Page 79 of Shattered Veil
And if she remotely likes the guy, she’s putting him in danger, too, because I can’t be sure Lachlan would hold back from taking out a guard who touched her.
Consensual or not.
“Did she talk to you about going to Dunbar to see Cormac?” I ask my brother.
Lachlan’s face turns to granite. “She sure did. And you can guess how that conversation went.”
“You saidno. She saidplease. You saidnoagain. And then she pouted?”
“Three out of four. She said, ‘Fuck you, I’m going.’”
I laugh, wiping my eyes behind my glasses. “She really does not take gobshite from us anymore.”
“That’s what worries me.” Lachlan’s voice gets low, his eyes on his pregnant wife.
Katya sits on a plush velvet banquette with her sister, Ana, neither of them looking like ice-cold Russian Princesses anymore, but instead, strong Irish Mob wives.
Even if Ana is technically the Bratva underboss.
Priscilla and Isabella, who’ve become close friends, stand a few feet away talking to two other women in gowns. Riordan, Kieran, and Darragh hover at the barnearby, two other men in tuxes with them, the husbands of those women, I assume.
I can’t help but do a discreet facial recognition scan and learn the men are... Cops. High-ranking inspectors. Hmmm.
My eyes search for Eoghan and Jillian, who are grinding on the dancefloor alone, their hands all over each other. I never got an apology for them fucking on my couch. I don’t expect I ever will.
It’s striking how at this large event, I feel alone. Moreso because it’s my own doing. Fuck, this week without seeing Ella every day hollowed me out.
Wanting my mind off her, I say to Lachlan, “Are you seeing Ma and Da when you’re there?”
“Aye.”
I wonder if I should go with them. Take a vacation. I know I’ll worry about Shea being there, even though Lachlan and Trace’s protection is more than she needs.
“Will you be...all right going back to Dunbar?”
Lachlan’s eyes darken. “Of course.”
“Lach, it’s me. It’s okay if that place will freak you the fuck out.”
He was sent there as punishment for going against Da when he was eighteen and it made him into the vicious killer he is today.
“Nothing freaks me the fuck out.” He stares at Shea and Trace again. “Trace is ex-Defence Forces, you know that, right?”
“Of course I know that. I vetted him.” I don’t get the reference until it hits me.
Dunbar Valley is filled with Irish terrorists.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for Shea to be there.”
“You tell her that. I’ll assess the situation when I get there.” He narrows his eyes at me. “Do you think for one minute I’d let something happen to Shea-Lynne?”
“Of course not.”
As much as I worry about her, since the cyber-attack and hiring the terrorist responsible, all while trying not fuck his daughter, I’ve been wrapped up in my own world.
A hand skates over my shoulder, and Lachlan’s eyes widen. My heart soars, thinking it’s Ella. I spin around and my stomach twists.
“Petra.” One of my... I can’t even think of the word because her hand on me feels like acid.