Chapter Twenty
Charlie picked at her breakfast, not feeling much like eating.
She took a bite of the eggs out of principle.
With all the chaos going on, she needed her strength.
Waking up alone—again—had put her in a foul mood.
Add to that the fact that Keira wasn’t in her room and Liam wasn’t lurking at the bottom of the stairs like she was used to and she felt completely out of place.
The two men who worked in the kitchen took pity on her and threw together a late breakfast, even though it was obvious that they were on the way out the door. Now she sat alone, wishing she’d just gone back to sleep instead of coming downstairs.
Footsteps had her perking up, and for half a second, she thought the man who walked through the door was Aiden.
But then his features registered. Seamus.
She braced herself, but the contempt that appeared in his dark eyes still hit her hard enough that he might as well have reached across the kitchen island and slapped her.
Seamus O’Malley crossed his arms over his chest and looked her up and down—or at what he could see of her upper half. “At least my son has good taste, even if thinking with his dick has put our family in jeopardy.”
Even though she knew that was the part she played and a necessary one at that, irritation bloomed. “I happen to like his dick quite a bit. And you’ve already made your opinion known. Now you’re just being mean.”
He cocked his head to the side. “What I can’t figure out is how you got Liam on board. He’s usually the more levelheaded of the two, and he won’t hear a word spoken against you. Are you fucking him as well?”
Charlie carefully set aside her fork, because if she didn’t stop holding it right now, she’d throw it at him.
She pushed back her stool and stood. He was the same height as Aiden, so he towered over her, even with the table between them.
Every instinct she had screamed not to show Seamus her back.
She lifted her chin, refusing to let him intimidate her.
“If I was fucking him, it wouldn’t be any of your business. ”
“Wrong, girl. Anything and everything that happens in this house—with my children or my men—is my business.”
She widened her eyes and pressed a hand to her chest. “Your men? Oh my God, I’m sorry. I didn’t know Liam’s dick had your name tattooed across it.”
She expected him to come at her. Most straight men with anger issues couldn’t stand even the slightest homoerotic accusation leveled at them.
Seamus surprised her, though. He raised his eyebrows in an expression that almost perfectly mirrored the one Aiden had given her just hours before.
The similarity made her skin crawl. He shook his head.
“You aren’t doing yourself, or my son, any favors by continuing this charade.
You can’t make it in this life—your temper is going to get you both into hot water, and it’s Aiden who will have to get you out again.
” He reached into his jacket. “How much?”
“Excuse me?” She was still trying to process the lightning-fast change in his demeanor, and it took his pulling out a pen for her to understand what he meant. “You can’t pay me off.”
“I think we both know that’s not true.” He opened his checkbook.
“A hundred thousand should be enough, don’t you think?
” Seamus glanced at her. “Don’t look like I just kicked your puppy, girl.
You might love fucking my son, but you don’t love him.
Anyone with eyes can see that. Take the money and get something better than a bullet for your troubles. ”
She swallowed past a suddenly dry throat. This conversation was like barreling down a winding road in the middle of the night with no headlights. “Are you threatening me?”
“I don’t have to. Someone else already has your number, don’t they? Neither of my daughters have been attacked in over a year, and you come along and, within days, there’s a drive-by. Coincidence? I think we both know it’s not.”
“We both seem to know a whole lot, according to you.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand why you’re being difficult. Do you need more money?” He appeared to do some quick math in his head. “I can offer you a million, but not a penny more.”
Charlie stared. “You…You’re offering me a million dollars to break up with your son.”
“Insanity would be not taking it.” He straightened, replaced the checkbook, and adjusted his jacket.
“I can see that you need some time to mull it over. The offer stands.” He turned around and walked out of the kitchen, leaving her to stare after him and wonder what kind of rabbit hole she’d fallen down.
People didn’t do that. They didn’t offer to pay money to break up a couple they didn’t approve of.
Even worse was the tiny traitorous voice inside her whispering that this thing with Aiden wasn’t for real, so there shouldn’t be anything wrong if she decided to take the money and run.
Except there would be everything wrong with it.
She hadn’t agreed to this because of money. She did it because she wanted justice done. Or vengeance. Or both. At this point, she’d settle for Dmitri Romanov being taken out of the equation in any way.
The problem was that things had ceased to be that simple almost immediately.
She liked Aiden. She admired his strength in the face of impossible odds.
She liked his sense of humor, which she’d only gotten glimpses of before last night.
She liked how he made her feel…safe…even though she’d never been in more danger than in the last week and a half.
Charlie couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt safe.
The fact that she’d been shot at should negate that feeling.
Not to mention Aiden’s many masks. He actively manipulated the people around him by using their expectations of him against them.
As much as she wanted to believe that he dropped the mask around her, Charlie couldn’t be 100 percent sure of it.
He told her to trust her instincts, but her instincts hadn’t told her that men she’d considered brothers were dirty cops.
They hadn’t told her that her father would turn against her.
They hadn’t told her that she’d go and fall for Aiden O’Malley, a man who should be the enemy.
But he was so much more than the coldly calculating crime lord that she’d first met.
He had a bone-deep honor that might not fit with society’s standard, but it functioned in the world he moved within.
He loved his siblings, despite occasionally making decisions that hurt them—his bottom line to always keep them protected.
It was for that love and responsibility that he’d stepped into his father’s place as head of the family.
Who would have thought that Aiden would have more loyalty than both Charlie’s father and her brothers-in-arms?
She didn’t want to let him go. Not yet.
The mindless work of rinsing off her dishes in the sink did nothing to settle the feeling inside her, like one step wrong would send her hurtling off a cliff.
She felt guilty for even considering taking the money.
She was supposed to be the righteous one, and she was just as fallible as anyone else when push came to shove.
It wasn’t a comfortable thought.
She turned around and went still. “How much did you hear?”
“It’s a good deal.” Aiden stood in the exact same spot that his father had just a few minutes earlier, though the icy feeling his father managed to project was nowhere to be found. He looked calm—too calm. “A million dollars to end a relationship that wasn’t real to begin with.”
Hearing her treacherous thoughts come out of his mouth hurt.
A lot. Charlie started to wrap her arms around herself but stopped the motion halfway through.
This wasn’t who she was—this weak woman who went with the flow and didn’t dare stand against the current.
It used to be that she saw what she wanted, and God help anyone who tried to stand between her and her goal.
Everything she’d staked her life on—that Justice saw in black and white, and the good guys always won—had proved to be false, and reality had almost broken her.
She survived, but she’d lost part of herself in the process.
I want to be that woman again.
I want Aiden.
She walked slowly to him, studying his face like her very life depended on it.
Too calm. No expression showed, though he looked like he was holding his breath while waiting for her response.
He doesn’t want this to end any more than I do.
She wanted to believe that was the truth and not just another mask, but she was terrified she was wrong.
“It’s a good deal.” She stopped in front of him, close enough that it would be the simplest thing in the world to slip her arms around his neck and press against him. “Though I’m inclined to tell your father to fuck right off. Unless you want me to take it.”
He stepped into her, pulling her against him. “Fuck no, I don’t want you to take that deal. I want you to stay.” Aiden gently touched her bandaged arms. “Though you’d be safer accepting that money and getting the hell out of Boston—and New York.”
“Maybe.” But maybe not. There were a lot of things to fear from the world if someone looked closely enough, and she’d spent most of her adult life doing exactly that. The crime statistics in most major cities were enough to keep a person up at night.
She laid her head on Aiden’s shoulder and inhaled the clean woodsy scent of him. She had no business feeling safe in his arms, but that didn’t stop the sensation from curling around her again. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Charlie…” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re right. I’ve already set some things in motion to figure out who the responsible party is. It’ll be taken care of.”
It’ll be taken care of. Those words could only mean one thing.