Page 23 of Ciaran

“So, what are you gonna do?”

I let my head fall back and stare up at the ceiling. “Figure out how best to help her, keep her close. Bide my time. Be her friend. And be ready to act when that fucker turns up.”

He drums his fingers against his beer bottle. “Do you think he will?”

“Yeah, I do. He won’t let a woman like Millie slip through his fingers. If he’s been abusing her for as long as I fear he has, he’ll need a fix. You and I both know how this shit works. We’ve seen it a hundred times.”

Draven twists his lips to one side. Swinging his beer bottle by the neck, he says, “Whatever you need, I’m in.”

I force a tight smile. “I kinda hoped you’d say that.”

He indicates to my empty beer. “Refill?”

“Nah. I’d better go.” I check my watch. If I leave now, I should catch Millie before she heads home for the evening. Today was her first time working the desk alone. I tell myself I want to make sure it all went well, but the truth is I can’t stand the thought of having to wait until morning to see her. She still hasn’t told me where she lives, and I won’t invade her privacy by looking up her address on the system. When she tells me, it’ll be a sign she’s beginning to trust me, and that’s what I’m looking for.

“Haven’t even gotten to first base, and you’re already whipped.”

“Fuck you.”

Draven belts a laugh. “Proved my point, dickhead.”

Leaving him sitting there with amusement vibrating his shoulders, I set off for home. When I arrive, finding a middle-aged woman haranguing Millie is the last thing I expect to see, and I won’t have it. She’s been through enough without a stranger beating on her.

My protection instincts kick in, but instead of making things better, I make things ten times worse.

The following minutes pass by in a blur. The next thing I know, Millie’s giving me a mouthful, and in the process, lets it slip that Tanner’s been controlling her.

I fucking knew it.

Despairing, I track her as she sprints down the street, such is her desperation to get away. Except I’m not sure if she’s running from me or herself.

I handled the situation with the client badly. I should have taken a moment to pause and assess how Millie was handling things. Instead, I butted in and royally fucked up, right when Millie was beginning her journey of rediscovery back to the woman I remember: joyous, tenacious, sparky, confident.

I made a dumb move. I disempowered her, just as Tanner must have done for a decade, although his reasoning and mine were poles apart. I wanted to protect her. He wanted to destroy her.

From now on, I’ll stand back and allow her to take those fledgling steps back to the woman hiding inside, desperate to escape, not stick my nose in and take over. As much as it goes against my instincts and my need to fix everything, I can’t. She has to do this for herself.

But I’ll be right here in the shadows, supporting her, ready to step in the moment she calls.

Chapter 9

Millie

The next few weeks fly by as I slowly settle back into life in New York. I spent the first few days after my altercation with Ciaran tensing every time we came into contact, but instead of tackling me as I anticipated, he’d kept a polite and frustrating distance—an occasional nod, a warm smile, a wave or two, but never stopping to chat. He was always rushing, always busy.

I miss him. I have no right to miss him, but I do.

With no sign of Tanner, I plucked up the courage to contact my parents. I prepared myself for cold judgment and harsh rejection when I informed them I’d left my husband—albeit I omitted the details of why—and am back in New York. Instead, my mom cried and told me how much she loves me, and that she can’t wait to see me.

At six o’clock, I hand over to Marion, grab my purse, and head to the small coffee shop around the corner from the hotel where I’ve arranged to meet Mom and Dad. Neutral territory for our first meeting in years seemed like a sensible idea, but that doesn’t stop the hollow feeling in my stomach, or the nervous tension in my spine making my back ache.

The weather has cooled from the intense heat of summer, and I pull my jacket tighter around me. When I reach the coffee shop, I pause to peer through the window. My parents are sitting in the back, each nursing a cup of coffee, with a spare one I assume is for me. I take a moment to watch them in private, because I almost stop breathing and need the time to collect myself. My heart rattles against my ribs. God, I’ve missed them so badly.

Finally, I tentatively enter, and my parents glance over when the bell above the door dings. Mom scrambles to her feet, followed by Dad, and when we meet in the middle of the coffee shop, their arms come around me, hugging so tightly it borders on painful. I don’t care, though. I’ve dreaded this moment for so long, worried they wouldn’t want to rekindle the relationship, especially after I treated them so badly. Yet now, encased in the warmth of my parents’ embrace, the years of hurt simply melt away.

“Oh, Millie.” Dad’s eyes shine with tears as he cups my face, his keen gaze boring into mine. “My girl is back.”

A swell of remorse bursts from within me. I want to cry, but years of training at Tanner’s hands prevent the outpouring of emotion. Instead, I manage a smile and gesture for them to sit.

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