Chapter Thirty-Four
Rian
I’ve had a hell of a day.
We got a batch of bad drugs—something we thankfully discovered before putting that shit on the streets—an issue getting payment on some of our real estate ventures, and a visit from the police.
Things like that happen fairly often. Conan usually knows when they’re going to go down, and I hadn’t heard a peep from him today, but they were just trying to give me a hard time, trying to pretend they will be able to get something on me when they won’t.
It’s all part of the gig, but I can’t pretend it hasn’t felt like someone behind the scenes has it out for us today. Usually, those types of problems don’t happen in threes.
It’s early evening by the time I’m heading back to the house. I haven’t spoken with Abbott all day, and all I want to do is get home and lose myself in his body. Why do I ever have to leave his bed again? I would be a happy man if I could just stay there with him all the time.
I frown when I pull up at the house just as another familiar car is parking. My heart immediately drops seeing Cillian’s dark gray BMW stop behind me, followed by Tiernan’s.
Cillian and Ollie spill out of the front seat, Rory and Shai from the back. “What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask, rushing around my SUV to them.
“Dean found something,” Cillian says. “Something big that couldn’t wait.”
It must be important for them to have come all the way here to talk to me about it, and I’m sure it’s not something we should be discussing in the middle of my driveway. “Come on. Let’s go in.”
It’s not until I’m inside the house that it hits me…
Abbott is here, and Cillian is here. They’re going to meet—my worlds colliding in this way I crave, but that has me nervous too.
We talked about it, yes, but I thought it would be something we would plan.
Abbott is worried about meeting him, and certainly springing Cillian on him isn’t ideal, but…
he’s here now, and whatever is going on can’t wait.
We go into the house, Conan sitting on the couch and noticing me first, then standing when he sees the others behind me.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“First, where’s Abbott?” I have no idea what Dean has to tell us and how whatever it is might affect Abbott.
“He’s been upstairs for hours,” Conan replies.
“Good.” I turn to Dean. “What’s wrong?”
“I found some weird shit when we looked into his dad. Our governor has a taste for young women…and I do mean young.”
Shit. “How young are we talking?” I ask. Abbott has mentioned it, but is it even worse than he thought?
“Legal, but just barely with a lot of them. He’s also made a lot of interesting payments over the years from hidden accounts,” Dean replies.
“It looks like he’s made payments to some of the women. We’re assuming hush money but don’t have any proof…but I’m thinking the motherfucker did some sick shit to have to pay them off,” Tiernan cuts in.
“If you go deep enough, there are rumors—assault…drugging. Women having a drink with him, and the next thing they know, they’re waking up naked with no memory of what happened the night before.”
My fists tighten hearing Cillian’s words. What a sick fuck. I can handle a lot of shit, but taking advantage of someone sexually isn’t one of those things.
“He’s definitely got someone helping him keep this quiet,” Dean says. “There’s a lot of money and time going into it. There’s no way he’s doing this on his own.”
“Who?” Conan asks. Who would be helping him with this and why? People don’t do this kind of thing for nothing. What is he giving them? It can’t just be money.
“I don’t know. I can’t figure that part out.” Dean rubs a hand over his head.
“I want to kill him, Rian. Can I kill him?” Rory asks, and my gaze shoots to the stairs, making sure Abbott hasn’t come down.
He needs to die. I want him to die, but I can’t even begin to sort that out until I talk to Abbott, so I ignore the question.
“Keep looking, Dean. The governor has to be dealt with, but we need to know who is helping him and why.” Something feels…
off about this. None of it is sitting right.
Not that I don’t believe it. Dean knows what he’s doing, and they wouldn’t be here talking to me about it right now unless they had the proof they need, but this is turning in directions I hadn’t anticipated.
“There’s more,” Cillian says, gaze serious and making the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“What is it?” Again, my gaze shoots toward the stairs. I didn’t expect us to have this much time. Usually, if Abbott is upstairs when I get home, he comes down to see me. What are you doing?
It’s Cillian who speaks again. “He used one of his secret, offshore accounts to make a payment of fifty thousand dollars the day before you were shot.”
The day before I was shot in an attempt on Abbott’s life. It’s not hard proof, but it’s enough for me. “I’ll fucking kill him,” I say through clenched teeth, jaw tight.
“That’s not all,” my son replies.
My nails dig into my palm as the room around me suddenly sounds echoey. “It doesn’t get worse than that. He’s fucking dead. I don’t care what I have to do to make that happen.”
“Your guy…his mom was shot when he was a kid.” I shoot my gaze to Dean and nod. What is he getting at? “There were two payments made that were really fucking difficult to find. They’re buried deep, Rian…but one was the morning of her murder and one the day after.”
My heart drops. This is going to kill him. How do I tell Abbott that his father tried to have him killed, and succeeded with his mom, the one person Abbott ever felt loved him just for him?
Why would he do that? What would he have gotten out of having her killed? Unless, she knew something about his illegal activities and didn’t want to stay quiet anymore.
Is that what he feared with Abbott too? Or was it for some other sick reason?
I run my hands through my hair. “How the fuck do I tell him this? How do I walk up those stairs and tell him his father had his mom killed and likely tried to do the same with him?” And how many other bodies has Governor Abbott left behind?
I feel all their eyes on me, but none as intensely as Cillian’s.
He walks over, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“You tell him the truth…that his father is a piece of shit who doesn’t deserve him.
That you love him, and that you’re going to avenge him…
and that the people who love you, the ones you love, will be right there with you, making him pay for hurting someone in our family. ”
Our family. Cillian is calling Abbott our family, because I love him, and there is nothing in the world like that feeling.
“I hope to one day be as good a man as you,” I tell him. I wish I could take more credit for the man he is, but I can’t. He did that all on his own.
“You are,” Cillian says. “You already are.”
It’s not true, but I thank him all the same before pulling him into a hug. When I catch Ollie’s eye over him, he’s wiping tears away.
Cillian pulls away and joins his boyfriend, Ollie taking his hand, and I hope that Moira is looking down on this and that I’ve finally made her proud.
I clear my throat. “Thank all of you for coming here…and Dean for figuring all of this out for me. Your father would have been proud.”
The room goes silent, Dean’s eyes wide, but it’s Tiernan who says, “Rian…” But I hold up a hand to stop him.
“I’ve known who Dean is since not long after Sloan’s death.
” His father was a member of our family.
He wanted out to protect his wife and son, and my brother killed him for it.
I don’t know why he came and found Tiernan, what the history is there, but I know he loves my nephew and my nephew loves him. That’s all that matters to me.
I know that Sloan found out though, and he planned to kill Dean, but Fia killed him, and then Conan helped them conduct a plan to hide it from me.
They didn’t know if they could trust me.
“How?” Tiernan asks.
“You’re not the only one who can find things out.
I understand why you kept it from me.” By our rules, Liam betrayed us, but the thing is, I would have let Cillian out if he wanted.
I still will. How can I blame Liam for doing what was best for his family?
He had the balls to do it when I didn’t.
I give my attention to Dean. “I loved Liam…and I loved you too, kid. Even at four years old, you were enamored with Tiernan. But I promise you, I didn’t know, and if I had, I would have stepped in to help. ”
Dean nods…then unexpectedly asks, “He would have been proud? Even though I’m exactly where he didn’t want me to be?”
“Things are different now, and Liam was just like you—a bit of a hothead.” I smile. “Liked to fight…but loved fiercely and did everything with honor.”
Dean nods and looks away as though he’s trying to compose himself, but when I make eye contact with Tiernan, I see the appreciation in how he’s looking at me.
Thank you.
“It would be great if you guys all stayed here tonight. I’m going to go upstairs and talk to Abbott. I don’t know if he’ll be ready to come down tonight, but we’ll need to make a plan—the rest of us. This won’t go unpunished.”
“Fuck no, it won’t,” Rory says.
“We’re here for whatever you need, Rian,” Conan says.
“I know, brother.” Without another word, I go upstairs. The second I open the door to our room, I know something is off…that something isn’t right. I can feel how empty it is, feel that Abbott isn’t here.
Still, I call out, “Abbott,” with my heart in my throat.
He doesn’t reply, and when I walk over, I see a note on the made bed.
Rian,
My father needs to talk to me. Nothing will happen to me there. I’ll be safe.
Love you and see you soon.
Abbott
PS…Don’t be mad at Conan. I left while he was busy with work.
I crumple the note against my chest, seeing nothing but red.
Abbott is with the man who had his mother killed, who tried to have him killed too.
I can’t fucking lose him. I won’t survive losing someone I love again.
I won’t allow it. It’s not even a fucking option. I don’t care what I have to do.
I pat myself down, looking for my phone, but it’s not on me, so I rush downstairs. I’d felt guilty about having the tracking device put into the watch before I gave it to Abbott. It was a breach of trust, something I know he wouldn’t have been happy about, but all I can do is thank God I did it.
My footsteps are loud against the stairs—the bang, bang, bang loud enough to rival that of my heart.
What the fuck will I do if I lose him? The thought makes me dizzy, makes my head spin as I make it down the stairs, turning to head for the living room.
“What’s wrong?” Conan asks the second he sees me.
“You fucked up, is what’s wrong,” I seethe, grabbing Conan and shoving him against the wall.
His back hits it with a loud whack, Conan’s eyes narrowing in anger.
“Rian…” he says with warning in his voice.
“Get ahold of yourself,” Tiernan says behind me, but I ignore him, throwing the crumpled piece of paper at Conan.
He catches it, but I don’t have time to sit around playing this game with him, don’t want to waste a second.
I grab my phone off the coffee table, fingers shaking, breathing unsteady as I go into the app. My anxiety doesn’t go away as the green dot appears.
“Fuck,” Conan says from the background. “I’ll fix it, Rian.”
“You can’t,” I say.
His hand clamps down on my shoulder, trying to offer support, but right now, all it does is twist me up even more. “I’ll fix this. He’ll be fine. I promise.”
I pull away without answering. “I’m going to get him back.”
“Whoa,” Cillian says as I make my way toward the locked room in the back with the firepower I need. “You can’t just storm off without any kind of plan, ready to bust the door down wherever he is and get him back.”
I pause, breathing becoming harder and harder by the second. My chest continues to tighten, head bumping against the wall as I use it to hold me up.
He’s right. I know he is. Running in there half-cocked and on my own isn’t going to accomplish anything.
“You wouldn’t let us do something this dumb when Shai’s mom was kidnapped, and I’m not letting you do it either.”
“I can’t lose him,” I say.
“You won’t. And we’ll do it together.”