24. Cormac
Chapter Twenty-Four
CORMAC
Lorcan’s message sits in the back of my mind like a splinter under my skin, invisible to anyone else, and yet impossible to ignore.
The whole drive home, I can practically hear his smug voice in my head, so sure he’s already won.
Fiona sits beside me, her phone still in her hand, staring blankly at the screen long after it goes dark. Her face is pale, and she looks shaken.
This is exactly what he wants. He wants to turn us against each other again, but I refuse to let that happen.
I reach across the console and take her hand.
She startles slightly, as if she had momentarily forgotten where she was. When she looks at me, her eyes are full of worry and guilt, but I give her hand a firm squeeze.
I make sure to keep my voice steady. “Everything’s going to be ok.”
I meant what I said when I told her I was choosing to trust her, and trust doesn’t mean shit if it only exists when things are easy.
Fiona’s hand is still in mine when we pull into the driveway, but the warmth of it can’t touch the cold settling in my gut.
I cut the engine. “I need to check in with my brothers.” I brush my thumb across her knuckles once before letting go of her hand. “Go inside and stay with Riley and Ciara.”
I head straight for Kieran’s office.
The bunker door slams shut behind me, sealing out the rest of the house. In this room is where we stop being brothers and start being the machine that will take down Lorcan.
Ronan stands at the table, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, studying a map on the tablet in front of him. He doesn’t look up right away.
Kieran is staring up at the wall of monitors where countless CCTV footages are being played from all over the city.
Brennan is leaning back in a chair, but the second he sees my face, his posture changes. “What happened?”
Kieran doesn’t turn around. “I knew this was a bad idea. You should’ve never gotten involved with her family—”
“It’s not that.” My tone is finally enough to get Ronan’s attention.
His gaze lifts to mine from across the room. “Talk.”
I hold Fiona’s phone. “We got a message from Lorcan.”
“Saying?”
“You’ve played a vital role in helping me bring Cormac and his brothers down. Therefore, your efforts will be rewarded.”
Ronan doesn’t react straight away. That’s always how you know it’s bad, when he goes quiet instead of angry.
Brennan swears under his breath. “That’s not a threat. That’s a fucking victory lap.”
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Kieran mutters under his breath.
Ronan turns to my older brother. “Kieran, I suggest you tighten the perimeter rotations and flag unusual traffic near all properties. Pull every location Lorcan’s ever touched. If he’s staging something, he’ll use familiar ground.”
Brennan cracks his neck before getting to his feet. “Do you want pressure put on his people?”
Ronan shakes his head. “Not yet. We don’t swing blind.”
I exhale slowly as I pocket the phone. “He wants us looking at Fiona. He wants us distracted.”
Ronan meets my eyes. “Then don’t be.”
Kieran curses. “We’re already behind.”
Ronan looks at us in turn. “So, we need to move faster. Lorcan doesn’t brag like this unless the damage is already done.”
The only problem is we don’t know where.
Ronan starts issuing more orders, and my brothers shift into motion around me.
Screens light up with maps, and Brennan starts making calls.
The machine is running now, and we will be able to get ahead of this.
It should make me feel better to be taking action, but it doesn’t because Ronan is right. This doesn’t feel like something is coming. It feels like something has already happened.
I need some space alone to think. “I’ll be upstairs.”
My brothers are too consumed by their own tasks to stop me.
The bunker door groans open, and I walk back into the house where life is continuing as normal.
I catch the sound of the twins crying in the living room and the low hum of chatter.
I sneak up the stairs and lock myself away in the office. I immediately drop into the chair and pull up security feeds, financial reports, shipping logs, anything Lorcan could have touched.
If there’s a crack, I’ll find it.
After a few hours, I have three different screens in front of me, all with maps, accounts and CCTV footage, and yet I see none of it.
I’m supposed to be tracking Lorcan’s network, trying to figure out where he’s positioned his men and guessing what his next move is, but instead, my brain keeps circling back to that damn text.
You’ve played a vital role in helping me bring Cormac and his brothers down.
The four of us are still alive and breathing, but for how much longer I can’t be sure.
Lorcan must have a plan in place, one that he’s confident enough in that he’s willing to preemptively reward Fiona. The only question is, what the hell is it?
My phone buzzes with an unknown number, which isn’t unusual given all of the contacts I’ve reached out to in the past couple of hours.
“This is Cormac.”
“I hear you’ve taken my grandson on a holiday.”
I swallow a curse.
It was only a matter of time before Adrian Smirnov wormed his way back into my life. If anything, I’m surprised he’s stayed away for this long.
“You hear a lot of things.”
“I would like to see him.”
There it is, a demand dressed as a request, one that I have no intention of indulging.
“Now isn’t the time.”
“I am his grandfather.”
“You’re a stranger to him,” I correct. “And right now, my son needs stability, especially considering the hell you put him through.”
“I have rights.”
I almost laugh. “You gave up those a long time ago.”
Silence stretches on the other end of the line, and I ball my hand into a fist.
I need to rein in my temper.
As much as I don’t want to admit it, Adrian Smirnov is a very serious enemy to have, and I can’t let this call turn into a pissing match.
I try to stay calm. “Look, if you’re willing to give it time, we can talk about you and Scout having a relationship further down the line.”
The lie falls easily from my tongue.
I will never willingly put Scout in the same room as the man who had his mother killed, but Adrian doesn’t need to know that yet.
“You’re asking for trust.”
“I’m asking for patience,” I clarify.
When Adrian says nothing, I continue. “Think about it and get back to me.”
I end the call before he has a chance to answer.
I stare at the dark screen, my reflection faint in the glass.
This isn’t going to go away. At some point, Scout is going to start asking even more questions, and I won’t be able to keep feeding him vague answers. Eventually, he is going to want the whole truth, and I need to be prepared for that.
The much stronger reality is that Scout might grow up to resent me for keeping his only living grandfather away from him, but how can I, in good conscience, let the man who murdered his mother back into his life?
I peel myself away from my computer long enough to put Scout to bed. I perch on the edge as he settles against the pillows, clutching his favorite stuffed dinosaur.
The nightlight casts soft streaks of light across the walls, and I can hear Riley quietly humming a song as she tries to get Aubrey to sleep in the next room.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Do you not like my granddad? Is that why he was a secret?”
My stomach drops, but I try to keep my expression neutral. “What do you mean?”
“You were on the phone.”
“What?”
“When you were in Uncle Kieran’s office.”
“How do you know that?”
Scout lowers his eyes, and I know from the guilty expression on his face that he was eavesdropping.
“Scout,” I press.
“I wanted to come and find you to show you my new high score on Mario Kart,” he mumbles. “I didn’t mean to listen, but you sounded angry and I…”
“And you what?”
“I was worried he was coming to take me away from you.”
No gun to my head has ever felt like this.
I force my voice to stay calm even though I want nothing more than to put my fist through a wall. “Just because he’s your grandfather doesn’t mean he’s going to be a part of your life.”
Scout considers this, then nods slowly. “I like our family. You and Fiona and Uncle Brennan, and even Uncle Ronan when he’s not being grumpy.”
I reach out to ruffle his hair. “Me too.”
Scout’s eyes brighten suddenly, all traces of tiredness gone in an instant. “Can I have ice cream?”
“You’ve just brushed your teeth.”
“Please?”
I shake my head, smiling despite everything. “One scoop, and that’s it. Don’t tell Fiona.”
Scout grins like we’re about to go and pull off a heist.
But as I watch him chatter over a bowl of vanilla ice cream, I know distractions like this won’t work forever.
One day, he’ll want the whole truth. The only problem is, I don’t know how to tell it without breaking something inside him.
Once Scout is finally asleep, I head down the hall and find Fiona in her room.
She looks up when I walk in, and for a second, we just stare at each other, the air thick with everything unsaid.
Then I’m crossing the room and lifting her into my arms, my mouth finding hers as I carry her over to the bed.
“Is everything okay?” she whispers against my lips.
I reach for the hem of her shirt. “I don’t want to talk.”
Fiona holds her arms up over her head, and I slowly peel off her clothes, letting myself focus on nothing but the feeling of her skin beneath my fingers.
She lays back against the pillows. “What do you want, Cormac?”
I admire her breasts, running my thumbs over the hard peaks of her nipples, trailing my hands down her waist and tugging at the waistband of her pants. “To bury my face between your thighs.”
Fiona’s eyes flutter closed as she leans back, letting me strip off the rest of her clothes. When she’s naked, I place my hands on her knees and slowly spread them apart to reveal her glistening pussy.
“You spoil me, Fi,” I growl before dipping my head between her thighs and running my tongue along her slit.
She gasps. “Trust me, the feeling is mutual.”
Her fingers sink into my hair, tugging hard enough to make me hiss, but I don’t want it to stop.