Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“Trafficking...” Mom’s voice trembles. “What’s going on?”
“Like I said – war. When you were the mafia queen, you told me you became good at turning a blind eye, at doing what was necessary without asking questions. You granted that courtesy to Dad. Please do the same for me. I don’t want to scare you or Ellie, but this is bad.”
“Oh, Killian. I’ll make arrangements. We can be on a flight tonight. Ellie has been keen for another trip, anyway. But what about you?”
“I need to stay here. Somebody needs to clean this Family up. Thank you for not arguing, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too, son. Be safe.”
I’ll try. But I can’t say that to Mom, she’s already lost one loved one. “I will.”
Hanging up, I shoot Ronan a text, asking if Lucy is okay. He replies she is. She and her friend are still talking in her bedroom.
I start the engine, heading out of the city, part of me wishing I could take Lucy and leave for good... not that she’d want to come with me now.
Nine
LUCY
“Are you going to physically stop me from opening the bakery?” I challenge Ronan the next morning.
“No, of course not, but—”
“Then I’m opening,” I snap. “I haven’t worked this hard for this long to let the mob beat me down. Shane has been trying to break me for months, and I haven’t let him. I haven’t let my customers see the fear or the pain or any of it, and I will not start now. Are we clear?”
Before waiting for an answer, I walk downstairs, leaving the apartment behind and letting that work mode fall over me. It’s time to focus. It’s time to forget about everything else. Before Mom passed, I promised her I’d make The Celtic Crust a success.
I unlock the front door and flip the closed sign to open. A moment later, a familiar figure walks across the street. My belly goes tight and tingly, like it always does when he approaches, but it’s for different reasons this time. Killian wears a shirt, sleeves rolled up, faded blue jeans, despite the cold.
When he pushes the door open, I take a step back. He stops. “I will not hurt you.”
“I never said you were.”
He runs a hand through his light blonde hair, seeming on edge. Too much caffeine and not enough sleep, maybe. “You didn’t have to. You’re looking at me like I’m some kind of animal.”
“Can you blame me?”
“That’s fair,” he grunts. “But I’m not here to justify myself. I’m here to tell you... your trip to Ireland is coming sooner than you thought. Today, in fact. You’ll get a first-class ticket, all the excursions you want, all the museums and the nature walks and—”
“No,” I cut in.
He clenches his fists, his forearms swelling with muscle, his chest seeming to expand. He’s never looked so powerful, never looked so intimidating. The morning sunlight shafts through the window against his pale hair, seeming to form a crown of light.
I’m not dealing with the restaurateur anymore. I’m dealing with the mafia prince.
“No?” he snaps.
“You heard me.” I fold my arms. His gaze flits to my neck... to the place where the pendant normally sits. He looks hurt by its absence. “Before Mom passed, I promised her I wouldn’t let the mob ruin her business. That’s a promise I intend to keep. I’m not running from them.”
“Lucy...” He takes my hands, holds them tightly. “Be reasonable. I can’t let you stay here.”
“It’s not your place to let me do anything,” I tell him. “Unless you’re going to kidnap me – traffic me...”
He groans and wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him. His heat pushes through his shirt and presses against me, every inch of me warming. “If I had any clue what Shane was doing to you, I would’ve put a bullet in his head months ago. If I knew about that other crap, I would’ve torn the whole Family down when I had the chance.”
“So you won’t force me to leave, then?”
He leans down, our faces so close that his warm breath shivers over me. Somehow, my hands find their way to his shoulders, gripping tightly as if he can save me... again.
“It’s for your own good,” he says. “If something happened to you, I couldn’t forgive myself.”
“Why? We’re strangers.”
“Is that really what you think?” he whispers. “You haven’t felt like a stranger since the moment I walked in here…”
I place my hand on his chest as he leans in further, knowing where this is going, both wanting it and being terrified by the idea.
“What you did to Shane… have you done it to others?”
“Yes,” he snarls.
“Is that the real you, then?”
“This is the real me. This is what I really want.”
Months of pent-up tension erupt when he crashes his lips against mine. For a moment, everything else disappears, stops mattering. Stops existing, even. I open my mouth to taste him, my tongue finding his. He groans and pushes me against the counter, his manhood thick and hard against my belly.