Chapter Nineteen #2
My eyes widened. Figuring out the whole Finn situation, I’d forgotten all about the photographer.
And all the sexy times really messed with my brain too.
That was probably Lorcan’s intention. Keeping me too exhausted to cause trouble.
The soreness between my legs had become a constant ache that would probably never cease.
“Tell me!”
“Please?” Lorcan’s smirk sent a shiver down my back, but I fought my body’s reaction.
“Please,” I gritted out.
“As expected, your sister didn’t pay the four thousand dollars herself.”
My mouth dropped open. “Four thousand?”
“He’s a good photographer, I guess.”
Dread settled in my belly. “Who paid? A Russian business-man?”
“Laurence was a bit reserved with his answers. But yes, a Russian business-man. Not hard to guess considering Laurence’s involvement with them.”
“Did you find out who it was? You beat people up if they don’t tell you what you want to know.”
I couldn’t believe what I said, but life with Lorcan was taking its toll.
Lorcan chuckled darkly. “Ahh, sweet Aislinn.” He brushed a thumb across my lips. “Your innocence is fading too fast.”
“Losing interest?”
He shook his head as he leaned back. It looked like he was bringing some distance between us so he could better pounce. “Not at all, not at all.”
I swallowed thickly at the look of hunger in his eyes.
“So you didn’t find out anything else?”
“As I said, Laurence is under the Bratva’s protection.
New York isn’t all mine. The Bratva and Five-Leaf-Clover have a sort of understanding.
We don’t meddle in each other’s territories or businesses.
The Chinese are causing enough problems. We don’t need additional stress.
So even if I have many ways to extract information from someone, I don’t always use my methods. Laurence belongs to Sergej, not me.”
I gnawed on my lower lip. “But we need to find out who the person is. Imogen might be trapped in their grasp.”
“And I’ll find out who he is. Don’t worry.
Seamus and I were in Sodom for a meeting with the boss of a counterfeit laboratory we intend to cooperate with, and I talked to a few Russian contacts.
Again they won’t spill any information without Sergej’s approval, but he and I are going to meet for lunch next week. ”
“Next week? So much can happen between now and then. We need to find out more. Would you just sit back and wait for a lunch meeting with a Russian crime boss if someone had kidnapped me?”
“If a Russian kidnapped you, peace would be a thing of the past and I’d do what I love most …
use my iron rod to break as many of the two-hundred six bones in a human’s body to find out where you are.
I’d kill and I’d torture, until you were back in my bed.
But Imogen isn’t you and she most likely wasn’t kidnapped.
Despite his tight-lippedness, Laurence mentioned how cozy the Russian and your sister had been.
She’s fucking him for money, and she’s probably letting the sun shine on her ass right now while sucking his dick somewhere in the Caribbean.
Your sister isn’t a good girl. She’s a snake. No need to protect her.”
I didn’t want to believe it. I had spent all my money to come to the US to save my sister. I had even left Finn, something I never wanted to do. What if Imogen was living her dream without a care in the world? Could she be this callous?
Maybe. Imogen was Imogen. Anger and disappointment raged in my body.
I should give her up and let her live the dream.
Was it really my problem if it turned into a nightmare?
It shouldn’t be. But I needed to know the truth, no matter what it was.
I’d hate her if she didn’t answer my calls because she was busy fucking a Russian gangster for money and a possible career.
Lorcan narrowed his eyes in thought. “Why do you care so much about your sister? She obviously doesn’t feel the same way about you or Finn or your mother. She doesn’t deserve your kindness.”
“She’s my sister.”
“Blood isn’t an explanation for everything. People break off contact with family members all the time.”
I sank my teeth into my lower lip. “She used to be my everything when we were little. Mum had to work all the time, so Imogen and I were alone. We took care of each other.” I swallowed.
“Things changed when she got older. She found new friends, friends who only cared about themselves, and eventually she became like them.”
Lorcan stroked a strand of hair away from my face in a surprisingly gentle gesture. “I can’t imagine you changing like that because of so-called friends.”
“I don’t know. Circumstances shape people.”
“They do, but people still react differently to them.”
I blew out a breath. Lorcan had a point, even if I didn’t want to admit it. “What about you and your brothers? You left Ireland and them.”
A hint of hesitation flickered across Lorcan’s face.
He wasn’t an open book either. He surprised me by speaking up, “Balor and I are too different to be very close, but I respect him and I can trust him with my life. Aran is like me in many regards. We always get along splendidly.” Lorcan chuckled, his eyes distant, as if he was remembering the mischief they’d been up to.
I tried to imagine little Lorcan being a wild boy on the streets of Kenmare.
It was a nice image. But remembering that Lorcan had been an innocent boy once like my sister had been a kind girl made me like him too much.
He was human, not just a brutal mobster.
“And the twins?”
“Caden and Callahan…” Lorcan chuckled, his expression softening in a way I had rarely seen before.
“They keep us all on our toes. They always did. I tried to keep them in check. Aran and Balor tried too, but it was impossible to stop those two from getting in trouble. They are an explosive combination.”
I smiled. “It sounds like you have a wonderful family. It kind of contradicts what I thought of the Devaneys.”
Lorcan cupped my chin. “There’s business and there’s family. You are part of this family now. You are a Devaney.”
I was.
Was I?