1. Molly
Molly
A Week Ago…
I never thought I’d see him again.
Not here .
Not like this.
I froze, my rucksack perched on my right shoulder, wondering whether I could turn back around and disappear into the packed halls of the college building behind me.
I knew it was impossible. He’d already seen me.
He was here for me .
Grady Nolan strolled casually across the street, his black leather jacket hanging casually from his broad shoulders. He prowled across the courtyard like the predator he was, his cold, dark eyes laser focused, and fixed on me.
“Molly.” His voice sent a rush of memories over me—memories of those early days, of the nights we spent together wrapped in each other’s arms. I’d thought he was my one and only—my forever—but it hadn’t taken me long to sink into the pattern my mother had excelled at modeling.
The first time Grady had hit me, I’d brushed it off as a onetime thing.
The second time, I’d blamed myself for goading him.
And the third time it was for nothing more than giving him an answer he didn’t want to hear.
Realization had finally struck me like a sledgehammer to the side of the head. This man hurt me. He’d hurt me too many times.
I was forced to run.
To get away from him.
But now he had caught up with me.
He stopped in front of me, and I caught of whiff of his cologne. Something citrusy with an undertone of ginger that always made me think of him, even after all these years. “I finally found you.”
I winced. I thought I’d done enough to stay off his radar, but I should’ve known a man like him would catch up with me eventually. Guess I really was my mother’s daughter.
“What are you doing here, Grady?” My voice trembled slightly, and I prayed he hadn’t heard the waver. The wobble. The clue that his sudden reappearance had left me shaken and unsure.
“I’ve missed you.” His eyes ate me up, lingering on my breasts and hips. “Why did you run from me, Mol?”
I pulled at the sides of my jacket, tugging them more tightly around my body. “What do you want?”
His gaze flickered to the students still trickling from the main doors of the college before it returned to my face. “Let’s talk somewhere a little quieter.”
Panic clawed at my throat. “I’d rather stay here.”
With a slight curl of his lip, he ascended the rest of the stairs and disappeared inside the building.
Indecision tore at me. Having Grady prowl through the halls unchecked was like letting a lion loose on an unsuspecting crowd. Reluctantly, I followed him and when I found him again, he was leaning against the doorway of a vacant classroom.
At the jerk of his chin, I strode inside. He shut the door and locked it behind him.
I spun around, forcing my eyes to lock on his face and not stray to my only escape. Old fears rose like bile in the back of my throat, and I choked them down. On a shaky breath, I asked, “Now we’re somewhere quiet. What do you want to say?”
His cold, vacant stare passed over my face and cruised down my body.
I folded my arms across my chest. It was the only shield in my arsenal right now.
“You know, I often wondered about you. About how you could’ve left me. I thought we had a good thing going.”
My mouth felt like a desert. “If my memory serves me correctly, you beat me whenever you felt like it. I’d hardly call that a good thing.”
His expression turned stormy, as his cold eyes swirled with malice. “You made me hurt you. I never wanted to.”
I could tell he wholeheartedly believed his words. Inhaling a shallow breath, I willed my restless heart to stop pounding so violently against the cage of my ribs. “What do you want, Grady?”
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“A favor?” I repeated incredulously. My disbelief morphed into viper-like anger in a flash of heat. “Go fuck yourself.”
His gaze turned predatory. “I’d watch what I say if I were you, Molly.”
“You’re threatening me, Grady? There’s nothing you could do or say that would make me change my mind about you. I made the mistake of trusting you once and it nearly cost me my life. There’s no way in hell I’d make that mistake again.”
“Nothing? Are you sure about that, baby? Are you forgetting I know about what happened between you and your stepfather? You don’t want me to share that with the Gard, do you?”
An involuntary shiver went down my spine, and my words came out as a whisper. “You promised you would never tell.”
“I also told you I loved you.” He shrugged. “I guess I lied.”
“And if I say no?”
“If you don’t want to rot in jail for the rest of your life, you won’t say no.”
Anger bubbled under my skin. Fuck him for using that piece of shit’s death against me. “It was self-defense.”
He flashed a smug smile, one that said I was being na?ve, and my hand instinctively curled into a fist. “No judge would believe you, especially with the way you killed him. That shit was personal. You beat him so thoroughly there was nothing but splintered bone and brains left. You broke his hands. Sliced off his dick?—”
“Stop,” I cut him off with a whimper, my stomach turning.
Memories from that night banged against the door of my subconscious, demanding to be let out.
Mentally, I chained down those images tighter and let out a deep breath.
What I’d done hadn’t been a choice. It had been Brian’s decision the moment he snuck into my little sister’s bedroom.
Fingertips grazed my cheek, and I drew back sharply, the spark of recognition crawling across my skin.
“You did what you had to do, baby,” Grady whispered, his tone far gentler than I’d heard it before.
I stared at him, trying to find the man I’d once trusted with my heart. “I didn’t have a choice then, but I have a choice now, and I won’t do a damned thing for you, Grady.”
Like a light switch being flipped, his demeanor changed. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone, tapping the screen a few times before he turned it to face me.
My stomach soured further as bile bubbled up.
On his phone screen was a picture of my sister.
I hadn’t seen her in years, but there was no doubting it was Orla.
The photo had been taken from behind as she walked to school.
If there was any doubt in my mind about whether it was really her, the patch sewed onto her rucksack eliminated it.
My whole body shook.
“You see, Molly, I think you should reconsider your answer. I know everything there is to know about you, including the location of your sister and mother in Dublin. You were your mother’s only support and with you gone, she fell back to her old tricks.”
I shook my head; I couldn’t believe that. I’d cut all ties to my family after I killed Brian, and my mam didn’t know where I was or what I was doing. All she knew was money was sent in the mail, meant for Orla.
“She wouldn’t.”
Grady shrugged. “Mamma’s got to pay the bills somehow, I guess.” He turned his attention back to his phone, sliding his finger across the screen a few more times before turning it back for me to see.
This time, an audible gasp left me. It was a photo of my mother, standing on a street corner, soliciting for sex.
She looked thinner, more worn out. Her skirt was short and torn a little at the back.
Her top was skimpy, showing off the bones of her ribs as she stuck out her chest and worked for a euro.
He held my gaze. “It’s a pity the money isn’t getting to her.”
“You’re—you’re—” I couldn’t finish my thought as anger burned through me. “You’re stealing the money I’ve been sending them?”
He had the audacity to shrug, his eyes growing colder. “Life’s tough sometimes, babe.”
“You’re an arsehole,” I hissed. “That money was for my sister. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Making sure you cooperate,” he replied. “So before you tell me to go fuck myself again, you should know I have men always following them both. They’re watching your sister brush her hair in the morning. As she picks out her clothes. And as she sleeps peacefully in her bed.”
My blood turned molten. “If you so much as touch a hair on her head,” I growled in warning. “What I did to Brian will look like a fucking picnic.”
A satisfied smirk graced his lips. “There’s my killer,” he cooed. “I’m glad to see you’re taking me seriously now. You want me to call them off? All you have to do is what I’ve asked.”
I weighed up my options, but the truth of the matter was I didn’t have any. I was stuck between helping Grady or being exposed for my crimes and jeopardizing the safety of my sister and mother.
“If I agree, the surveillance stops?”
“You have my word.”
“No offense, Grady, but your word doesn’t mean shit.”
He laughed in dark mockery. “Oh, I know, Molly. And before you think you can simply tell them about their shadows, think again. If I so much as get a hint that they’re aware of their new friends, I’ll give the kill order.”
I wasn’t willing to risk it. They were the only family I had left. As much as I hated it, I was stuck. “If I do this, do you promise to remove the men and leave them and me alone?”
“Of course.”
I knew when there was no choice—no other option. With a resigned sigh, I asked, “What do I have to do?”
He smiled, smug at knowing he had me where he wanted. Reaching into his pocket, he dug out something small, then handed it to me.
Uncurling my fingers, I saw it was a bullet with a name etched in the side. Holy shit, I couldn’t get tangled up in this.
I knew exactly what it meant. What it implied. Worse, I knew what would happen to me if I was caught. Twisting the metal cylinder in my fingers, I read the name.
“I want you to deliver it.”
“To Finnan?”
Grady nodded. “Finnan Quinn.”
My eyes darted to his face. “The boss of the Mac Tíre Clan? Why?”
“We have our reasons.”
“ We ? I thought this was something you wanted.”
“It is. And so does my clan.”
I shook my head, trying to keep up with the conversation. “Your clan? You don’t have a clan.”
The edge of his mouth tilted up in a parody of a smile. “I’m a Sentinel of the Fiach Clan.”
“But you said your cousin would never let you join.”
All civility dropped from his face. “And you said you would never leave me.”
I stared at the bullet in my hand. “If I do this, will we be even?”
“Oh, Molly, we will never be even. How could we be when you broke my dark fucking heart?”