Chapter Twenty-One #2
I returned to the pathway and hurried out of the park, desperate to get home and get rid of the bugs.
With them in my handbag, I felt in immediate danger.
The moment I stepped inside the apartment, I attached one bug to the underside of the table.
I hesitated. I broke Lorcan’s trust with this.
Did he trust me? Maybe to some degree considering we lived together.
I reminded myself of the two photos I had seen then moved into the bedroom where I attached the other bug to the back of the headboard in the bedroom.
I flushed when I thought about what the police would listen to …
though after seeing Lorcan with Imogen, the idea of sleeping with him made me feel sick.
But how could I get out of being intimate without making him suspicious?
Maybe I could blame it on Finn, at least for a few days, but Lorcan probably wouldn’t accept that excuse for very long.
I used a knife to cut a hole in one of my tampons and stuffed the last bug inside.
I’d keep it in my handbag like that until I was in Lorcan’s car and could put it under the seat.
I wasn’t sure when I’d ever be in Lorcan’s office, so for now the bugs in the apartment would have to suffice.
Lorcan had never talked about anything compromising in the apartment, as far as I could remember.
For some reason, I was glad that I didn’t have the chance to hide it in his office.
It was a dangerous place, one he probably searched often and one where he’d probably spill some secrets that might put him in jail.
I still wasn’t one hundred percent convinced the police told me the entire truth and until then, I’d rather not be responsible for Lorcan’s immediate arrest.
I rocked on my heels, worrying my lower lip as I waited in the arrival hall of the airport. This was Finn’s first flight. What if Lorcan’s men had unsettled Finn?
I finally spotted a familiar tiny figure walking between two tall men.
One of them pulled Finn’s spiderman suitcase for him.
Finn beamed when he spotted me. He didn’t seem scared at all.
He began running, though his left side gave him some troubles today.
I raced toward him and caught him in my arms, hugging him tightly to my chest and lifting him off the ground.
“I missed you so much, Finn.”
I kissed his cheek several times until he squirmed a little, and I finally pulled back to look at his face. I’d missed him so much, his cute voice and the way he looked with his pacifier when he slept—even his sticky fingers when he touched me right after eating a marmalade toast.
“M-mmm-mis-mis-missed you too,” he said, still grinning widely.
“How was the flight?”
“C-c-cool! We g-g-g-got to see the c-c-c-ockpit and t-t-alk to the p-p-p-p-pilot, and I had a huge seat with m-m-m-my own TV and the seat t-t-t-t-turned into a bed.” He was so excited, his stutter was much more apparent, but I didn’t have any trouble understanding him.
“That sounds amazing. Did you ride business class?”
“Yes,” the younger man with carrot hair said.
“Thanks to this little guy, Lorcan treated us to the luxury of business class too. We’ll always be indebted to you, Sir Finn.
” Finn and the man exchanged a grin. The man nodded at me.
“I’m Sullivan, and this is my older brother Murphy.
” He motioned at the slightly overweight but muscular, bearded man, who shared the same shade of red hair, behind him.
“We’re here to help your husband extend his business. ”
“Nice to meet you.”
We headed toward the exit. Finn clung to me like a spider monkey, so I carried him. Luckily, he was a small kid and I had no trouble with his weight. “I don’t have a car. I came in a taxi,” I explained as we passed through the sliding doors.
Maeve had offered to take me but today I didn’t feel like company. My conversation with the police shook me up too much.
“Seamus is coming to get us,” Sullivan said.
I frowned. “Seamus is away on business with Lorcan.”
“He’s over there.”
I followed Sullivan’s pointer finger toward a Cadillac. Seamus leaned against it, talking to no other than Lorcan.
The color instantly drained from my face. I wasn’t expecting Lorcan to return until tomorrow. I thought I’d have until then to brace myself, to play my part. I was fully unprepared now.
I felt like a deer in headlights when I walked toward him.
Lorcan looked up and spotted me. Though his expression had warmed a tad upon seeing me, his brows pulled together when he met my eyes. Get a grip, Aislinn. You need to play your part. Don’t mess up.
I forced a smile, but I knew it wasn’t convincing.
Lorcan briefly greeted Murphy and Sullivan before stopping in front of me. Finn peered up at Lorcan then quickly buried his face in my shoulder. He was always shy with strangers, especially men, and Lorcan was a very imposing man.
“No need to be shy, Finn. I have my trunk filled with toys for you. I hope you like some of them. I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”
Finn peeked out of one eye, curiosity filling his face but he still clung to me. He yawned. The time difference was obviously messing with him.
Lorcan opened the back door, and my eyes widened when I saw a brand-new child seat. “I had Seamus buy it a couple of days ago. I don’t have a clue about child seats.”
I put Finn in it, but he quickly gripped my hand, not letting go.
“I’ll sit in the back with you, okay? I just need to buckle you up.
” He released my hand but kept a close eye on me as I closed the door and moved to the other side.
Lorcan waited beside the driver seat. “You don’t look happy to see me. ”
My heart hammered in my chest. “I was just surprised.”
“That wasn’t surprise.”
Think, Aislinn, think. I slanted a look at Finn, who was watching closely from inside the car.
“Are you worried about him? ”
“Yes,” I said quickly. “Many people treat him as if he’s different. They don’t know how to act around him because of his spasms and stutter. You don’t strike me as a patient man, and caring for Finn requires patience. I was anxious about your first encounter.”
Lorcan pulled me against him, and I tensed. “Not in front of him,” I whispered, hoping Lorcan would buy it.
He chuckled. “Calm down. I’m hugging you. I’m sure he won’t mind. And now about your concerns about me treating him differently. He’s a boy like any other. I won’t treat him differently, except to spoil him rotten perhaps.”
“Why?” I asked. I didn’t want Lorcan to be kind, not after the photos I saw today. What was going on? What was he playing at? I didn’t understand any of this, but deep down I had a feeling Finn would be safe here.
“Because he is important to you, and this marriage is important to me.”
He released me and got into the car. Confusion and guilt bubbled in my belly. I wished I knew what to believe. The photos were proof.
I slid into the back of the car and took Finn’s hand that he was holding out to me.
We’d been driving for fifteen minutes when I remembered the bug hidden in my tampon.
Was now really the time to hide it somewhere?
I wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.
In the past, Finn had used my tampons as floats in the toilet or bathtub, and I could just see this happening again and Lorcan finding the bug in the water.
I pulled the tampon from my handbag. Finn was distracted by the skyline, and Lorcan was cussing at the traffic, hammering his hand on the horn.
Finn had heard enough cussing in his lifetime so I didn’t bother keeping bad words from him anymore. Mum was a notorious cusser.
I had stuffed the bug really well into the tampon and getting it back out proved a challenge. Eventually Finn noticed. “You have the c-c-curse?” he asked, his stutter a bit better than in the airport.
I froze, the tampon in hand. The bug was peeking out at the bottom.
Lorcan glanced over his shoulder at the tampon then at Finn. “The curse?”
“Th-th-th-tha-t-t-t-t-t’s h-hh-how Nana c-cc-c-ccc-alls it-t-t-t-t-t wh-wh-when she n-n-n-n-needs ‘pons.”
I had tensed during Finn’s reply. He’d taken a very long time to speak due to Lorcan’s attention but my husband did not interrupt him. Many people finished Finn’s sentences even if they weren’t sure what he was going to say. He rarely contradicted them, and it always broke my heart.
“It’s a bit like a curse, I suppose,” Lorcan said with a wry smile and turned back to the street.
Maybe I could pretend I had my period. It wasn’t due for a few more days, but Lorcan didn’t know that. It might stop his advances.
When both Finn and Lorcan had lost interest, I continued to fumble with the tampon and finally managed to extract the bug.
I coughed and dropped it. “Shoot.” I bent forward as if to pick it up and attached the bug to the underside of Lorcan’s seat before I straightened with the tampon in my hand, ignoring the doubts and guilt washing through me. Lorcan was a mobster.
“I hope you don’t use it once it hits the floor,” Lorcan said with a chuckle.
I flushed and almost commented that his cock had been in worse places, but with Finn present I controlled myself.
I needed to be on Lorcan’s good side. I had to keep up the act and more, make him trust me.
I needed to gather information so the police could help me find Imogen.
I could only pray that my family and I would be put into the witness protection program as soon as possible.
Because if Lorcan found out what I’d done…
he and the rest of the clan would hunt us.