Page 129 of Retribution
“My relationship with my father was complicated. It’s not an easy thing to explain. I’ve always known I could count on Finn. Always. The way my father died, it’s made me think there’s a side to Finn that can’t be trusted.” He looks at his feet before glancing at me under his lashes. “I won’t live like that.”
We are toe-to-toe, and I wonder whether it’s possible to make it out of this alive and with my heart intact. Lorcan laces our fingers again and leads me out of my room and along the hall to his office. There, he riffles through the files until he comes to Axel Henhawk.
He drops the file on the desk, and we are shoulder to shoulder as we sift through it. “This was in there the whole time?”
I nod.
His finger traces over the photos of me. “I’d know you anywhere.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
He scans each note before putting it to the back of the folder. At the end, he checks the dates and glances at me. “This is—it’s incredible.”
“And Finn doesn’t believe in coincidence.”
“Feels like a warped version of destiny. The name meant nothing, but looking through the file, it’s a bit more familiar. Your dad was poking around, offered to snitch to the police if he could get hired on with us. That’s how you learned Irish, yeah?”
I nod.
“He pissed off my father. Approached a cop on the payroll.” Lorcan goes back to the first paper in the folder. “We tried to pay off your parents after Chad died—hush money. They didn’t take it.”
“How do you know that?”
He points to symbols on the page. “These. Means surveillance started because a payoff didn’t work.”
I peer at the symbols again and wonder why I didn’t see them the first time. This assignment has dulled my senses, weakened my instincts.
“I was home on Easter break from uni. By chance, I walked in on a conversation between my father and one of his men. They were talking about what to do with you and your mum.” His pained eyes search mine. “I told him I was tired of the murders without reason, and I wouldn’t be staying in the business if he didn’t reconsider.”
“Your dad was okay with that?”
Lorcan’s lips quirk up. “I was twenty. I didn’t give a shit what my father was okay with. I knew I could convince Finn to back me up. He hated our dad back then, anything to screw him over.”
“Twice.” I focus on the paper in his hand before gazing into his eyes. “You saved my life twice.”
One side of his lips rises, revealing his dimple. “I’ve never been so grateful for my soft heart.” He drops the sheet into the file, and his fingers weave into my hair. “I’ve lived this life because I was born into it. I’ve never wanted anything or anyone more than this.”
The intensity of his gaze causes an ache to bloom in my chest. Tears pool in my eyes and overflow down my cheeks. “Lorcan,” I say, my voice thick.
“Hey, hey.My a chroí. We’ll sort it out, yeah? We’re going to come out the other side.” He wraps his arms around me and keeps me tight to his chest.
“How?”
“If Finn killed my father, we go to the FBI and turn him in. We’ll see what’ll happen to me.”
“If he didn’t?”
“We’ll sort it out.”
That’s not good enough for me. It doesn’t matter what I have to do, I’m going to prove Finn played a part in his father’s murder. I’ve lost everything else. I don’t intend to lose Lorcan.
He frames my face and kisses me, and I deepen the kiss, pressing my body to his. I might not be able to solve anything tonight, but I can find an escape in him, relish in the connection, the fact we’re alive. Against the odds, we found each other.
He knows what I’ve been doing. And I’m still here. Triumph blooms across my chest. I wasn’t wrong. He loves me enough for the details to be a speed bump and not a roadblock.
In the morning, I’m paying another visit to the Russians. This time, I’m not leaving until I have the answers I need to seal Finn’s fate.
Chapter Forty-Two