Chapter 41
Our Heart
Dylan
“And just where the fuck do ya think I’ll be while ya take her money and hold her brother hostage?” I say as I step into the old back room, where the money counting happened.
My voice booms and echoes in the space with its vaulted ceilings and stripped walls. The guy who just took Ciara’s gun spins and aims it at me. I don’t miss how fast he moves out of Ciara’s reach to make sure she’s not at his back and he has the gun trained on us both.
“Who the fuck are you?” The guy I’m assuming from the pictures I’ve seen is Sean Young, bites out.
“I’m none of yer fucking business. Ya should have stayed in Seattle, where I’ve been allowing ya to breathe.”
“Allowing me to … You’re not allowing anyone to do shit. Who is this fucking asshole?”
“That’s the prick she’s going to marry. Devin, bring her over here. I’ll let her say goodbye to Ciarán before we leave. One of you check him for guns. Can’t have him trying to play the hero.”
“You really think I need a gun for any of ye? Yer as good as dead, I can promise ya that and I never break a promise.”
“Dad, you fucking moron. Let Ciarán go and stop this foolishness.”
“What are you even doing here? Go back home and mind your business,” Theo Young growls.
“I’m here to save you and Sean from yourselves. Your plan is stupid. If you cross those Russians, you’re going to end up dead. Did you even think about that?”
“With all the cash I’ll have, I won’t have to worry about them. They’re not after the money. They want to put an end to what the money is for.”
“Amy? What are you doing here?” Ciara says, causing me to glance out the corner of my eye.
Laki and a pretty young woman are standing there, glaring at Theo and his son. Neither of them has a weapon drawn, but they’re both giving off a lethal vibe. However, it looks like we’re no longer outnumbered.
Panic begins to fill Theo and Sean’s eyes. The dark-haired, lanky guy with Cadlha starts to inch his way toward the door. He’s the only one who seems to have any sense. The guy who took my gun off me has moved across the room with Ciara.
They are now standing by Theo. “Take him,” Theo barks as he shoves Ciarán.
Arnold’s bitch ass steps forward and takes him by the arm, looking like he wishes he weren’t here at all. Ciarán looks at me and then looks down at his backpack. However, I’m not sure what he’s trying to tell me.
I turn my attention back to Ciara as Sean grabs ahold of her. She begins to struggle and the other guy next to Sean licks his lips and grabs his crotch. I don’t know how, but I instantly know this guy had something to do with her making a run for it with Ciarán.
He’s definitely going to die by my hands. When Sean hands her off to him and he gropes her breast, I see nothing but red. Ciara goes to make a move, but Sean pulls a gun and aims at her head.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Sean growls. “Dad, you see, I’m not as greedy as you are. I can live with two million. I’d rather that than ever allow this big motherfucker to touch her again.”
“What? Are you crazy? Sean, I swear to God. I will end your sorry life myself,” Theo snarls.
“The two of you need to let them go. This is over. You had no right to take them the first time.
“I was so happy to have a little sister. I didn’t think to ask you where you got them from. They were so cute and little.
“She was everything to me. Then I figured out what you had done. What you were supposed to do.
“The only reason I was ever cruel to either of them was because I wanted to protect them from the two of you. You needed to believe I hated them as much as you two did, so I could help them.”
“Help them how?” Theo hisses and narrows his eyes.
“You were always too stupid to see what was happening around you. They were going to kill you back then. You keep bringing shit down on our heads.”
This is it. I’m going to make my move. I start to head for Theo. He snaps his attention back to me and pulls his own gun to aim at me.
“Stop right there. I said don’t fucking move.”
I ignore him and keep walking. I’m done with all this back-and-forth. Theo’s hands are shaking as I move in on him.
Words Ciara’s father once spoke to us come back to me. I begin to speak them to Ciara. We can end this together.
“I’ll keep their focus on me. You hit the hell out of them. Then we both pounce. The way we have each other’s backs will always work in our favor. We have more of something none of them have,” I say in Gaelic.
“And what’s that, Dyl?” she replies, just as she once asked her father.
“Heart, love. We both have tons of heart. That’s something no one can take from us. They’ll try, but they’ll never take that away,” I repeat her father’s words once again.
“What the fuck are you two talking about? Speak English. I said stop or I’ll fucking shoot.”
I grin at him as I close in. The war between shooting me and losing the money or allowing me to get near him and rip his head off plays across his face. Preservation wins out.
He pulls the trigger, shooting me in my side. I grunt, but I don’t stop moving. Instead, I grin wider and tilt my head at him before I bat the gun down and punch the shit out of him.
“No,” Ciara screams.
I feel the sting of a second bullet as it grazes my arm before I register the sound. Theo is on the floor in a heap. He’ll be out for a bit.
Ignoring the pain, I turn for Ciara and Ciarán. Sean is doubled over, holding his side. Ciara must have hit him when he pulled the trigger to shoot me.
She begins raining blows down on him that ring out through the room. I wince as his neck makes a cracking sound under the force of one of her punches.
A few paces away, Ciarán has gotten free of Arnold’s hold and is beating his ass. I smile. The kid’s form is damn near perfect.
Arnold swings, but Ciarán ducks and comes up with a killer uppercut that sends Arnold flying back like a piece of paper in the wind. My chest swells with pride.
It all happens so fast. The guy who had been holding Ciara before gets to his feet and scrambles for the gun on the floor that Sean dropped. Ciarán grabs his pack and pulls what looks like my favorite Glock that I keep in my office.
He then aims at the asshole who’s reaching for the gun to aim at his sister and fires a shot at his leg. The dude cries out and reaches for his leg, the gun he didn’t have a firm grasp on falling to the floor.
Ciara kicks him in the face, but he grabs her foot and throws her a little off balance.
I rush over and place the asshole in a choke hold.
He taps my arm frantically as I squeeze the life out of him.
My arm and side are burning, but I’m not letting go until he’s not breathing and never will breathe again.
“Don’t you fucking touch my sister,” Ciarán barks out, his voice cracking like it’s been doing a lot lately.
I glance up to see Sean has gotten back on his feet. His face is pretty fucked up. Ciara whipped his ass.
“Ciarán, you don’t want to do this,” Lily Young says.
“I’m tired of him picking on us. I’m tired of you guys trying to take our happiness. This is our home. We’re happy here. You’re not taking me from my sister and you’re not taking her away from me.”
“I don’t want to take either of you away, honey. I came here to make sure you guys remain safe. But Ciarán, I need you to let the adults handle this. Put the gun down, sweetheart,” Lily coos.
Slowly, she’s inching toward Ciarán to try to get the gun from him. Ciarán begins to lower the gun, but Sean’s stupid ass lunges for Ciara. Ciarán lifts the gun and shoots.
I toss this guy’s body to the side and jump to my feet. Lily jumps in front of the bullet meant for her brother and drops to the ground. It all happens so fast.
Ciara ducks out of the way as Sean tries to grab her. She then takes him to the ground and wraps his neck with her legs as she pins his arm. My chest swells with pride as I watch the light go out of his eyes.
His body goes limp, and Ciara gets to her feet. She rushes to pull Ciarán into her arms as Laki goes to wrap around them both. The look of relief that covers his face is evident. Ciarán is shaking as he hugs his sister back.
“We’ve got you, buddy. Your dad would be proud of you. We’re going to take care of everything,” Laki chokes out.
“Look at what we found,” Uncle Ronan croons as he and Logan drag Cadlha and the lanky dark-haired guy back in.
“We need a medic. She doesn’t deserve this. She’s not like them,” the one Ciara called Amy cries out.
“They’re safe. That’s all I ever wanted,” Lily says as she lies in her arms.
“Lily, don’t you do this. Not for that piece of trash. He’s not worth your life. You fight. Come on, stay with me,” Amy pleads.
“A medic and cleanup crew are en route,” Uncle Ronan says.
“Ach, you should go, they put your wife in one of the squad cars and took off,” Brooklyn says.
“Aye, she knows what she’s doing. She’s luring them away.”
“That’s a problem I need to address. I’ll come with ya.”
“Ya don’t have a working phone. I’ll go,” Logan says.
Another shot goes off, and I turn to see where it came from. Ciara is standing with a smoking gun. Cadlha is lying at Uncle Ronan’s feet with a bullet between her eyes.
“I told her I was going to do it.” Ciara shrugs.
“Welcome to the family, love,” Uncle Ronan croons.
Ronan
After making sure Dylan got medical attention and giving instructions for the bodies he and his bird collected, I took off to take care of my wife. I had already put in a call to get her representation before I could arrive.
I find Bobby Mairettie is already here as we enter the station. Brooklyn and Logan are on either side of me. While they know I’m married, Brooklyn is the only one who has met my wife.
“McGowan, I didn’t know you were in town. You didn’t check in,” Detective Strong—or Detective Shit Face as I like to call him croons as he saunters over to me.
“And I’m pretty fucking sure I told ya it would be a cold day in hell and every witch on a burning stake there would have frozen tits before the day I ever check in with the likes of ya. Step aside and get the fuck out of my face,” I growl.
He scoffs and turns his attention to Brooklyn and Logan. “What the fuck happened to you two?” he says with a frown as he looks their faces over.
“We happened to each other. Imagine what happens to those we don’t give a shit about,” Brooklyn bites out.
Danny’s laugh grabs my attention. I turn to find her walking out with a smile on her face as she looks up at the captain. I love that crazy laugh. It brings a smile to my face.
“I’m so sorry about all of this. I’ll be happy to pay for the repairs,” she says as she bats her lashes.
“Nonsense. We should be paying for your repairs, for putting you through this. Things like this happen all the time.
“My wife just did the same thing about a month ago. The spider actually bit her. I don’t see why you were brought in for driving your husband’s vehicle.”
“Oh no. I hope she’s all right now. Not many women who look like me have husbands with the last name McGowan. In their defense, I still haven’t changed my ID.
“I was also a little nervous about how my husband would react when he found out what I did to his new truck. I believe your detectives took that as nervousness because the vehicle wasn’t supposed to be in my possession.”
“Bullshit, excuse my language. I want to apologize on their behalf. You have my number if you ever need anything.”
Danny comes to my side, and I tuck her under my arm. Strong narrows his eyes at her as he works his jaw. He nods to himself and pulls a hand down his face.
“We’ll meet again,” he says.
“Ya should hope not. It’s time ya start to listen to yer superiors.”
“Fuck off.”
I shrug and turn with my wife to leave. This eejit has never understood when to back off. I give Danny a squeeze.
“Is she okay?” she whispers.
“Aye.”
“The brother?”
“I like him. He did right by his sister. They’re both fine.”