Chapter Thirteen
Cian
I walked over and picked up the tablet she’d thrown. The screen was cracked, but it didn’t matter. I tossed it into the garbage. I had others.
I went back to the files spread out on the island in the kitchen and stared at them. How was this possible? How could we not have known what Eamon was doing?
I felt sick as I read through the names of the victims and the abusers involved. Men and women who were believed to be upstanding members of their communities.
It would take time to go through all the names and find out who was still alive and who wasn’t. And the victims—were they alive? Were they still being held?
Eamon had been dead for almost twenty-five years. Killed by his son simply for visiting the Trick Pony. When Sal saw this, he would lose it. Unless Sal knew? Was that the real reason he’d killed his father and sealed up the house?
No, he couldn’t have known. He wouldn’t have put Caity and Maddie in that house if he’d known what was in there.
What about Sinclair? Had he known what Caity would find? Why did she meet him? What information had she given him?
“I told you; you can trust me. I won’t tell them.”
I walked down the hall and knocked on the door she chose. “Caity, we aren’t done talking.”
She didn’t answer, and I pulled my keys from my pocket. She had to know she couldn’t escape me. Locking the door had been symbolic, a way for her to tell me to fuck off. Well, too damn bad.
I unlocked the door and walked in. She stood by the window looking out at the river.
“We need to talk, Caity.”
I remained in the doorway waiting for her to acknowledge me, knowing she wouldn’t. She was an O’Malley. They made stubborn pigheadedness an Olympic sport.
“I need to know how Sinclair is involved in this shit.”
She took a deep breath and kept her back to me. I walked across the room and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back against my chest. She didn’t fight me, and when I looked at her reflection in the window, I saw the tears.
“I’m sorry, Caity. I’m sorry I betrayed you, but I’m not sorry it gave me the means to protect you. I love you, and I will do anything to keep you safe. Including betray you.”
She stiffened in my arms but said nothing. I blew out a frustrated breath. “Baby, I’ve waited decades for you. I can wait a few more days for you to understand that I am here for you. To love you, to protect you, to make you happy.”
I kissed her neck and stepped back. When I reached the bedroom door, I turned to look at her one more time.
“No one knows you’re here. And no one will.”
I quietly closed the door and left her to stew in my words. I hated the silence. I wanted her angry and ranting, not whatever the fuck this was.
I didn’t know how to handle this version of her, so I went back to the kitchen and found her purse on the floor. I opened it up and pulled out her phone. There were a dozen missed calls—I assumed from Sinclair, knowing she’d disappeared on him.
I pulled the back off her phone and removed the SIM card, snapping it in half. I tossed the phone in the trash before moving back to the files.
Gathering them up, I sorted them back the way they were as I glanced at different names. Names that shocked me, and names that I would expect to see connected to something like this.
George Stone was a name that didn’t surprise me. But Valentino Valentinetti did. The knowledge that Eamon had been working not only with the Italians but with the Russians and the Mexicans was staggering.
Not to mention the politicians. Devlin Scott was an evil, sadistic bastard, but after what I’d read about some of the others, it made him look like a Boy Scout.
There was only one name on this list that was still alive. And unless I missed my guess, he would do whatever he had to do to keep it from getting out.
I stacked the files together and walked to my office. Closing the door behind me, I entered the bathroom attached to the back of the room.
Reaching behind the medicine cabinet mirror, I held my finger against the scanner, releasing the mechanism that allowed the cabinet to swing out. I quickly spun the dial to open the safe. It was one of many I had throughout my apartment.
The other safes hidden throughout the apartment were decoys. Two of them held important papers that could be replicated with ease—birth certificate, passport, etc.—and money.
This was the safe in which I kept the secrets.
The one that wouldn’t be noticed. No one thought to look in the bathroom for a safe.
They might check under the sink and in the linen closet, but the safes throughout the house would be pillaged first, and when money was found, people tended to stop looking for anything else.
The files went into the safe, and as I closed the medicine cabinet against the wall, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I expected to feel something. Guilt, maybe, revulsion that I had essentially kidnapped Caity and was holding her hostage.
There was none of that. In fact, when I settled in my bed, I fell asleep within minutes.
My conscience was clear.
It had been three days since Liam had brought Caity to my home. Three days of the silent treatment. She barely ate, at least not with me. The only reason I knew she was sleeping was that I had cameras in the guest rooms.
The truth was, I had cameras everywhere. Here in my apartment and throughout the office building where we worked. There was nothing I couldn’t see and hear.
“Ci! Get your ass in here.”
I rolled my eyes at Mac and followed him to Sal’s office. Surprised to see him, I asked, “You’re back already?”
“Yeah.”
“Ask him what happened,” Mac pressed as he elbowed my side.
“Fuck off, Mac,” Sal growled.
“What happened?” I asked, curiosity taking over. I didn’t really care to hear Sal whine about his son ignoring him, but I wondered if there was more.
“Where’s Duncan?” Sal asked.
I looked out into the hallway at Duncan’s closed door. “Probably fuckin’ Freyja over his desk.”
“Get him in here.”
I looked at Mac and shook my head. He rolled his eyes at me, then walked out across the hall and banged on Duncan’s door. “Get off your woman. We’ve got shit to do.”
Duncan yanked his door open and glared at Mac. “Fuck you.”
Freyja giggled behind him and slipped past him into the hall. She peered into Sal’s office and said, “Should I stay?”
Sal looked up and blew out a breath, nodding his head. “Lucille tell you?” he asked.
Freyja smiled. “Only that there was something important.”
Duncan sat in the chair by the window and pulled Freyja onto his lap. “What’s up?”
“Daniel Scott is dead.”
My body stiffened at Sal’s words. Daniel Scott was the eldest son of Devlin Scott. I’d seen his name in the files, but he wasn’t a heavy hitter. At least not until after his father had been killed.
“Who is Daniel Scott?” Freyja asked.
“The oldest son of Devlin Scott,” I answered.
“Malice’s brother? How many of them are there?” she asked. No one had an answer for that, except me. But I couldn’t reveal that answer without revealing the existence of the files.
“That isn’t the biggest shock,” Sal offered. He looked at Duncan. “Darcy had another child.”
Duncan lifted Freyja from his lap and stood. “What?”
“A year after King was born, Darcy met Kane Baudelaire.”
“Morpheus?” Mac asked. Sal nodded.
“From what I was told they fell in love, got married and had a son. His name is Jackson. He’s a member of the Golden Skulls.”
“Jesus H. Christ,” Duncan cursed. Freyja tried to soothe him by rubbing his back, but Duncan wasn’t easily soothed. “I have another nephew?” he whispered to no one.
“Where is he?” I asked, my mind running through the files. The only Baudelaire mentioned was Kalden.
“Jane Craven stole him from Darcy. Jackson ended up at the Trick Pony.”
Freyja took a step back from Duncan, and Mac stepped in front of her. Duncan grabbed the glass off the bar cart against the wall and threw it.
“Son of a fuckin’ bitch!” Duncan paced the room, and I shrank against the wall, closing my eyes. This was turning into a clusterfuck.
“DAD!”
My eyes popped open when I heard Maddie’s frantic voice. I caught her as she rushed into Sal’s office.
“Maddie, what happened? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Mom. She’s missing.”
“What do you mean, she’s missing?” Sal asked as he jumped up from his chair.
“I went over to the house to talk to her. The door was open, and the house was trashed.” Tears streamed down Maddie’s face, and I pulled her against my chest.
“Let’s go,” Mac said before ducking out of the office, followed by Sal.
“Freyja,” I said.
“Go. I’ve got Maddie.” Freyja pulled Maddie against her, and Duncan kissed the top of Freyja’s head. As we followed Mac and Sal, I caught Liam’s eye. A quick shake of my head told him to keep his mouth shut.
He exhaled loudly and followed behind us, making a phone call to have the others meet us there.
When we got to Caity’s house, the first thing I noticed was how much worse the damage was. I’d have to check the cameras, but I assumed when the four men couldn’t find Caity at the restaurant, they’d come back here looking for her.
“What the hell?” Oscar said as he stepped through the doorway.
I dug my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the cameras, careful to make sure they couldn’t see me walking around retrieving the files.
“She wasn’t here,” I said, conscious of Liam’s glare in my direction.
“How do you know?” Sal asked.
“Because I have this place wired.” I turned the phone around and showed him the video of the four men going through the house.
Sal looked down the hallway and paused before moving in that direction. When he made it to the office, he swore.
“I told her to stay out of here until we could do it together.”
“When has Caity ever followed an order?” Mac asked. We moved into the office and started going through the files on the floor. I knew we wouldn’t find what they were looking for. Just as I knew the men hadn’t found it either.
“What were they after?”
Sal ran his hands over his face the same way I had seen his son do when he was frustrated, and then he punched the file cabinet.
“Fuckin’ secrets.”
“What secrets, Sal?” Duncan asked.
“Eamon’s secrets.”
“What are you talking about?” I growled at my boss. “Did you know what was in here?”
Sal nodded. I grabbed his coat and pushed him against the wall. “What the fuck did you do?”
“I told her to stay the fuck out of this room.”
Mac pulled me back, and I fought to free myself from his grasp. He knew. He fucking knew.
“Do we have any idea who it was?” Liam asked, his eyes on Sal rather than me.
“My guess would be Tyran.”
“If he touches a hair on her head, I’ll fuckin’ kill him,” I spat. “Then I’ll fuckin’ kill you!” I needed to leave. I needed to go home and make sure she was safe. I shrugged Mac off and walked out the front door.
“Liam. Follow him.”
“Yes, boss.”