Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“I’ll always want to go.” My voice sounded raspy as I fought back tears. I didn’t want to cry in front of these men. I closed my eyes and laid my head back on the seat.
The men spoke some, and I didn’t care to listen. I shut them out and thought of how, a week ago, I’d thought my life was perfect. If only I had known how fleeting it would be.
My eyes flew open from the jolt of the plane’s wheels touching the ground. I’d fallen asleep, thinking about Rome and what he was doing. Had he enjoyed seeing the baby? Did he know what it was now? Was he looking for me? Had they seen the ladder and rubber mattress on the back fence and realize I’d been taken, that I hadn’t run? All of those things were still weighing on me as I straightened in my seat.
Brady unbuckled and stood when we came to a stop, then clapped his hands together and let out a sigh of satisfaction. “It already feels better. The air is sweeter here.” He looked to the other men. “I’ll take Salem to the house and hand her over to Maeve to get settled in. Take the heli to the cave. I’ll be there in two hours.”
The heli, as in helicopter? Was the cave where they kept their secret drug stash?
What have you gotten me into, Eamon?
I’m sorry.
Me too.
Brady walked over to a closet and opened it, then took out a long, cream-colored wool coat. Bringing it toward me, he held it out. “We aren’t in Florida anymore. Yer gonna need this. It’s a bit chilly out today, but the sun is shining. That’s good for this time of year. Rain is most common at the moment.”
Great. Gloom to match my mood.
During the drive, Brady stayed busy on his phone while a man dressed in a black suit drove the Bentley that had been waiting on us when we got off the plane. The tall man was older than me, but not by much, with broad shoulders and a bald head.
He’d greeted Brady, “Mr. Murphy, sir, I hope yer flight was pleasant.”
Brady had replied, “It was, Alexander. But then it was coming home, wasn’t it? How could it not be?”
The man had smiled, then turned to me and greeted me as, “Mrs. Murphy.”
He knew who I was.
Did they all know already? Had they known who I was all along while I had no idea they existed?
Once we had settled in the vehicle, Brady offered me a cold bottle of sparkling water. I took it, but didn’t say anything. Not even a thank you.
He had flipped my world upside down and seemed happy about it.
I didn’t like him. He was nothing like Eamon. But then…Eamon had lied to me. Our entire relationship. Brady had been honest since the moment he’d grabbed me and forced me up a ladder. Perhaps I preferred Brady after all. Everything I had thought I had with Eamon was a facade. Completely fake.
Had he even loved me? Could you love someone and lie to them like he had me?
Staring out the window, I watched the trees and sprawling countryside pass us by until we turned down a road that seemed private. There were cattle out grazing near what looked to be the ruins of what I believed had once been a castle. It appeared ancient. Eamon had often spoken of Ireland and his plans to take me one day. I’d thought it sounded wonderful. It was ironic that when I finally saw it that there would be no enjoyment in it at all.
I turned to look straight ahead at an imposing white stone home or mansion—I wasn’t sure what it would properly be titled. I should have expected something like that. After the private plane my deceased husband had designed. However, this wasn’t new or designed by him. The house looked to be a couple of centuries old, although it was well kept and in excellent condition. Homes just weren’t built like that one any longer, and unlike America, I knew Europe was filled with buildings built several hundred years ago.
Pulling around the flat-stone-paved drive that made a circle around a water fountain of what I thought was a Greek goddess, but I wasn’t positive, the car stopped just beside the steps that led up to the front door.
“Beautiful, is it not?” Brady said, and I glanced at him to see his pleased expression. “Manleigh Hall,” he informed me. “It was built in 1775 and sits on three hundred acres. Not a prettier piece of land to be found in Ireland. Isn’t that right, Alexander?” He patted the back of the driver’s seat as Alexander opened the driver’s door to get out of the car.
“Right, sir,” he replied before exiting.
Brady pointed to a group of trees out to the right side of the house. “That one there in the middle. Doesn’t look like much now, but in a couple of months, it’ll become a cloud of white blooms that’re so fragrant that ye will want to go near it and just inhale. The apples that it produces, ye don’t want to eat them as they are, but they make the finest cider. Maeve is a genius with them. Siberian crab apple trees are rare in these parts.”