Page 40 of Tainted Love

“Because I know my brother almost as well as I know myself. It’s a twin thing. He might have the men fooled into thinking that allowing you to escape was all some game, but not me,” he says darkly, causing a shiver to skate down my spine.

“If you know him so well, you’ll know I’ve haven't seen him for the last few days,” I declare with no small amount of indignation. Callum doesn’t scare me in the same way Vito used to, so I’m not afraid to speak out.

Callum laughs without humor. “And that is precisely how I know how badly you’ve tied him in knots. He’s feckin’ running.”

Hope is a vicious thing which shows no mercy, and it sweeps through me, buoying me with an optimism I have no right feeling because I know how fickle that bitch can be.

Is Callum right? Does he really know his brother well enough to be certain of those things? Or is it just his insecurities showing?

I get an odd vibe from Callum. One I can’t quite put my finger on. But it’s enough to know there’s a hurricane brewing inside him.

“You could help Ciaran, though,” Callum says, a cold slyness evident in his eyes, and that’s when I realize his words were likely nothing more than a ploy to soften me up.

Why can’t these people just come out and say what they want?

“How?” I ask, exhaustion sweeping through me. I’m so damn tired of this shit.

“By telling me what I want to know.”

Seriously?

I lean forward as far as my bindings allow and look him dead in the eye. “Believe me, if I had the slightest inkling of anything that might be useful to you, I’d gift wrap it and present it to you with a bow on top. I have zero loyalty to the Viper. I wouldn’t even piss on him if he was on fire,” I bite out, the depth of vehemence I feel making my voice shake. “I detest that man with every atom of my being, and I was not marrying him willingly. Something he was very well aware of. So no, there was never going to be a time when he was going to drop any little secrets around me.”

I break eye contact with him then and slump back in my hard, uncomfortable seat, wondering if this is when things start to get physical. But I refuse to let this bastard with his familiar eyes, so similar and yet so different from his twin, see my fear.

I’m braced for the worst when the chair Callum is sitting on scrapes across the floor. But it’s a surprise when all he does is leave the room.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

CIARAN

“Where’s Maricela?” Róisín demands, hands on her hips and her eyes blazing like she’s some fiery haired defender of the helpless. “If you’ve got her locked up in those nasty cells in the basement, I’ll… I’ll…”

Callum attempts to stare her down, but he should know by now that our little sister bows to no man, even when she can’t voice a fitting threat. Even when she knows we’re both pissed with her at her part in enabling Maricela’s escape by giving her stuff to wear.

“That’s none of your concern,” Callum states in the cold, no-nonsense tone that has harder, bigger men shaking in their steel-toed boots.

But not Róisín.

“I’ve checked all the bedrooms, so I know she’s not there…” our baby sister continues.

“Goddamn, that girl needs a feckin’ keeper!” Cal mutters under his breath so only I can hear.

I hide a smirk. Callum says that, but we both know damn well that any man Róisín takes up with will come under extreme scrutiny from the two of us to ensure he’s good enough for her.

There will be no arranged marriages in order to strengthen the bonds with our allies for our sister.

If our Da, who has retired back to Ireland, ever suggests such a thing, he’ll have a fight on his hands.

Róisín might need a firm hand, but she also needs a gentle one. One that keeps her out of the danger she often is to herself but without crushing her spirit.

“If you’re not going to tell me, I’ll go down to the basement and check out those cells myself.” She crosses her arms in front of her, and I doubt it’s an idle threat, even though she detests that very area, which used to give her nightmares as a little girl. Too many scary, awful sounds echoing through the vent system.

One of the first things Callum and I did when we took over was to move the ‘wet work’ to a different location. Not just because of Róisín, but because we both felt strongly that stuff like that shouldn’t be on site where it’s far too incriminating if we ever get raided.

Callum huffs out a breath. “Look, we just want some information from her, okay?”

Róisín narrows her eyes at us. “You’d better be nice to her,” she continues when neither of us answers. I duck my head and stare at the floor, knowing she’d be horrified if she saw Maricela right now. Jesus fuck, it even makes my stomach roil, but I’m pretty certain my twin’s unusual stance on this is as much for my benefit. He sees Maricela’s continued presence as a threat. He’s suspicious of why we’ve heard nothing from the Viper. And he appears to have picked up on my own soft spot for the woman who is supposed to be nothing more than a prisoner.

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