Page 101 of Shattered Veil
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Ella
“Negotiate how?” I cross my legs in a wing chair in front of the large expanse of patio doors in the living room, with Hannah and Val seated across from me.
The winter sun floods the room and warms me. I suddenly want to be on the patio to get air, but it’s still very cold outside.
“You like him, right?” Val asks.
“Of course I do. I really like him. I’m...crazy about him.” My heart pounds, thinking how crystal clear that revelation hit me seeing Jillian at his door, thinking she was there to fuck him.
I swear, I felt claws come out of my knuckles.
“Then what’s the problem?” Val asks, again taking the gentle, nurturing approach.
“People who date for years have babies without getting married,” I say to hear the words come out of my mouth, picturing every syllable infuriating Balor. “Why should I?”
“What is it about getting married that frightens you when—” Val stops and blushes. “Wes... You’re still triggered by what Wes did to you.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Balor
Hearing Ella is crazy about me thrills me, but that thrill quickly circles the drain hearing that prick’s name brought up.
Wes...
Her ex.
The man who abused her. This bastard has her skittish about committing to me.
Shaking my head, I say into the microphone on my wrist to the Exfiltration Specialty Team Marcus assembled. “Stand by.”
I resisted doing this sooner, but I had no choice. Now something’s at stake.
I find the email I was copied on to Eoghan’s office with Ella’s work papers to see her driver’s license.
Estella Reyes.
I found out a while back, she doesn’t have the same surname as her father. The one smart thing he did to protect her.
The address on her ID is not the same as the building I’m about to rappel down. And I have an uneasy suspicion the old address is where that asshole who abused her lives.
She agreed to live with this prick. Yet she ran awayfrom me.
As I run the address to get homeowner details, my fingers tense seeing the name materialize.
Michael Wesley Brennan
Ella wouldn’t tell me his last name. Now I have that—andhis address.
But the name hammers into my brain and it hits me like a bullet to the chest.
Sgt. Michael W. Brennan is Riordan’s informant.
I.e. A dirty cop on the take from us.
Something I don’t get involved in other than background checks. Which didn’t include looking for an arrest record, because, as Ella pointed out, cops protect their own.