Chapter 44
DECEPTION
I have not slept in thirty-six hours!
My eyes burn, and my mind feels foggy, making it difficult to focus on anything. I don’t know how to feel. I’ve wanted Aiden Quinn behind bars for so long. I’ve wanted him off the streets and away from innocent people.
I got my wish, sort of, and I feel fucking miserable.
Katie discharged herself from the hospital as soon as she found out. We tracked her back to AJ’s house in Foxrock, where the cleaner refused to let us in, and Katie’s devastating howls could be heard from the floor above.
She was supposed to be married the day after she was abducted; now, on what should be her honeymoon, she finds out her fiancé was murdered in cold blood.
There are no words—not a single thing I could utter that could possibly ease the pain she must be feeling.
To make matters worse, David Walsh is in the wind.
He won’t last long. He has nowhere to run. He should hope that we catch him before AJ’s associates do. The clock is ticking, and justice will be served one way or another.
I have it on good authority that AJ’s younger brother Robbie has been caring for Katie since the news broke, so she is not completely alone in this difficult time. They have each other to weather the storm.
Pat Fitzgerald saunters into my office with his head stuck in a file. “It looks like Walsh purchased the warehouse about eighteen months ago.” He does not so much as look up from the papers as he speaks.
I groan and press my fingertips against my temples, trying to ease the throbbing pain. “Why would Walsh be interested in a warehouse?”
Pat finally looks up from the files, raising an eyebrow to acknowledge me. “You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?” I all but slam my head against the desk in frustration.
Pat opens his mouth to speak but is silenced by a loud knock on the door. “Results are back,” he says, his expression unreadable. I sit up straight, my curiosity piques as Pat reads the report, double takes, eyes bulging out of their sockets.
“What is it?” I demand.
He looks up at me, lips parted. “You’re not going to fucking believe this.”
* * *
éABHA
“Do you want to take the day off?” Craig asks, stepping out of his office for the umpteenth time today to check on me. His cinnamon brown hair falls into his eyes as he looks at me with concern.
I feel like dog shit; I look worse, but work is the only thing keeping me sane right now. “I’m good. I’m better off keeping busy.”
Jay practically kicks the door in; it seems to be his go to move as of late. “Have you heard?”
A sickening case of Deja vu washes over me as he makes a grab for the remote and turns on the news.
I don’t get a chance to ask as the volume increases, and I see the headline. The news anchor looks like she can taste the pay check on her lips as she speaks.
“Several bodies were pulled from the warehouse, all in various states of decomposition. The bodies are yet to be identified.”
I start to head towards the canteen. Jay’s arms engulf me and drag me back to continue watching the story.
“In a bizarre turn of events, the body believed to be that of Aiden Quinn has been identified as that of notorious drug lord David Walsh. While it is believed that Quinn could be among the unidentified bodies discovered in the warehouse, authorities are still investigating and have not confirmed his whereabouts.”
“It wasn’t Aiden…” I cannot believe what I’m hearing. It wasn’t Aiden who was pulled from the blaze, which means, “he’s still alive.”
* * *
MOORE
“What do you mean gone? Gone where?” How the fuck does an entire patrol lose a person?
“The house is empty; the car is gone. She could have just gone shopping.” The idiot on the other end of the line tells me. I don’t even know what arsehole I’m talking to. Garda O’Conner, like that’s not a common surname in Ireland!
Shopping me hole! Quinn is alive. I know it. As soon as I heard the report, I knew that the rat bastard had managed to wriggle his way free from the fire. If he is alive and Katie is now in the wind, it can only mean one thing: he came back for her.
“She could be on the next boat out of the fucking country!” I yell into the phone before hanging up and tear arseing my way to Robbie’s house.
* * *
KATIE
The wheels roll to a smooth halt at the Garda checkpoint just before the airport.
The lad on duty checks out my discs, all the while not-so-subtly glancing in the car looking for someone.
After one last glance at me, he scans my golden curls and piercing blue eyes before smirking and allowing me to pass.
I respond with a gentle smile and continue driving, listening to ‘Ain’t that a kick in the head’ softly playing as I navigate towards EIDW, Dublin airport, and park outside the hangar.
Killing the engine, I pull off the blonde wig, toss it onto the passenger seat and pop out my contacts before getting out of the car, grabbing the jacket from the back seat and popping open the trunk.
Aiden’s long limbs unfold gracefully as he steps out of the car, takes his suit jacket from my hand, and slides it on. “Ready to be my bride?”
“Always.” I smirk against his lips as he leans in to kiss me, the familiar scent of his cologne mixing with the faint smell of jet fuel in the air.
As we step onto the plane, Robbie, Ciara, Maria and Raven all turn to look at us, their smiles widening as they take in our appearance. Sandra is dosing comfortably in the seat beside Robbie.
I can forgive Raven for kidnapping Aiden, just like I forgave Jay and Craig for the video they sent to Detective Moore.
It turns out that the chubby guy with the bag on his head was David Walsh all along.
His men retaliated for his abduction by coming after me, thinking I knew where he was.
It makes sense now. They were never looking for Aiden; they were looking for their boss.
Raven and Mikey drugged Walsh and convinced Cillian their “friend” was drunk, paying him a large sum to give David Aiden’s exact Celtic knot sleeve tattoo. Aiden held him long enough, so he lost enough weight to be passable for a body double before he executed his plan spectacularly.
It is Walsh’s name on the warehouse documents. All the missing men linked to Walsh will be found in that warehouse alongside him.
Walsh’s voice on those tapes because Aiden had the good sense to record the bastard after he was captured and used snippets of the voice recordings to make everyone believe Walsh was behind the abduction.
Ciara keeps her voice low so Sandra does not overhear. “Won’t you be arrested when we come home?” She asks Aiden, no longer caring how dangerous he is after seeing the lengths he will go to to protect me.
He just shrugs in response, “Possibly. It was self-defence, they saw that for themselves.” Aiden leans across me, clipping in my seatbelt and lacing his fingers through mine.
“You never told me where we were going,” I nudge him, gratefully taking a flute of champagne from the flight attendant as the door is sealed shut and we begin to taxi down the runway.
“I’ve heard Hawaii is gorgeous this time of year,” he mumbles against my hand, kissing each individual knuckle as the plane lifts from the ground and begins its steady ascent into the pillowy clouds.
Raven’s eyes are fixed out the window; he almost chokes on his champagne when he catches sight of the flashing lights speeding across the motorway, some in the direction of the airport, others heading for the docklands.
“Moore is going to be pissed,” he chuckles lowly, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he takes another sip of champagne.
My eyes flit to Aiden’s bright greys. “You love the chaos you’ve caused.”
He smirks, his fingers tracing patterns on my palm. “I wouldn’t have had to tear the city apart if they didn’t try to take you from me, bug.” Aiden leans in closer, his lips brushing against mine as he whispers, “I’ll always protect what’s mine.”
He means every word of it.
I never thought I could be with anyone like Aiden.
I never thought that I could do the things I’ve done with him.
He has made me rethink who I am as a person. He has shown me what unconditional, all-consuming love is.
Now here we are, floating above the clouds, jetting off to be married abroad. His arm wrapped around me like a shield, promising to never let me go. He is everything I’ve always wanted and everything I never knew I needed. My safe haven. My partner in crime.
Aiden nuzzles into my neck, his stubble scratching my skin. “If I’m sent to prison, you’ll wait for me, right?”
“I’d wait forever for you, baby,” I grin, fusing our lips together. “But there is no way in hell that you’re going to be kept away from me for that long. Three days was long enough.”
He chuckles lowly, a deep rumbling sound. “Because you love me?”
I grin up at him, this brilliant, chaotic killer. “Aww, babe,” I playfully pout, squeezing his cheeks together. “I’m obsessed.”