Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
I scream his name, the heartbreaking sound of my anguish echoing across the room as tears stream down my face. The room falls silent, and all eyes are on me. He’s come for me. He’s here. I look around the room. Where is Seamus? Has he not come?
My feet move to go to him, forgetting for a moment we are in the middle of one of the most secure places in the city, and it is filled to the brim with guns and mafiosos. Growling, the guard behind me grabs a fistful of my hair, pulling me back in line.
“Kiernan!” My heart clenches painfully when his emerald eyes meet mine.
The warmth I’ve seen in them over the past week is gone, replaced by a cool indifference I saw the night of the gala.
I bring my hands up to grasp the one in my hair, pivoting on my heels so my shoulder knocks into his arm.
This gives me the chance to stomp my foot down on his and plant one of my elbows in his gut.
The goon releases my hair when he stumbles back.
My freedom is short-lived. As I dive forward, a strong arm wraps around my waist, hauling me back into a chest.
“Let me go!” I screech. “Please. Kiernan.”
I claw at the arms of the one holding me, unaware of my surroundings.
In my panicked state, I’ve missed someone coming up on my side with a syringe.
I wince at the sudden prick in my arm, and within moments, my body begins to relax without my permission.
The guard loosens his hold on me before stepping back.
A desperate sob catches in my throat as I sink back to my knees, hands clutching at my chest as the man I’d given my heart to approaches the stage. He whispers something to Tatem, who nods before taking a step back.
“Hello, mo fraochún beag.” His smile is twisted and cruel. I stare up at him, casting him a scathing look and spit at his feet.
“Fuck you, Kavanaugh,” I hiss. Kiernan’s jaw clenches. “I trusted you.”
The laugh he gives me is mirthless, void of any emotion, just like I will soon be.
“It was too easy to get you to trust us,” he whispers darkly.
“Na?ve little girl who just wanted to be loved for the first time in her life. So desperate for affection that she took it from anywhere she could. Including the two men who kidnapped her.”
Through the haze of cigar smoke and the sound of cruel laughter, his words echo in my head like a bad Cardi B song stuck on repeat.
So desperate for affection… He isn’t wrong.
I just can’t believe he said it. Any hope I’ve held on to that this is all part of the plan dies with those words.
He took my darkest secret and threw it back at me like it meant nothing.
I shared that with them in confidence, thinking I could trust them.
He’s right. I’m na?ve.
And now I’ll pay the price.
“Don’t worry,” he chuckles, “Crowe has got a nice buyer all lined up for Eriksen’s whore of a daughter.
I hear he’s really into sharing, too, and you were so good at taking us both.
Weren’t you?” He runs a finger down my wet cheek.
“If I would have known we had Toph Eriksen’s daughter under our roof, your stay might’ve been a little less cozy. ”
Callous laughter surrounds me, filling my ears until I feel like they’ll bleed.
He’s letting Crowe sell me.
The stone in my stomach plummets, and I can’t draw a full breath in. They’ve done it. They’ve actually let me be sold.
But to whom?
“She’s all yours now.” Kiernan takes a step back to reveal the last person I think I’d see.
“Lina,” I breathe. But she doesn’t look like Lina. Not anymore. The soft glow of her face is hardened and narrowed. She stands taller, her shoulders back, head held high. A far cry from the meek but headstrong woman who mentored me through my career.
“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” she sneers at me, her lips curling up into an angry snarl. “Had to go poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
I blink up at her. The drug Tatem gave me is starting to hit me harder. “I’ve been trying to find you.” Disbelief is no doubt my current facial expression. At least I think it is. I am having a hard time controlling my facial muscles. Whatever they gave me is trippy. “I thought…” What did I think?
Lina laughs heartlessly. “You really are na?ve, little princess.” She shakes her head. “I don’t need saving. If anyone needs saving, it is you. You couldn’t leave well enough alone. Had to stir up a whole bunch of shit.”
What? I don’t stir anything up… do I? Maybe I do.
Wait… what are we talking about?
“Looks like your drug is finally starting to work.” Lina cocks her head, studying me.
Huh, why do I feel so warm and fuzzy inside?
Medications have always been touch and go with me.
My body usually takes a while to absorb most sedatives and pain medication, meaning that it takes longer for them to kick in, and when they do, it’s never all that pleasant.
“Victor,” she barks, the sound floating in the air before my eyes. I snort. You can’t see sound… can you? “Get her loaded up in the car and don’t let her escape.”
I wonder if it can be felt.
Maybe. Maybe not.
A sliver of laughter slips through me, and then a hysterical giggle. The burly mountain man named Victor slings me over his shoulder, and I giggle again, smiling at the lights that dance across my vision in rhythm with the music that vibrates through the floor.
My gaze catches Kiernan’s, and suddenly, the lights darken and the tune grows sad.
He looks sad. His brow is furrowed, and his hands are clenching and unclenching at his sides.
It is one of his tells when he wants to punch someone.
Lina stands by his side, facing away from me, whispering in his ear.
If only I could shoot daggers into her back.
Fucking Judas.
Traitors.
Assholes.
Betrayers.
I let out a heart-wrenching sob as the bitter dagger of betrayal twists deeper into my heart, and then I know nothing at all.