8. Rory
8
RORY
The phone rings three times before a breathless voice answers.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“It’s your brother.”
“Rory? How did you get this number?”
“Don’t worry about it. I just need to know where you are. If you’re safe.”
“Of course, I’m safe! Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because Father says you were kidnapped and has done something stupid.”
“Oh, God. Is Lara okay?”
“Just listen to me. I need you to explain what the hell is going on. And in detail.”
Bree takes a deep breath. “Okay, so months ago, Declan kidnapped me. I was never harmed or hurt in any way. And eventually, Declan and I fell in love. And now we’re married, and I’m happy, and I’m pregnant.”
“By Declan Burke.”
“Yes! I know it’s complicated, but I?—”
“And you didn’t tell me any of this?”
“How long has it been since you wanted to know about me? Before I was taken, you were always busy! Every time I called, you had somewhere to be. Something to do.”
I huff out a breath, but she’s right. I have been busy, and I haven’t wanted to know what crazy shit has been going on in Chicago in my absence.
“Rory, if you know where Lara is?—”
“I have to go.” I’m not sure what to reveal to her, so I say nothing. “But I’m happy you’re safe.”
I hang up the phone, and it starts to ring immediately, but I ignore it.
“See?” Lara says a bit smugly, and I can’t help but smile a little. “So, now you can let me go.”
I scoff. “I can’t let you go.”
Her green eyes widen. “What?”
“My father isn’t going to give up. We can’t extricate ourselves from this without some thought,” I hiss, not wanting Oscar to hear me.
“But your sister is safe! She’s happy!”
“I know,” I say quietly. “But there’s no way my father is going to believe that. And even if he does, he isn’t going to let you go without a fight. He’s stubborn.”
I stand up, taking Lara by the arm, and she tries to wrench away from me, but I hold her tight.
“Back to the room,” I say, and she starts to yell.
She’s a fighter, I can give her that, because she tries to snap her even teeth on my arm.
I finally pick her up around her waist, throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her the few steps back into the room.
“You need help, Rory?” Oscar calls, and Lara screeches.
I yell over her screams, “No. I’ve got this!”
I shut and lock the door behind me.
Lara scrambles up into a sitting position, back against the window. “What are you going to do to me?”
I groan inwardly. “Nothing. I’m not going to hurt a hair on your head.”
“Then why aren’t you letting me go? You know Bree’s safe.”
“I already told you. My father wouldn’t allow it,” I point out, and she barks out a laugh.
“As if you’d let me go even if he did.”
“Look, here’s the deal,” I say quietly. “You don’t trust me. I don’t trust you.”
“That’s pointing out the obvious.”
She’s funny, I’ll give her that.
And pretty, if I’m honest.
Usually, a woman as thin and tall as her wouldn’t be my type, but she looks elegant in a way, almost swan-like, even dirty and bloody.
She looks like she was born to be royalty. Funny that it’s Irish mob royalty and not the princess kind.
“But like I said, we have to deal with what we have now. You are stuck here with me until I figure out a way to fix this.”
“And you’re not going to hurt me?”
I shake my head. “I’m not. I promise.”
She stands up, walking slowly toward me, and I don’t back away. “Then please let me go .”
I huff out a breath. “How many times do I have to tell you I can’t do that?”
She frowns and then tries to sprint past me.
I groan, reaching out, and I grab her shoulders, pulling her toward me.
She wriggles in my arms, and I do the only thing I can think of to shut her up and calm her down.
I kiss her.
She makes a frustrated noise against my mouth, but then when I part her lips with my tongue, she melts against me, kissing me back hungrily.
She tastes like iron, probably from the blood she’d had trickling into her mouth, but something about the sudden kiss makes goosebumps pop up all over my body.
Lara pushes me away. “What the hell was that?”
“I needed to shut you up,” I growl, and she glares at me, wrenching out of my grasp again.
She rubs at her arms.
“Are you cold?”
“It's not exactly like this place has a working furnace.”
I remove my jacket, draping it over her shoulders. “We need to talk about this.”
“I don’t understand what there is to talk about!” she nearly yells. “Your men trapped me here?—”
“Not my men.” Why can’t she understand?
My father isn’t just going to stand down on my word, or even Bree’s word. He’s determined to hurt them back for turning my sister against him.
“The fucking Murphys,” she mutters.
I sigh, glad I’m finally getting through to her. “Yes. My father clearly wants war.”
“And you?”
“I don’t even want to be here. I only came to help Bree. And apparently, she doesn’t even need my help, so I need to fix this mess and go home.”
She nods. “There’s got to be a way out of this. Something I can do.”
There’s a flush on her cheeks ever since I’ve kissed her, and I can’t stop looking at her pouty pink mouth.
What am I thinking? Why am I suddenly so attracted to her? I’d only kissed her to get her to listen to me.
I shake myself out of it. “Maybe we can work together.”
“Why would I want to work with you?” she asks, and to be honest, it’s a good point. “I don’t know you. All I know is that your men helped kidnap me.”
“They are not my men. And I had nothing to do with that,” I promise. “I don’t even live in Chicago. I don’t have anything to do with my father’s business.”
She blinks. “You don’t?”
I shake my head. “No. I work as an accountant.”
Lara laughs wildly, looking at me in confusion. “An accountant?”
I smile wryly. “Yeah. For a non-profit a few hours away.”
She scoffs. “So, you’re telling me you just got pulled into all of this?”
I let out a relieved breath. “Exactly! I had no idea what was going on back at home. I rarely talk to Bree, and I haven’t spoken to my father since I left this place.”
Lara searches my face as if trying to decide if she can trust me or not.
If I were her, I wouldn’t trust me either. She’s been through a horrible ordeal.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” I say quietly, and her eyes well with tears, but she doesn’t let them fall.
“If you were sorry, you’d let me go.”
Her words are like a punch to the gut.
She’s right. I should let her go, but if I do, my dad is just going to find another way to retaliate and maybe next time, people will get gravelly hurt. Or worse.
“Your father,” I start, and her eyes snap up to mine.
“What about my father?” She crosses her arms over her chest.
“He’s hurt, aye?” The Irish brogue I thought I’d gotten rid of sweeps through my voice, and it makes me want to cringe.
She blinks. “How do you know that?”
“My father told me. He seems convinced Patrick can’t retaliate because he’s hurt.”
“He’s getting better. And now since Gray has taken over—” She claps a hand over her mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that."
“Listen to me, Lara.” I take a step toward her and this time, she doesn’t move away. “I don’t want to be a part of this. I don’t want to work with my father. All I want is for Bree to be safe.”
“She is safe.”
“For now. But if it comes out that Bree chose the Burkes...” I let out a long breath. “Who knows what my father will do?”
“He already knows that. She told him herself.”
“He knows? Well, that son of a—” I take a deep breath. “Listen, as much as I want to let you go, I can’t. If that is true, I have a feeling her defiance is the major reason behind this retaliation.”
“And if you let me go, they’ll just come after me again. And Bree.”
“Yes.” Thank God she’s finally seeing my side of things. “So, I want you to trust me, Lara. I want us to work together to keep any of that from happening.”
She swallows visibly. "I don't know if I can trust you.”
“I don't know if I can trust you, either. But we have to do something .”
“Like what?”
I run a hand through my hair. “I honestly don’t know yet. I need some time to think about it.”
“And in the meantime? I just stay here in this place?”
"I’ll bring you some water, some snacks. I’ll bring a comforter and some sheets for the bed. I’ll make you as comfortable as I can,” I promise.
She scoffs. “I’m not sure comfortable is what I would call this place.”
Part of me wants to roll my eyes, but I don’t. I need her to trust me, at least for a while. Then, I can get back to my life and away from all of this.
“I’ll do what I can. Will you think about it?”
“I’ll think about it.”
I slowly leave the room, locking it from the outside.
When I walk downstairs, Oscar and Maury are waiting in the living room.
“What are my father’s exact orders?”
“Just to keep her here until further notice,” Oscar says quietly, clearly a little afraid of me. Maybe he saw how messed up Scott looked after he attacked Lara.
“He doesn’t want her hurt,” Maury adds. He’s another one of my father’s minions, a nobody, really. He hasn’t exactly put his best men on this. It makes me think he may have wanted me involved all along.
I grit my teeth. “Well, you guys really fucked that up. She’s beat up and bruised and terrified.”
“It was Scott—” Maury starts, and I hold up a hand to stop him before I hit him.
“Get her some blankets, some sheets for that mattress. Take her some bottled water and some more food.”
“We kidnapped her, this isn’t the Ritz,” Oscar drawls, and if he thinks I won’t punch him because we share Murphy blood, he’s an idiot.
“When I get back, she better not have a single hair harmed on her head.”
“Of course not, Rory,” Maury says, and I look between him and Oscar.
Maury’s too stupid to hurt her, and Oscar’s too cowardly.
I head down the hallway to the left wing and my own room. This is going to be an interesting couple of days.
Chapter Nine