“Isn’t this cute? The man who’s in love with the little whore.”
Aisling whimpers and writhes, and I realize the woman has a needle up to her neck.
“Put that down.” My voice is deadly, my intent clear.
I will kill both of them. All of them. The bloody world if they come between me and her.
She shakes her head. “Aisling thought it another hit of her precious drugs,” the woman says. I realize she’s familiar.
Vivian?
“But it isn’t,” she says with cold menace. “This is a sedative, with enough tranquilizer to kill a small animal, as well as a full grown human.” She poises it at her neck. “I knew you were with the Prime Minister’s son, Aisling,” she says. “I was the one who set you up.”
Aisling shakes her head, her eyes wild with fear, but she keeps herself calm. Christ, do I love her.
“So when they found his body and knew he’d gone missing, I knew exactly who to blame.”
Aisling blinks. Lachlan and I stand, motionless, as Vivian continues.
“You killed him. Tell the truth, Aisling.” Vivian removes her gag.
“He tried to rape me!”
Vivian shakes her head. “Oh, really? He told a different story the night you stole from him.”
“I stole nothing!”
Vivian laughs mirthlessly. “They all say that. Now tell the truth, Aisling. The Prime Minister’s offered fifty thousand euros in exchange for information leading to his son’s killer.”
“I killed him,” she says, her eyes on me before she looks back to Vivian. “He tried to rape me, and it was self-defense.”
No. I can’t allow her to take the hit for me.
Vivian shakes her head. “Tsk, tsk. Now I’ll have to turn you in, see?” She gestures for Clifford to come to her. “It’s a shame I won’t be able to kill her, darling. But we can split the money, can’t we? The Prime Minister’s offering an ample reward.” She snaps her fingers. “Call off your men. The police are already here. Tell them where we are. Only you know I don’t share well. It’s why your wife isn’t with us anymore….”
Clifford’s eyes go wide a split second before Vivian makes her move.
She stabs him in the neck with the tranquilizer. Aisling screams, but Lachlan and I use this to our advantage. He kicks the syringe out of her hand, and it goes skidding across the room. Clifford screams, grabbing at his neck, and lunges at me. I fight him off, but he’s going for Aisling. I spring into action without a second thought. I lift him and throw him against the wall.
There’s a sickening thud, but he rolls and is on his feet again, slower this time as the tranquilizer kicks in. He growls and lunges at Aisling, falling to one knee, but I grab him by the back of the shirt and knee him. He doubles over, clutching his stomach, when I punch him again, and again, until his face is a bloodied mess and his eyes are swollen shut.
I take off my belt and fasten his wrists behind his back, barely tempering the need to wrap it around his neck and strangle him.
I want to kill him. I want to end his fucking life, but Lachlan pulls me off just in time.
“Call Keenan.” He’s got Vivian in a choke hold. He twists, and she slumps over, passed out.
He pulls out his phone and makes a call. Keenan answers on the first ring. He tells him where we are as I unfasten Aisling’s bonds.
“Aye,” Lachlan says, looking at the two restrained before us. “Motherfucker.” He jerks his head to the back.
“Back there, Tiernan. Leads to the changing rooms. Wait there with Aisling until we come to get you.”
I lift her in my arms. She struggles, trying to get down.
“Put me down,” she says. “I can walk.”
Why is she fussing at me like this? Jesus.
“No. I want to hold you.”
“Put. Me. Down.”
Lachlan’s eyes go wide at the tone of her voice, and he nods to me. I put her down. She stomps out in front of me, but she’s trembling. Bloody hell, what the hell is it? Is this how she reacts when she’s traumatized?
“Aisling?”
“Go away,” she says, her voice muffled. I shut the door behind us, crouching into our hiding place. I feel like a teen again, being back here in this room. I once played a part in a musical we performed here at the school and remember this room well.
“Sit down,” I order.
She stands, her back to me, and her shoulders are shaking. I walk toward her, but her voice arrests me.
“Leave me alone,” she snaps.
“No.” I try to keep my temper in check, but I’m furious. I damn near had a heart attack when I thought she was harmed, when I thought she’d been taken from me. And now this.
I grab her shoulder and spin her around. She’s crying, tears flowing down her cheeks, her lips wobbling.
“Is it because of what just happened?” I ask. “Are you… traumatized?” I didn’t kill either one of them, though I bloody well wanted to.
“You!” she says, pointing a wobbly finger at me. “You! How dare you pretend as if you care for me?”
“What?” I want to take her by the shoulders and fucking shake her. “What?”
“I heard you,” she says, her voice trembling. “I heard you with another woman.”
I blink. What the bloody hell is she talking about?
“When?” I ask. “Jesus, I haven’t been with a woman in months.”
She was damn near killed, and this is how she responds?
“You didn’t mean to dial me,” she says. “But as soon as I left the room, I heard you. You said, ‘she’s gone now,’ and then I heard you… kissing her.” Her face contorts in disgust. “And… and fucking her.”
The broken, shattered mobile…
I blink in surprise. “Jesus, Aisling. I didn’t. You’re out of your bloody mind, woman.”
She wags her finger at me. “Don’t you dare! How dare you try to pin this on me?”
She takes a step toward me and shoves at my chest. “You lied to me. This was all a lie. You were only trying to protect me. Why? What was in it for you, Tiernan, hmm? What was it? Recognition? Approval from your Chief?” Her voice catches. “Someone to warm your bloody bed?”
I grab her shoulders and try not to shake her. I’m tempted to fucking hurt her, but I can’t let my anger and frustration get the best of me.
The door bursts open the next moment, and Keenan stands in the doorway, his eyes blazing.
“Jesus Christ,” he says. “You two are okay.”
He looks at my hands on Aisling’s shoulders, then looks to me, question in his eyes. “Let’s go,” he says. “The police are here. But we have evidence.”
Fear glimmers in Aisling’s eyes.
“Tiernan, I…” her voice trails off. “I don’t want to go to jail.”
Keenan shakes his head. “It will come alright in the end, Aisling. Come now, let’s get the two of you seen.”
Even though his words and gestures are paternal, I can’t help but want to pull him away from her.
I’m the one that’s supposed to comfort her.
Aren’t I?
And why the hell did she think she heard something on the mobile? It isn’t possible. Someone’s framed me, or she’s mistaken. I mean to find out which. I go to pull her away from Keenan, but he looks at me and shakes his head. He lets her go ahead of me, stays back, and whispers in my ear.