22. Keir
Keir
S hoving my phone back into my pocket, I stormed toward the wing Gael had let us use, hating that I wouldn’t be able to tell Molly anything of use.
I’d called dozens of my contacts, and none of them had heard anything about Orla being taken or held.
It was like a ghost had snatched her clean off the face of the earth.
I knew it was bullshit. Nobody can disappear like that.
There was always a trail left behind, but it was as if Orla didn’t exist in the first place.
Tearing through the doors of the suite, I let my gaze settle on Mila, who was stretched out on the chaise lounge, a discarded plate sitting on the edge of the table.
“Where the fuck is she?”
Mila sat up, having the fucking audacity to glare at me. “Umm, rude. I was asleep.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you were doing. The only reason you’re here is because I allowed it. Now, where the fuck is Molly?”
The Bratva princess had the audacity to laugh. “Oh, you have it bad.”
I narrowed my eyes and pulled out my gun, leveling it at her. “Where. Is. She?”
Mila held up her hands in surrender. “Calm down, I thought she went to find you.”
I took off the safety as I stepped closer; I was in no mood for games.
Besides, my anger bared its teeth, sparked by the dark terror that Molly wasn’t currently within my line of sight.
Fuck, the princess was right though, I had it fucking bad for Molly.
I had no idea when she’d slipped between the cage of my ribs and took up residence in my soul.
Lowering my Glock, I inhaled deeply and let it out. “When did you last see her?” Maybe she was somewhere else in the compound, although I’d have hoped she wouldn’t have been so stupid as to walk around without me.
“Before I took my nap,” Mila replied sullenly.
“ When did you take a nap?” I bit out.
The woman glanced over at the mantel clock and shrugged. “Maybe an hour ago?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Molly was unaccounted for and had been gone for an hour. Stalking through the door, I went in search of her, checking the kitchen, the living room, and any other room that didn’t have a locked door.
“Can I help you find something?” Gael asked from behind me.
I spun to face the Sionnach Boss, finding him in the library doorway, a tumbler of whiskey in his hand.
“Have you seen Molly?”
He arched a brow, the move pulling at his scar. “Why would I have seen her?”
“She’s not in the suite.”
“And you think she’s somewhere else in the house?”
“I don’t know where else she could be,” I admitted, swallowing my pride. “What about Owen? Is he around? Maybe he’s seen her?” My stomach twisted into a knot at the thought of Owen having anything to do with Molly, his earlier comments still nagging at the back of my mind.
“Owen left with Rían a couple of hours ago.”
“Where did he go?”
Gael looked me over, suspicion in his blue eyes. “He said he had some clan business to take care of.”
“Clan business,” I muttered. “Did he say where?”
Gael shook his head, taking a sip of whiskey. “I don’t see what business it would be of yours.”
It wasn’t. “Just want to know where she is.”
The Clan Boss’s gaze locked unwaveringly on my face. Hyper-focused. “My wife got me this twisted up too.”
“I’m not twisted up over a piece of arse.”
Pushing off the wall, he wandered into the room, finally turning his attention away from me and to the book-lined shelves around the perimeter. “Did you know this room used to be my smoking room?”
“No,” I replied, my jaw clenched. I was pissed off he wasn’t answering my questions. Not that he had to answer them, but I’d hoped he would.
“My wife loved to read. Mostly fluffy romance shit where the hero had a perfect body, a twelve-inch dick, and was emotionally available. I was under no illusions that this life was not a hard one, and my Taggy craved the escape. I built her this room so she would have somewhere to disappear to when my life encroached.”
He pulled out one paperback that was battered around the edges, the spine cracked. He stared at the cover fondly. “This was one of her favorites. She said she liked the anti-hero in it.” A small, nostalgic smile played on his lips. “Told me he reminded her of me.”
“Gael.” I didn’t miss the desperation in my voice and I hated the weakness I was showing, but finding Molly was more important than my pride.
He replaced the book and sighed. “I don’t know where my son is.”
The admission looked like it hurt him.
If the Clan Boss didn’t know where his own son was, then what hope did I have of finding out?
“I take it this isn’t the first time she’s disappeared?” Gael asked.
“No,” I replied. “It’s not.” Pulling out my phone, I logged into the tracking app I’d installed onto Molly’s phone after I took her back to Oranmore. She had her phone on her, the beacon letting me know she was north of the compound.
“Does Naul Village mean anything to you?” I asked Gael.
“It’s up near the border.”
The border with the Fiach Clan. Fuck. I left the library and the Sionnach Clan Boss and rushed through the front door, searching the parking area in front of the house.
“Fuck!” My Rover was gone, and I knew exactly who had taken it.
Glancing to the left, I saw another vehicle I could use.
Opening the door, I flipped down the sun visor, praying the Sionnach Clan did something similar to ours, always keeping the keys close in case of emergencies.
Starting the car, I gunned the engine and gravel spat from under the tires as I fishtailed out of the drive and into the street.
There were cars everywhere, making my ability to get out of the city quickly nearly impossible.
Doing some evasive driving, and taking risky turns, I raced from the city and made my way north through the back roads, just in case Sweeney had eyes in the territory.
I overtook one particularly slow driver around a small bend, only to panic when I saw a truck coming the other way. Wrenching on the wheel, I slipped in front of the slow-moving car easily, but my heart still thundered in my chest.
“Jesus, think you could get us up there without getting us killed?” someone said.
My eyes darted to the rearview mirror to find Mila’s head poking out from behind the back seat.
“Mila,” I barked. “What the fuck are you doing back there?”
She climbed over the back and between the two front seats, settling into the passenger side and pulling on her seatbelt.
“You going to answer my fucking question?”
She gave a sidelong look. “Think you could ask more nicely?”
My jaw clenched, and I took a breath to calm my nerves. “Mila,” I started, using a gentler voice. “Why were you in the back of the car?”
“I wasn’t about to stay in that house by myself while you went off to get Molly.”
“How—”
“It was a simple matter of deduction. She wasn’t in the compound. I hadn’t seen her in an hour. What other explanation could there be? I knew you’d go off all half-cocked, hence I climbed in the back of the nearest car.”
I shook my head, astounded at her ability to read the situation. “But I could’ve picked another car.”
“No, you couldn’t have. This was the only one that was unlocked and had the key.” She held up a handful of familiar looking key fobs looped in a row on her finger.
“You’re a fucking menace.”
She preened at my statement. “Thank you. Now, what’s the plan?”
I balked. “You aren’t helping me find her.”
“Why the fuck not? You need me.”
“Because I’m not putting you in danger.”
“How chivalrous,” she commented, a smirk lifting the side of her mouth. “But you forget that this sort of shit is what I’ve been trained for.”
I flashed her a glare. “You must’ve had a messed-up childhood.”
“You have no idea,” she replied, dumping the extra key fobs into the glove compartment and shutting it. “But seriously, you could use my help.”
Grunting, I kept my eyes on the road.
We drove in silence for a solid five minutes before Mila spoke again. “You know you need me.”
“Only if I need someone’s leg shot to pieces.”
Throwing her hair over her shoulder, she said, “I am a pretty good shot, aren’t I?”
I left that question alone, but asked, “Won’t your father be pissed when he finds out you’re missing?”
She shrugged. “Probably.”
“What about your mother? Did she sanction this?”
Mila snorted. “It was my mother’s idea. She’s more ruthless than my father.”
“Would you want to return home once all this shit blows over?”
Turning to look out the window, she hummed. “Don’t know. There isn’t anything holding me there. Maybe I’ll stay here.”
I glanced at her. “In Ireland?”
“Maybe. Or perhaps I’ll just travel around for a bit.”
We had left Dublin, moving from the city into rural fields and farmhouses along the R road.
“Do you know where Molly is?”
“According to the tracking app I put on her phone, she’s up near the border.”
There was silence for a beat before Mila said, “Why does that make you so anxious?”
“What are you talking about?” I hated how she could read me so easily.
“The border. Why is that a big deal?”
I spared her a glance before looking back at the road. “It’s the border between this clan and the next.”
“And which clan is the next?”
“The Fiach Clan. The same one you were sold to. My enemy.”
Mila let out a strange, hitched breath. “Oh.” Leaning forward, she reached for something in the small of her back. “At least we have some firepower then.”
I glared at her and the two Glocks she was now waving around. “Where the fuck did you get those?”
“In the back. They had a whole concealed section.”
My narrowed gaze returned to the road as I muttered, “Couldn’t have been concealed that well.”
“I’ll have you know I’m the master at finding things that have been hidden.”
Holding back my scoff, I focused on navigating the winding roads and overtaking anyone who got in my way.
I didn’t know what we were walking into in Naul Village, or what sort of condition Molly would be in, but there was one thing I knew.
I would walk to the fucking ends of the earth to get her back, and if one hair on her head was harmed, my rage would be unleashed.