex-boyfriend, sneered as he stepped inside and slammed the door shut behind him. I watched as he turned the lock and I stepped back, eyes darting everywhere for an escape, a weapon, anything.
“You know, I didn’t think this day would come,” Guy said conversationally as he followed me in. “When I started sending the notes, I honestly didn’t think you would take it that seriously. But of course, I underestimated your protective big brothers and that arsehole Galbraith.”
He had sent the notes.
Robyn had been right.
“Why?” I asked, even though I couldn’t give a shit what his excuses were for tormenting me. The psychopath.
I needed to stall while I tried to think. Think.
I’d left my phone in the car.
What a moron!
“Why?” Guy stopped, staring at me like I was a moron too. “Your brother ruined me, Arro. For fucking around with his precious sister, he ruined my reputation. No good restaurant in this country will have me.”
“Then why stay?”
“That’s not the point,” he snarled. “He fucking ruined my life because I dated his sister. Where’s the justice in that?”
“We both know that’s not why. And like I said, you could have returned to Australia.”
“That’s not the point!” he repeated furiously.
Something dawned on me. “You can’t go home, can you? What happened, Guy? You make too much of a habit of beating up women whose families want to kill you for it, and now home is no longer an option?”
“You know nothing!” he spat. “I won’t be chased out of an entire country because of a piece of snatch!”
I flinched at the word, glowering back at him. Fear thrummed through my blood, my heart, my body trembling with it, but like hell would I let him see. “You’re a coward who beat me up for no good reason. It’s not my fault you pissed off Lachlan because you beat on his sister.”
The punch was so quick, I had no time to move or block it.
Pain exploded across my face and then my back. Ringing filled my ears, and it took a second for a sense of reality to return. Cheekbone and eye throbbing, I looked up from where I was now sprawled on the floor beside Marcello’s desk. My lower back ached where it had hit the desk corner.
I glared up at Guy as he loomed over me, and I forced myself back to my feet as the room spun, my hands searching the desk behind me for any weapon.
“You know my dad was a brute,” Guy said.
“He used to smack us around for the slightest thing. I vowed never to be like him, that I’d let the small stuff go.
But the big stuff … I just can’t let that shit go.
” Guy studied me, his expression filled with hate.
“I loved you, Arrochar. I loved you from the moment I saw you. Why couldn’t you love me back? ”
Before I could think of an answer that might calm him, he continued, “And I almost felt bad about what happened between us that night of the ceilidh. I thought maybe I was imagining this thing between you and Galbraith. Even after Lachlan fucked up my entire career, there was a small part of me that wondered if I’d deserved it for hurting you like that.
“But the voice in the back of my head kept telling me you were a slut, and you deserved so much worse than what I did to you that night. And I was right.” He grinned maliciously. “I mean, I tell you, when I asked Duncan to leave those notes, I thought maybe I was overreacting—”
“Duncan?” Wait? What?
“Oh, yeah, didn’t you know? I have family in Scotland. Marcello’s assistant is my second cousin. He thinks you’re a cunt, too, by the way. Happy to help me. Stole Marcello’s phone this morning so he could text you to come here.”
Shock froze me again.
“He was also the one who told me you’ve been fucking Galbraith, and that I was right all along.
Vindicated!” he roared, and I recoiled. “But Duncan was worried because you were never alone, that dirty bastard Galbraith watching you every second. So I told him to pull back. But then he told me you two were public now. You stood there that night and told me that my jealousy was all in my head, but it wasn’t, was it?
You’ve been spreading for Galbraith for years. ”
“Wrong,” I snapped. “I never cheated on you.”
“Right,” he huffed.
“I don’t cheat,” I said, and it was probably foolish, but my hatred took over as I sneered, “But if Mackennon had crooked his finger at me, I would have dumped you in a heartbeat.”
Guy bared his teeth and lunged.
And I brought my knee right up between his legs as hard as I could, my shriek of outrage filling the cabin.
Guy bellowed in agony as he crumpled to his knees, and I skirted around him for the door.
However, a hard tug on my ankle brought me crashing to the floor, my chin jarring off the floor.
Pain ricocheted through my head, but I fought through it as Guy’s hand climbed higher on my calf, attempting to pull me to him.
With a shake of my leg, I loosened his grip long enough to turn to face him. He was purple with rage.
I drew back my right knee to my chest and drove my foot down to his face, smashing it hard into him. He howled in pain, collapsing off me, and I stumbled onto my feet. Guy grabbed my ankle with a bestial roar, and I shook him loose, kicking him in the head again.
Adrenaline charged through me as I hurried to unlock the door, curse words falling from my panicked lips as I yanked it open and ran down the cabin steps, almost tripping as I hurried toward my Defender.
Weight slammed into my back, shoving me into the front of my car, my breath momentarily stolen as Guy imprisoned me with his body.
He gripped my hair painfully, yanking my head back to murmur in my ear, “When I heard someone shot Galbraith, I knew this was my chance. My only chance to get at you, to punish you. I was going to kill you, Arro. Blunt trauma to the head, or choke you, maybe, whatever seemed right in the moment. Got all the cleaning supplies in my trunk to wipe everything in that cabin clean just in case you pissed me off and it got a little messy. Well, you pissed me off, gorgeous.” He pushed his hips into me, and I was nauseated at the feel of his arousal.
“And actually, I think I’m going to teach a lesson a little slut like you needs … and then I’ll kill you.
“In fact”—he licked my throat as his hands dropped to my hips, and I gritted my teeth as I squirmed, trying to find a break in his hold—“I might even choke you to death while I’m fucking you.”
“Arrrgh!” I shrieked, snapping my head back into his, feeling the throb of his chin crack off my skull.
He stumbled back, loosening his grip just enough to give me room to slam my elbow into his gut.
With another scream of fury, I twisted around with a jump and backhanded his face with the force of my momentum.
He stumbled, hitting the ground, and I ran around the car, hauling myself into the driver’s seat.
As I switched on the engine, Guy staggered back to his feet.
I revved the car as he swiped blood from his nose, and then I reversed, trying to find space to swing the car around so I could race out of there.
He marched menacingly toward my car, determination and murder etched into his features.
I threw the car back into drive, yanking the wheel to turn it as I stepped on the accelerator. The SUV jolted forward on a turn, clipping Guy hard enough to send him crashing into his own car.
He slumped to the ground.
I waited.
There was no movement. His eyes were closed, blood trickling from his nose and mouth.
I got out of my vehicle just in time to vomit up everything inside me.
The sound of engines sent renewed fear through me, and I glanced beyond the car to see two black Range Rovers careening onto the site.
A sob of relief burst from me as Lachlan jumped out of the first SUV. Running to him, I threw myself into his arms and clung to him like he could make the last thirty minutes disappear.
“You’re okay.” Lachlan held me hard. “I’ve got you, you’re okay.
” Over my head, I heard him order, “Check that fucker for a pulse. And someone call an ambulance.” To me he whispered, “The police are already on their way, sweetheart. Regan told us where you were. You’re okay now.
But you have to tell me if you’re hurt, Arro. ”
I hurt everywhere.
But mostly my soul ached for what I’d just been forced to do to another human being.
“Arro? Talk to me, sweetheart. Arro? Arro?”