Chapter 21
AIDEN
Cian waits in my office, but he’s not alone.
Four familiar faces now surround his spot behind my desk.
He pauses in lifting a tall glass of water to his lips, drinks, then wipes his mouth and places the glass down.
“There he is. And this must be the lucky lady. Come closer so I can get a good look at the woman who finally got Aiden to settle down. You must be quite the catch.”
Catriona is moving to the desk before I can prompt her, and despite the tension simmering in my body, I find myself reluctantly impressed.
I can tell by the rigidity of her spine that she’s not oblivious to the danger we’re in, but that fucking self-control she projects is in full force.
She takes a seat in the space across from Cian, and I follow like I’m magnetized to her movements.
The thought of her near him sets my teeth on edge, so I don’t sit.
She doesn’t say a word, and he makes a scoffing sound at the back of his throat. With a careless wave of his fingertips, Niall Cleary breaks from the line of men at Cian’s back and comes to a stop by Cian’s elbow, where he hands Cian a phone.
“Yes, I can see why Aiden’s been making a fool of himself.
” He doesn’t wait for me to respond. Instead, he tosses the phone on the counter between us.
On it is the video from the reception. Catriona slaps me over and over again.
“Niall brought this to my attention a few days ago. Not the sort of image we like to project, is it, Aiden? In fact, I’m wondering what the point is of attaching ourselves to Senator Gallagher at all if this is the sort of press that results from it. ”
My stomach burns as I move closer to Catriona’s chair and brace my hands on the back. “I’ve handled it.”
Cian gives me a wry smile. “I have no doubt that you’ll try, but I know a thing or two about dealing with a willful wife.
They require a strong hand. In fact, everything I’ve learned about your Catriona reminds me so much of your mother.
Same fighting spirit. I understand the appeal.
However, I’m afraid our organization can’t support this marriage if your wife doesn’t understand what it means to be a part of this family. ”
I say nothing, knowing he’s already decided what he wants.
In front of me, Catriona jolts, but wisely doesn’t say whatever scathing retort she’s conjured.
Cian doesn’t give a fuck about what my wife does.
It’s a thin justification, and we both know it.
He wants to take advantage of whatever excuse he can to back me into a corner.
Niall, who has always been jealous of the fact that Cian consistently chooses to place his focus on me, never backs down from an opportunity to knock me down.
The cruel line of his mouth hardens even more as he unabashedly drinks in Catriona’s figure.
No matter how many times I’ve offered to get rid of him and save Mara the trouble, she’s brushed me off. I regret listening to her now more than ever.
Catriona must feel him ogling her, but she doesn’t move an inch. She’s as cold as ice. Cian must notice her unnatural calm. If it rattles him, he keeps it from showing on his face. If nothing else, her lack of response sharpens his attention.
Cian softens his threats with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Normally, we’d arrange for a potential wife to travel to Ireland to meet with the family, obtain the approval from the Clans.
Celebrate.” His gaze drills into mine. “But since you’ve decided to do things out of order, without our approval, you’ve left me no choice but to come to you. ”
“Congratulations, by the way,” Niall says with a sneer. “We hate that we missed the party. When Cian told me, I couldn’t say no to his invitation to tell you in person.”
Unease twines my guts into knots. I’d hoped I’d be the one to tell Cian the news.
Catch him off guard. But someone had beaten me to it.
I study the other men in the room, realizing I’ve been so focused on Cian, I haven’t paid any attention to the other three newcomers.
Aside from Niall, the three others are older, harder.
But they’re also heads of the top Clans in the organization.
Everything inside me turns cold.
Cian contemplates Catriona mildly before studying me.
“Your wife is too strong-willed. Defiant. Though you knew that when she forced you to marry her. She needs to be broken. To understand who she belongs to. You’ll show me she knows her place tonight, or there’s no way she’ll be accepted.
I could say no outright. Make you deal with this situation you’ve created.
But I’m willing to give you a chance for you both to show me where your loyalties lie. ”
“And how do you propose we do that? Follow you back to Ireland early for a vote?”
Niall snorts. “You wish it could be that simple, don’t you?”
“Quiet,” Cian barks. It’s subtle, but Catriona flinches. My hands twitch where they grip the chair. The three other representatives are guys who clawed their way to the top after I was essentially exiled, so I’m less familiar with them than I am with Niall, and that doesn’t make me feel any better.
“This is exactly why marriages are carefully orchestrated. Why I’ve never chosen a wife for you. It requires a delicate hand. Careful thought. One disrespectful spouse can upset the balance.”
I bite my tongue until I taste blood to keep from telling him to get to the fucking point.
“You’ll show me she knows her place tonight, or I will intervene.
Traditionally, this would entail two of the highest-ranking family members watching the consummation on the wedding night.
Back then, it was about lineage and virginity.
Neither of which is my concern. What is my concern is your Gallagher bitch knows she wears a Lynch collar. ”
“You want to watch me fuck my wife?”
Cian’s smile is as sharp as the crack of a whip. I swear I can feel its lashes as though they’re striking my skin. “I consider that a bonus. What I want is her obedience.”
When I speak, my voice is low, controlled. But the anger rising inside me is anything but. “That’s not going to fucking happen.”
Cian doesn’t seem surprised, only disappointed.
“I had a feeling you’d say that.” He gestures to Niall, who pushes a box across the desk.
Something simple you’d wrap a gift in. Like jewelry.
Apprehension twists inside my chest, slithery and cold.
“Open it,” he orders Catriona. “I think you’ll find its contents motivation enough.
Tonight, Aiden. Or you’ll live with the consequences. This isn’t negotiable, son.”
I stare at the box for a full five minutes before Catriona reaches for it.
I jerk it from her grasp, knowing somehow, I want to protect her from whatever’s inside.
The bloody contents tumble from inside it, thud onto the desk, and roll to a stop between us.
There’s a heartbeat of silence before I snatch it up and shove it back inside, closing the lid so I don’t have to see it again.
My eyes lift to Cian’s. “I’ll leave you to… discuss. You have ten minutes. Then I want your answer.”
After they leave, I begin pacing.
Catriona tries to follow, but I can’t look at her, let alone ask her to do something like this. I may be e a monster, but she’s where I draw the line.
“Are you really going to make me fucking chase you down after that?” she storms after me, huffing as she stalks me around the office.
“Please, Catriona. Give me a second.” There’s something inside my skin trying to get out. I want to run. I want to confront Cian and slit his fucking throat. Bathe in his blood. Make him choke on his own fucking dick.
But I can’t.
I can’t.
I can’t.
I can’t.
My mother. Everything I do affects her.
And everything I don’t do.
Christ. Now the same consequences apply to Catriona.
I can’t fucking win, no matter what I do.
“Tell me what the fuck that was, O’Connor?
You better start explaining right fucking now.
” The words come at me like knives I can’t dodge.
I’d leave if I could. Find some bodies to rip into.
But I can’t leave her here. Not when I know Cian’s right outside.
Not when he’s got me by the throat and the balls.
I feel caged, trapped. Like the walls are going to close in around me.
I turn and walk away. She grabs my hand and jerks me to a stop at the top of the stairs. “Stop walking away from me. Tell me what’s going on. Who does that…belong to?”
“You already know who it belongs to.”
“Then why won’t you look at me.”
“I said to drop it. This isn’t your business.” I shake off her hold and jerk away, shoving myself in the direction of the exit. A mistake, considering this is the last fucking place I want to be.
“I’m your wife,” she says, stalking after me. “I’m making it my business. And you’re supposed to tell me, anyway. So explain.”
“Just drop it. I’ll have Bren and Tadhg come up to keep an eye on you while I take care of this. I’ll meet you at home later.” When I try to move around her, she uses her weight and the momentum to shove me against a wall.
I scowl down at her, fisting my hands at my side. “You done?”
“Not until you tell me.”
The box I’m holding in my chest can’t weigh more than a few ounces, but it feels like it contains an anvil.
I shove it at her, then push away, unable to watch.
Afraid that if I do, it’ll make me sick.
She makes a surprised sound in the back of her throat, followed by cardboard rasping against itself as she pulls it open.
Her gasp feels like a shard of glass is sawing through my chest, leaving it raw and gaping.
If it had been anyone else, if I’d married her sister like I’d planned, I don’t think it would have hit me as hard as it does.
I would have been able to keep the way this makes me feel under lock and key like I’ve done for most of my life.
But because it’s Catriona, fierce, strong, sweet Catriona, I feel it a thousand times worse. She cracks me open with just one look. Confusion. Empathy. Outrage.
“Tell me.” She pauses to clear her throat when her voice cuts out mid-word. “Tell me the truth.”
I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, muscles tense from waiting to hear her scream.
It’d be easy to lie to her. To tell her it’s someone who doesn’t matter to me, but I can’t force the words out of my mouth.
Not when I want her to see me as something other than the monster I’ve become.
“It’s my mother’s.” I whisper the words so low, I’m certain she can’t hear them until she gasps and crosses the room to me in a few quick strides.
She cups my jaw in her hand and lifts it until my gaze meets hers. “What the fuck?” she whispers. “Is she…?”
My eyes drop back down to the bloodstained box she drops to the table.
At the sight of the severed ring finger, still bearing a wedding band and a five-carat diamond ring.
She’d never been able to take it off after my father died, no matter how much Cian punished her.
He’d never force her to do it, because that would ruin the point.
Cian’s always been more interested in slowly breaking his targets than dominating them.
It’s why he hasn’t given up on me, even after all these years.
His success, if it were to ever happen, would be all the sweeter because in his eyes, he would have earned it.
But every time he does something like this, I wonder if he’s getting just that much closer.
“You heard him. If we don’t consummate this marriage with his men as witnesses, he’ll kill her.”
I expect her to shout in outrage. To scream at me. To flee as fast as she can in the opposite direction. Knowing it as sure as I do my name, I brace myself for her shouted recriminations.
“Does he want us to do it here or somewhere else?”
My head snaps up. “What?”
“Here?” she repeats slowly, but not unkindly. “Or somewhere else.”
Brows pinching together, I clear my throat. “H-here, probably. Now.”
“Fine,” she says, and I jerk back like I just received a blow.
“Fine?”
“That,” she says, pointing at the box on the table, “is a warning, right?”
“Yes,” I punch out.
She draws in a long breath. “Then fine. I’ll do it.”