Chapter 2
Kerry
Blood splatters across the historic stone floor of the church. Sobs ring out, echoing in the church’s sanctuary. They’re not kind that the church usually hears. Nothing about this speaks of repentance. No, these cries are of fear. The squeal of a rabbit caught in the wolf’s jaws.
It makes me smile. A rare occurrence for me.
I love when a job is done both correctly and with such beautiful artistry.
The man that trembles on the ground before me is a masterpiece of anguish and torture.
The mind games that have been orchestrated to exist within him are just as beautiful as the stained glass in this church.
This is my craft. And it’s one that is even more ancient than the church we are standing in.
Some might call this desecration of a holy place. Perhaps that’s true, I don’t care. In fact, it suited me and my reputation. This is my idea of a good time, especially standing here with the fellas, enjoying the show.
I’m called The Irish Demon for a reason. The lads might make fun of me for it, but the title was given to me by those I work with in other countries, so it makes sense.
Hell isn’t some place deep beneath the earth, or in some supernatural realm.
It’s in the streets of Dublin. The Alasdair family always takes pride that our surname seems like it could be a name of some kind of angel.
Or some kind of fallen angel. We’re just as vicious and wicked as any demon, but we’re also as loyal as the beings of the heavens. Just as long as you don’t cross us.
The fucker on the floor learned that the hard way.
I turn around, leaving the mess behind for one of my enforcers to finish. Two of my men, Jack and Liam, follow me. “Tell O’Brien to take extra care. I don’t want a speck of blood left behind, or Father Donovon will eat my head off.”
Liam nods. “We’ll make sure it happens.”
“What shite weather,” I grumble as I jog down the steps of the church.
I’m just complaining and my two right-hand men know it.
The weather wasn’t even lashing, just overcast and threatening rain.
But just like the weather in Ireland, things in my life feel too out of control and subject to change.
I’m done with it. “Call Astero. Tell him the timeline has advanced. I want that dock and I want the girl.”
Liam and Jack share a look. I can see it out of the corner of my eye.
They think I’m being impulsive, acting out of my anger.
I evaluate my actions to see if it’s true, but decide I don’t give a shite.
Things need to move forward. I want my wife, my heirs, and my fortune. And one woman could give me all three.
Jack, the quieter one of the two, clears his throat. “Kerry. You know what Astero said. The girl wasn’t a part of their family dealings. They’d have to get the girl and then get her to agree. Unless you want a frightened doe on your hands who’s always trying to bolt?”
I approach the black car that’s waiting for us, pulling open the driver’s side and sliding in.
Jack sits in the passenger’s seat, with Liam in the backseat.
I sigh as I start up the car, thinking about his question.
“I know. It’s their own fault for keeping her out of it all these years.
They should’ve known it was going to come to this eventually. ”
Liam snorts in amusement. “These arrangements don’t happen much over here anymore, much less in the States. The old ways have died out. Arranged marriages are rarely needed.”
I grit my teeth as I get us on the road.. Liam is right. I didn’t ever think a marriage like this would be necessary for me. It hasn’t been necessary for several generations. Those bleedin’ dock owners just had to choose one family to work with.
But, it isn’t all shite. Finding something to leverage against the Astero family was easy.
Their son is a simpleton. Estranged or not, he’s a direct reflection of their family.
They tried to bury his transgressions, for good reason.
If word got out it still wouldn’t be pretty for their entire family.
Then there’s the matter of the girl. Like Jack said, she wasn’t raised in our ways.
She wasn’t around bloodshed, the cold ways of criminals, handling business as needed.
It’s a ruthless industry, if you even want to call it that.
Her grandfather is no exception. She’s been shielded from it, the sweet little thing.
Five years. That’s how long it’s been since I first learned about Amy Astero. At first it was just to poke around her life and see if there was anything to exploit and leverage against her father. But now…it’s so much more.
It took three months of research to gain an interest in her. Six months to realize she’s everything I didn’t know I was looking for. One year to become obsessed.
It’s an obsession that’s only grown in the subsequent four years. Now it’s like a starving beast inside me, desperate to be let out, desperate to have her. She’s an addiction, a disease in my mind that’s consumed it. But I’m not looking for a cure. I’m looking for more.
She’s quiet, shy even, but intelligent. And looking at pictures of her…
well, she was a bleedin’ ride. I can’t remember the last time my cock got hard just from looking at pictures of someone.
But the primal part of me apparently likes the idea of having all of those curves to myself, and not having to share them with anyone else.
But what Jack said is also true. If things weren’t handled delicately with Amy, she’ll never accept the arrangement with me.
It doesn’t seem like her grandparents have enough sway with her to force the marriage.
If the family that owns the docks catches wind that I forced the sweet little thing into a marriage…
Well, they won’t be giving me access to the docks, that’s for sure.
Which means things would get bloody. While I’m willing to go there, it’s a mess I’d far rather avoid.
This won’t work unless I get the docks and Amy. I need my pretty little wife most of all.
“Are ya away with the fairies, Kerry?” Liam laughs from the backseat.
He’s being annoying, friend or not. “No. Just focusing on driving.”
“Right, right.” He snickers. “Not thinking about the Astero girl again, no. Could never be that.”
It’s times like these that I have to remind myself that Liam is bloody good at his job and I need him. It’s pointless to remind myself that he’s my friend, not when he’s driving me up a wall like this. “I’m thinking about the arrangement. And everything that needs to be done to ensure it.”
“Right. You’re not thinking about what she’d look like underneath you or anything like that.
” I can hear the smirk in his voice, the little shite.
My hands tighten around the steering wheel, making my knuckles go white.
“Or how her pretty eyes would look up at you while she—” Liam stops mid-sentence when Jack flashes a look over his shoulder at Liam.
Jack’s always able to read me well. He knows when I’m about to boil over, even when Liam is too busy running his mouth to notice.
I’m silent for a moment, letting Liam feel the tension his words caused for a moment, feeling the simmering heat of my anger in my chest. “Talk about her again like that, and you’ll have to learn how to walk with busted knees.
” My voice is dark, quiet. Liam could sometimes go too far with his jokes, but even he knew when to stop.
Most of his jokes are good-natured. We’ve been friends since we were young, after all.
But I’m still his superior, something that he occasionally needs to be reminded of.
When it comes to the Astero girl, I’m not just Kerry. I’m Kerry Alasdair, King of Dublin and the Irish Demon. When it’s about her, I’m not his friend, I’m his boss.
It’s a status I must maintain. Not just with Liam or anyone else in the business, but with her, too. She is going to need to remember who I am, what I am, first and foremost.
But more importantly, I need to remember that.
I need to remember what she’s for. And it’s not just for my dick, even though it seems to think so.
She has a purpose, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
The marriage serves an immediate purpose, which is access to those docks.
But her? Well, her purpose is more long-term.
Until then, I need to keep emotional distance from her, no matter how pretty she is, and no matter how much the obsessive feelings scream and rage that I’m not near her.
I can’t afford for her to get killed off before she’s even had a chance to serve that purpose, just because word got out that I’ve grown rather…
attached to her. People will use anything against me that they can. But I can’t let them.
Besides, quiet, shy, innocent? Not my usual cup of tea.
It’s already going to be work breaking her in.
Sure, it’s work my cock likes the sound of, but it doesn’t understand the reality of things.
It will just be a headache in the end, having to rid her of any ideas of romance or tenderness.
Her inevitable expectations needed to be torn out of her.
Even if she picks up on my obsession with her, she needs to understand that my possessiveness doesn’t mean there’s any sort of emotional connection.
I’ll do what needs to be done. I always have.
After a few minutes of silence, Liam clears his throat. “Just got a message from one of Astero’s men. They have the girl and she’s in agreement.”
I’d be lying if I said that some level of eagerness and excitement didn’t come over me. “Good.”
“They want to know what the next step is. Are we going there? Or should they come here?”
I tap the steering wheel for a moment, considering my options. “We’re going there. Make the arrangements. I want to see the dock for myself, anyway.”
I can hear the grin in Liam’s voice when he speaks. “Understood. America, here we come.”