Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
CILLIAN
She’s ours, and the baby will be, too.
Liam’s words shocked me to my core.
My stomach churns just thinking about Isla with Liam or Dare instead of me, but when we’d all been in bed together, it’d been… sexy. Hot, actually. Ridiculously hot. I don’t think I’ve ever been so hard.
And I trust Dare and Liam with my life. I trust them to protect her, to make sure she and the baby have everything they’ll ever want.
Would it really be so bad to continue sharing her? We have been doing it for months now.
Dare still seems angry, but maybe that’s just the panic.
I know I’ve been losing my mind ever since Dare said she was taken.
Liam’s back to normal, for the most part, having straightened up as we arrive at his mansion.
He throws a set of keys to Dare. “Take the Rolls. Check out his mistress Viola’s place. I’ll take the other mistress’s house, and, Cill, you’ll check out the first warehouse. We’ll meet back up there in an hour and report our findings.”
I nod, and Liam and Dare head to the garage while I drive off.
Dare’s sent me a list of the warehouses, and I pick the first one on the list—a place on Fifth, right next to a coffee shop.
I don’t think she’ll be there, just because it’s close to other buildings, but at the same time, I’m hoping maybe Cormac is dumber than we give him credit for.
I screw the silencer on my gun before getting out of the car and starting to walk half a block to the warehouse. I keep my pace leisurely, but I still stick to the shadows where I can.
As I get to the warehouse, a semi-functional building, there are no cars outside. In itself, that doesn’t mean anything. The building is supposed to be empty during the night, so no surprise there.
Still, I breach the perimeter and approach the building, gun at the ready. I’ll take a look inside and make sure she isn’t here. Better safe than sorry.
Liam didn’t give us specific instructions on what to do if we crossed paths with Cormac’s men, but these people took my woman, our woman, so they are all going down, whether they had anything to do with it or not.
They should have picked someone else to work for.
I’m just sorry I can’t make it hurt more.
I have no time to waste; I need to find Isla.
As I’m checking around a corner to see if the coast is clear, a man steps out of the building and lights up a cigarette.
Those things will kill you.
Holstering my gun, I tiptoe behind him, and before he even has a chance to blow out the smoke he just inhaled, I grab his head and snap his neck. Why waste a bullet that might be useful later?
I hold the man under his arms and drag him around the corner I came from to a dark area. Someone will miss him soon enough, but there is no need to openly advertise I’m here just yet.
Moving like the ghost I learned to become, I approach the door the piece of shit came out of, gun at the ready again.
Now, to see if I hit jackpot or find out exactly what’s going on here.
After checking my surroundings once again to make sure no one will take me by surprise, I turn the doorknob and open the door slowly just enough that I can get my foot in.
With my gun in my right hand and the left one free for whatever is waiting for me inside, I use my foot to open the door wide enough so that I can check out what is happening inside.
One guy stands in front of me, a few feet away. He sways to a beat only he can hear, weighing little portions of white powder and bagging them. Chances are, he has earphones on, so I’ll leave him for last.
My eyes drift to the left. Nothing.
A couple of blinking lights show me exactly where the cameras are.
A sound to my right makes my eyes fly there.
Two guys are roughhousing as they play cards at a small table in a corner. The one with the lighter hair gets up and heads to a door at the end of the room.
Since there is no one else in the room at the moment, I take my chance.
A silent bullet lands in the middle of the forehead of the guy sitting at the table, his body dropping forward. The dancing queen doesn’t even flinch; just goes on with his show.
The cameras are next. Two shots, and they are out.
I slither into the room.
No more cameras are visible, so I holster my gun again and approach the dancer.
A snap to his neck, and down he goes.
A sound alerts me to someone approaching, and before my head is fully turned to see who it is, the person grabs me from behind.
Oh no, you don’t, fucker.
My head flies back. The pain piercing through the back of my head and the crunching sound that accompanies it let me know I hit my target.
The guy grunts, loosening his grip on me, and that is all I need.
Stomping down on his instep, I pull him over my shoulder, throwing him to the ground and kicking him in the face until he’s silent and still.
I don’t know if he's dead, but he's not getting up any time soon.
This is the fucker who was playing cards with the other one.
Looking around, there are two closed doors I need to check. Gun in my hand again, I start with the one this guy came out of.
I’ve wasted too long here already, so it’s time to wrap this up and move on to the next place if Isla isn’t here.
Turning the knob, I then use my foot again to open the door, keeping my gun pointed in front of me.
A small toilet. Empty.
Closing the door behind me, I move on to door number two, wondering if my prize is there.
Same drill, only to find an empty office this time.
I call our cleaning team, then call Liam.
“Getting to your location now.” He hangs up.
I look around at the three bodies that are now my only companions in this place.
Killing comes as naturally as blinking to me, and when Isla’s involved, it’s even worse.
A door opens, and footsteps echo through the space.
I point my gun toward the sound.
Liam and Cillian.
I groan. “I almost shot you two.”
“Sorry.” Dare looks around. “Any luck?”
“Lots of coke. No Isla.”
Liam sighs. “You called Michael yet?”
I nod. “Crew’s on the way. What about you guys? Find anything?”
There’s really no hope in my tone. If they’d found her, they wouldn’t be here, empty-handed, meeting up with me before the hour was up.
Dare shakes his head. “No, but Cormac’s mistress invited me in for coffee and tried to grab my dick.”
I snort, and even Liam cracks a smile. I guess we need the comedic relief.
Ever since Isla left, we’ve all been drowning. And when we finally got her back, they were both so torn up about her pregnancy. And while I was celebrating and they were soaking their sorrows in alcohol, fucking Cormac came and stole her from us.
My stomach twists.
Liam runs his hand through his hair. “She wasn't at Cicily’s, either. She says she hasn’t even seen Cormac in a month, and she seemed to be telling the truth.”
“What about the men you have looking for her? Any news?”
Liam shakes his head and huffs. “We got people on all the major warehouses and a few businesses of his, but so far, no sighting. I’m starting to think maybe we should look closer to home.”
I take a breath. “So, the Callahan mansion.”
He nods. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Dare looks between us, his eyes the darkest green I’ve ever seen them. “Shall we head there now and go for stealth, or regroup, call in the troops, and storm the place with the whole force of the clan?”
Liam doesn’t even hesitate. “Let’s regroup.
We need to make absolutely sure she is there before we storm in.
As soon as we have confirmation, Cormac will meet his maker, and he’s taking with him as many of his men as we can send off.
I’m sick of this shit, and it will never end while he is allowed to breathe. ”
I nod. “I parked half a block away. Shall we meet at the house?”
“We are close to you. Let’s go.”
I’m so ready to go get our girl back.
My experience in killing will come in handy. My plan is to off as many men as I possibly can. I never wanted to be a weapon, but that is what I am anyway. And as soon as we have the green light, the world will see me at my worst.
I should feel something about that, but I don’t. All I feel is ready. Ready to take them on. Ready to bring Isla home. Ready to have a chance at a life with the woman I love. Ready for the baby she is carrying. My baby. Our baby. Mine and the guys’.
Ready to rain hell on Cormac and his men.
I’m aching to get my hands on Cormac and take my time with him just for deigning to touch the woman I love. Aching to make him hurt.
The cleaning crew arrives as we are walking out.
Liam walks up to him. “Hey, Michael.”
“Hey, boss.”
“While you’re cleaning the unpleasantness, box everything else up and send it to our warehouse by the river. I want this place clean as a whistle with no trace of what or who was here.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Michael waves for his guys to get started.
I walk along next to Liam down the street toward our cars. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll start a war?”
“I hope it does.”
So, Liam is on the same page as me.
Dare doesn’t respond, quieter than his usual gregarious self. At least he cracked a joke back there. It was the first glimpse of the real Dare I’ve seen since Isla went missing the first time.
Coming here was a waste of time. There’s no way that Cormac would keep who he believes to be Maggie Sullivan in one of his warehouses, but I’d hoped…
Because if she’s at his mansion, God knows what he’s doing to her.
Is she scared? Alone? Hungry?
I know how sassy she can be, so I’m worried he’s already hurt her. She wouldn’t tell him that she’s pregnant, I assume, but it’s not like he’d care if he knew.
Cormac Callahan isn’t just Ronan’s enemy. He’s everyone’s enemy. Dare informed me and Liam that Isla’s father, Ryan, had done some work with him and done him rotten.
Is that why he took her?
I don’t think so. That would have been twenty years ago, and I don’t think even Cormac holds that much of a grudge.
I think, like us, he’s convinced she’s Maggie Sullivan, and he thinks she’s turned on him because she hasn’t been feeding him information.
God, what if she’s already dead? What if all our dreams are dashed?