Lorcan

Chapter Ten

Igot into the library and poured myself a drink. The migraine behind my eyes was doing nothing for my anger. Tossing the whiskey back, I let the liquid burn my throat. The only kind of pain I wanted to feel right now.

“It’s not going to wash your pain away,” I heard someone say from behind me.

I turned around and looked over at Ace, sitting in the corner in the shadows.

“And what the fuck are you doing in here?” I shot over at him.

“Keeping some form of sanity about me,” he replied, getting up and moving closer to me. I could see blood stains over his cut and arms.

“What happened?”

“Lost a couple of my guys last night,” he said. “I’ll leave you be.”

He was losing men because of me and all I could do was yell at him. I could see the shades of my father peeking through.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “You can stay, but only if you drink.”

Ace stopped in his tracks, slowly turning back around to face me. “Yeah, why not.”

He sat down opposite me and I handed him a glass. Pouring both of our drinks, we sat back in the old leather of the seats but we remained silent.

It took a few glasses before he opened up. “Your girl has some pretty brass balls.”

“She isn’t my girl.”

“Lorcan, no matter how hard you fucking fight, that girl is yours. I just hope you don’t waste any more time in figuring it out before it’s too late.”

He spoke as if he had some experience in the matter of losing those he loved. I really didn’t know much about him at all and yet he was losing men because of me.

“I need to know how to fix this.”

I’d never felt so at risk of losing everything, so weak before. If my father were here he would be horrified at what he was witnessing.

“Let me ask you this…consider that you love her, and I don’t want to hear that you don’t love. Imagine if you knew you loved her, what the hell is holding you back from claiming what’s yours?”

I thought about it, and it almost blew me over with how angry I was that no one consulted me before they sent her away.

“I can see by the rage in your eyes that you understand what I’m trying to say. If it were me, there’s nothing on this Earth that would stop me from breaking some bones, shooting some assholes and taking what’s mine.”

“You know what, Cooper, you’re right. I’ve lost sight of who I really am. I think it’s time to bring out the asshole my dad raised and wreak some fucking havoc.”

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” Ace lifted his glass up and downed the rest of his drink while I figured out what to do first.

Killian.

He was going to do exactly what I asked or I was going to make his life a living fucking hell, and being the older brother, I could most definitely do that.

I finished my drink, with a new plan to take back my city, my empire and my woman…after a solid 8 hours sleep because I was in fucking agony right now.

“Percy?” I called out as I headed down what felt like the same corridor for the fifth time only to end up in a different part of the boat. How fucking big was this thing?

A door opened and a beautiful woman smiled over at me. “Are you lost?”

I nodded, unsure of whether or not I should trust her. She seemed nice enough but I had to remember that I was undercover. Surely there were people on this boat that could be leaking information back to those Percy was trying to take out.

“My name is Ebony,” she smiled, her dark hair reminding me of a raven. It was long and hung over her shoulder in a side plait. “I can take you to Perce.”

“Thank you.”

She linked her arm through mine and led me down the corridor I just came from, then opened a latch on a door I thought was there for decoration.

“I’m not sure how you got down this far,” Ebony said. “Most of the girls don’t travel around as freely. I guess not all of them have the courage you do.”

“You think I have courage?”

She urged me forward and I climbed up a stairwell until I was out on a familiar corridor. Ebony was close behind and linked her arm with mine again.

“I know you have something about you,” she said. “After all, how else could you possibly hook Lorcan O’Farrell?”

My mind raced at his name, my heart hammering in my chest, wishing like anything I could be near him. The feeling confused me more than I cared to admit, but for now, I needed to keep myself straight. I had a job to do.

“You know Lorcan?”

She nodded. “Yes, he and my Jett have business from time to time. He’s always been such a gentleman but I know a damaged man when I see one. It takes a strong woman to look past the damage and see the beauty…but once you do…what a beauty it is to behold.”

I knew there was something about Lorcan that made him the way he was. Teeghan had told me a little bit about it but how did I know he wasn’t just hoping for another Clementine? What if that’s what he thought of me as?

“Here you go,” she said, sweeping her arms out on the deck before us. It was larger than I remembered, gorgeous oak slats with a white table off to the left side, complete with chairs and a bench all around the side, with cushions along the edge of the boat if you wanted to sit out in the open. A long bench ran along the cover, with a fridge complete with a frosted glass window underneath, and several bottles of champagne in ice buckets.

“Wow, how rich is this black market business?”

“Oh you don’t want to know the answer to that, honey,” Ebony said. “Never mind though, this is all Percy’s family money anyway. He’d never profit off the black market, no matter how lucrative it might be.”

“You sound kind of let down by that,” I replied.

“Honey, this world is twisted and demented. If there’s money to be made, why not use that to rescue more girls? I don’t know…it seems like a wasted opportunity to me, but then again, I am crazy.”

She winked at me before she left me alone on the deck. I looked out at the blue water around us and wondered why he chose to live in the middle of the ocean rather than buying an island or something and living off that.

“Ah, Bridget,” I heard Percy say. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry,” I found myself feeling a little overwhelmed all of a sudden. “I…don’t even know why I left my room.”

“You’re welcome to,” Percy said, putting his hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture. “You’re not a prisoner here. Are you hungry?”

I looked over at the bench that served as a kitchen and shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“Whoa,” Percy said, taking me by the hand and leading me over to the seats by the table. “Take a deep breath, you’re going to pass out.”

“I just…don’t know how to do any of this.”

“Don’t lose control of yourself,” he said, “You don’t need to do anything, Bridget. The whole reason you’re here was to get away from your father. You’ve done that. They aren’t looking for you anymore. Just stay here on the boat for a couple of weeks, you can stay in your room if you want, or sunbathe naked on the deck, honestly there’s no real harm in doing nothing. Then I’ll return you to Lorcan.”

He was so comforting, it made me think of Lorcan. He was tough on the exterior but internally, he was a giant teddy bear and I knew that. I missed that.

It was just so easy with him. I didn’t have to pretend to be anyone else. I could just be me, not to mention the way he said Bridget had my insides doing flips.

“We may have a problem,” Halen said from behind. I turned around to see him looking very aggravated. “We have someone coming to visit with Bridget.”

“Who?” Percy stood instantly. “Tell them she’s been sold off.”

“He’s already on the way. If we’re going to do that, we need to give him a name.”

“Who is it?”

“Ethan Darcy.”

I felt the name send chills down my spine. My husband. Well, the man I was forced to marry so my father could bring him into the fold. He was a malicious asshole who wanted nothing but to hurt women. He’d once threatened to use me as a bargaining chip with his allies, to tempt them into business with my body. It was not long after the first threat that I’d run.

If he was coming here, I knew it wasn’t going to be good but I also didn’t want Percy’s cover to be blown. He was doing good work here.

“It’s fine. Chain me up in a room you don’t normally use.”

“Are you sure?” Percy asked. “We can simply hide you.”

“No, he won’t buy that. He needs to see me in pain.”

Halen nodded. “Thatta girl. Come with me.”

“Wait…”

Percy came over to me and put his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “Are you truly sure?”

I nodded, somehow. My body didn’t want to agree but I knew I had to. “Yes.”

“Can you ask Ebony to come and see me?”

Percy frowned, probably unsure why but he didn’t need to know.

Halen took me down a hallway and into a room I’d not been in before. It was sparse, with a few boxes off to the side.

“I’ll get Ebony and some handcuffs.”

“Chains,” I corrected him. “I need to be chained so I can’t move.”

“He’ll demand time with you,” Halen said. “These types always do. If you can’t move, you can’t rebuff him.”

“I’m aware,” I told him. He looked me deep in the eye for a few minutes before he nodded and left the room. I looked around to see if I could make it like I’d tried to escape but it was already a bare room, with no window. This would be where you would hold someone if you wanted to keep them hidden and out of the way.

Ebony moved into the room, and from the look in her eye, I could tell she’d been briefed. “We could kill him.”

Her response was immediate and made me smirk. “If it were that easy, I’d have done it. His death brings a lot more drama than its worth.”

“Typical male ego,” she replied. “What did you want from me?”

“I need you to beat me up,” I told her.

“What?”

“I need you to make it look like I fought and need to be chained. Nothing on the face, other than a bloody lip I guess.”

“You already have a cut on your lip,” she said. “Why me?”

“I can tell you know why I’m asking, you know the dark side of men, and honestly, women know what they need to do more than men. Percy and Halen wouldn’t do that. They won’t lay a hand on me. Ethan needs to buy that I’m in captivity and being sold off.”

Ebony nodded. “You’re a tough bitch, you know that? Sure. Where?”

“Ribs, back, legs. Wherever.”

“Get on your knees,” she said.

I did as she asked and braced myself for the assault but it never came. When I opened my eyes, I watched her fist land into my side, taking the breath from me. I tried to suck in a shocked gasp of air but it hurt too much. I leaned over to open my diaphragm.

Just as I was about to push myself up, I felt her kick me on the other side. I gasped for air as she held me down, opening my diaphragm more.

“One more,” she whispered. I braced for it but again, nothing happened until I looked up and she slapped me so hard, I felt my entire face move to the side. The sting from the slap was overwhelming as I gasped, tears rolling down my cheeks.

“You’ll be feeling that for a while,” she said. “Wheezing is good, that hand will show up on your face soon, so that’ll show him you ain’t in a luxury pad, even though you are. One word and I’ll end him.”

“I have to do this.”

“Okay,” she said. “I will do what I can for you.”

I nodded, and tried to stop the sobs that were coming. Halen came back into the room after Ebony left and looked at me on my knees.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” I wheezed. “I did something to make it believable. Now chain me up tight.”

“God, Bridget, this guy is a freakin’ asshole. I’ve dealt with his type before. Are you sure you don’t want us to hide you?”

“Chain me up,” I told him.

Halen let out a frustrated breath and moved around me, clasping heavy chains to a cuff on my wrist and then linking it over the pipe above me before clasping it over the other cuff and attaching to the pipes on the other side of the wall.

“Try and move your arms.”

I did but they stayed put, each arm spread out, holding me up.

“Stand up.”

“Why?”

“It’s more torture if you stand than kneel.”

I nodded, allowing him to help me to my feet. He pulled the chains tighter so that they held me up and my weight was off me.

“He’s close now,” Halen said. “Percy will speak to him, see if he can dissuade him from coming to see you but if he offers money, we have to take it and let him in.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

Halen left the room, closing the door with a resounding click and leaving me chained and in pain from the kicks. My face was burning from the slap, my tears drying on the heat of my cheek.

I could hear nothing but the thunderous blood pumping through my veins. It was almost deafening as I waited on bated breath for that door to open.

There was no way Ethan would come all this way unless he wanted to see me. This was the only way I could see to help. I had to face this.

After what felt like an hour, I heard the click of my door and it opened. Ethan’s shit eating grin was present, Percy at his back. Ethan threw the bundled money at him and closed the door on his face.

“Looks like they’re keeping you in excellent condition,” Ethan said, his voice grating on my nerves. I was lucky I’d asked them to bind me, else I would launch at him. “Ah, Bridgie, it’s so good to see you in chains. If I knew you weren’t such a flight risk, I’d fork out the money for you now and take my time ripping you apart, piece by delicious piece until there was nothing left of you, but I’ll let you live in some disgusting fat sheikh’s hold, or maybe a serial killer. A lot of them are looking on the black market for targets now and since you don’t have a family anymore…no one will know.”

I felt nauseated with every one of his poisonous words coming at me. It ignited my rage.

“That cheek looks mighty sore,” he said, putting his hand on my chin and moving my face to the side harshly. I hissed in response as his thumb pushed into my cheek hard. “Have you been a little bitch to your captors?”

I tried to breathe out of my nose but when he got closer and I inhaled his obnoxious and heady cologne, I wanted to gag.

“Hmmm, it’s a shame they bruised this pretty face,” he said, getting closer. His fingers dug into my jaw but I wouldn’t cry out. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction. “It’s a shame it belongs to such a cunt.”

He closed the distance between us and licked up the side of my face, over my eyelashes and back down my heated cheek. He left a trail of saliva on my face without the ability to wipe it off.

“I paid good money just now, money I could have put down for a whore,” he said, as he moved around me to stand behind me. I was shaking in anger at his words. “I could have a little taste of what’s mine still, after all, you are a paid for hire whore now.”

He gripped my hip, moving his hands underneath, his soft fingers grazing over my sensitive flesh. I wanted to throw up at his touch, but I didn’t want to give him a reason to rejoice. He didn’t deserve it.

His fingers grazed over the button of my jeans and undid it. I tried to jangle the chains to alert someone outside to intervene but they were pulled tight, just as I had asked. The cuffs around my wrist cut against my wrist, but didn’t move. He pulled my jeans over my hips, baring my skin.

“Ah, quite the lacy underwear you have on,” he whispered in my ear. His breath on the sensitive bit of my ear had my body shaking. “Who is that for?”

I bit my lip so I didn’t speak. I could taste blood on my tongue from how hard I was biting down as he moved the elastic of my panties over my ass and bared it.

“Such a perfect ass,” he said, smoothing his hands over it. “It’s a shame to let this go.”

He grabbed a handful of my flesh and squeezed.

“Fuck, one more fuck would be worth it with you chained like this, I could do the one thing I’ve always wanted to and cum in this ass.”

Tears fell down my cheeks, soundlessly, as I realised there was nothing I could do to stop him.

I closed my eyes and waited for whatever he wanted to do to take place because at the end of the day, I’d make damn sure he got what was coming to him later.

For now, I needed to find an inner place to go and survive this.

Because I knew I had it in me to survive.

I held the gun up to the guy’s face to show him I wasn’t playing games, and the other hand was out, waiting for the keys.

He backed up, his hands in the air as he looked over at the wall of keys to the boats he had outside.

“Kill, get one of them.”

He did, grabbing the keys to the speedboat.

“Was that so fucking hard?” I asked, feeling my anger rise quickly. I moved the position of the gun and shot his foot. He let out a howl of pain as he tried to hold it before I grabbed the keys off Killian and marched toward the dock.

“You could have finished him off,” Killian said.

“No time,” I told him. “I need to get on that damn boat before she does something stupid.”

Killian, Conor and Jye were behind me as I located the boat and jumped up. They took care of the mooring as I located the ignition and pushed the boat out of the marina and toward the open water. From what I’d been told, Percy kept himself well away from any land to ensure he could continue to live without being arrested. It was going to take us a while to find him, but I knew the general direction he stayed in.

“Get ready,” I yelled over the sound of the crashing waves against the front of the boat as I sped through the water. “Once we get on board, I’m shooting any motherfucker who gets in our way.”

“Percy is an ally,” Conor yelled.

“If he stands in my way, he’s a fucking enemy,” I yelled back at him. “Tell me…would you allow anyone to do this to Tee?”

His face contorted into anger at the mention of his woman who he hadn’t seen in weeks. “No.”

“Then shut the fuck up,” I yelled as I pushed the lever down on the boat to floor it. We were bouncing on the waves and landing hard, but within a few minutes, I saw that the land was disappearing and a boat was coming into view in the distance.

“We keep this speed up,” Jye yelled. “We’ll be there in five minutes.”

I fucking hoped so, my mind was going to all kinds of dark places knowing she was on that damn boat.

As we neared the yacht, I slowed down and looked for the side of the boat to hook the rope onto. The super yacht was an expensive luxury boat, but it also meant getting onto it was ridiculously easy. Conor, Killian and Jye all readied themselves to jump on board as I pulled up beside it. Immediately, I heard the pop of guns being loaded on the deck. I grabbed my own gun and pulled it from my waistband as I jumped up, ready to face whatever the fuck was coming. Halen, a good friend of ours came forward, his gun aimed at my head before he dropped it.

“What the fuck, Lor?”

“Where is she?”

Halen had the good grace to look a little worried as he put his gun in his holster. “Look, she offered to help us.”

“I’m getting really sick and tired of people telling me that,” I said through gritted teeth. “Friend or not, you tell me where she is or I’ll put a fucking bullet through yours and your brother’s head.”

“Down the corridor,” he pointed behind him. “Third door on the left.”

Halen moved out of the way and told his men to drop their guns. Percy came out of the corridor, trying to block my entry.

“Don’t go in there,” he warned me. “I’ll bring her out to you.”

I brought my gun up and shot beside Percy’s head. He barely ducked as the shot whizzed past his head and into the side of the panel of the corridor.

“Move or the next one goes between your eyes.”

He hesitated for a moment before he moved, and I headed down the corridor with Killian at my back while Jye and Conor stayed on the deck. My heart was in my chest, and my rage was forcing me forward. We got to the door and I pushed down on the metal lever and released the door, pushing it in.

I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t what I was looking at. The man I knew to be Ethan Darcy was scrambling to get back from a near naked Bridget as she was strung up with chains.

I didn’t allow him the time to speak as he tried to hold his hands up, I shot him directly through the eyes, watching his body fall back against the wall, dead. He slunk to the ground as I shot at the chains holding Bridget up. I ran to catch her as the chains released her and she looked up at me, her gaze wide-eyed and wet from tears. I shot at the other chain and released her from them as I grabbed her, yanked her jeans up to cover her ass and threw her over my shoulder, and headed out, back to the deck.

“Killian, get her on the boat,” I growled. My brother did as he was asked and helped her down onto the boat waiting for us. Conor and Jye waited, keeping their guns trained on the men protecting Halen and Percy.

Percy took control, stepping in front of his brother to protect him. I would have done the same thing, I could see he was only acting in the best interest of his family, which softened me a little. The sight of seeing my woman strung up like that and nearly naked with the man who had tortured me, well, that had broken something deep inside of me that I may never get back.

“I am only leaving this boat without taking any more men with me, because I know what you do for the world. I so much as hear your motherfucking name again, and I’ll come out here with a fucking army and blow your shit up, understand?”

Percy was slow to nod, but he did.

“Let’s go, boys,” I called out, not taking my eyes off Percy until I jumped down onto the boat and Killian drove us away from them and back toward land. Taking a shaking and whimpering Bridget into my arms, I swore right here and now, I would beat, maim and kill anyone who so much as dared to look at her again.

“What now?” I heard her ask as we neared the marina.

“Now,” I said, setting my sights on what we still had to do. “Now, we take back what’s ours and show them exactly why no one messes with the fucking O’Farrell’s.”