Page 4 of Ruthless Savage

After I dug his grave, they threw his body inside like cattle. They were gonna kill me too, but help finally arrived. The rival gang owed me a favor. If they’d only shown up on time, maybe my brother would be alive today.

We killed some in the Palmer crew and they killed some on our side before Francis and his sons ran off. I wanted to find them. I tried. But I couldn’t, so I left that life.

Until Patrick came calling. He knew exactly who I was.

Back in Ireland, when I was fourteen, I fell in with a bad crowd who did work for some gangs. That’s how it started. Can’t tell you why. Maybe I liked the attention, the respect. Maybe I was just a savage.

I had my hands in everything. Roughed up the boys who couldn’t pay their debts. Killed my first man at fifteen. I had a reputation. The neck-breaker. When they saw me coming, they’d run the other way. That hasn’t changed much.

When I decided to come to the States, my parents refused to come with me, but my brother followed me. I wish he hadn’t.

We landed in California, and it didn’t take long for me to be recruited by the Palmer gang, a bunch of thieves who would go after museums carrying high-priced items. They were skilled, and I liked my time with them.

Until my allegiances changed. Until my brother paid the ultimate price. And that was when my parents turned away from me completely.

My parents knew I had to be involved in what happened to him, and they hated me for it. My baby brother had his problems with drugs, but he was a good man. Nothing like me.

When I had a chance to save him, I did in the only way I knew how. But it cost us both everything. My brother was dead at twenty-one, only two years younger than me. I wanted more for him. More than I had. But that didn’t quite work out.

It’s been twelve years, and the Palmer gang hasn’t found me. Maybe they’ve given up. Too much time has passed for them to still look for me. Then again, revenge has no expiration date.

They may still want blood for what I did to protect my brother. For everything I took from them.

They never knew my real name, though. They never knew Devlin. They knew me as Scott.

But they could still find me. I can’t ever let my guard down. If it was me, I wouldn’t stop until every last one of them was dead.

When they come, I will be ready. I will end this once and for all.

I’ve looked for them over the years, but they’ve been quiet. Too quiet. Part of me hopes they’re all dead, but I’m sure they’re still alive somewhere, hating the very thought of me.

I can’t let this touch Eriu. I can’t let her die like my brother did. She has too much life inside her to let someone like me take it away.

I must do right by her. I must keep her away from me. I must not entertain her wild fantasies of us. They’re nothing but fairy tales.

Yet she comes to visit every month like clockwork, and I refuse her every time. How she still comes, how she still wants to be near me after I had failed her so gravely, is something I’ll never understand.

It was my job to protect her, even from herself. I should never have drunk the glass of water she gave me. I should’ve been smarter than that. But I did. And she drugged me, then snuck out with her friend to go to that club.

That changed everything. That landed me in prison. That has prevented me from keeping an eye on her.

I have all the letters she’s been writing, but I only ever wrote her back twice. Once after the first letter, then to tell her to stop writing when she confessed her feelings for me. Told her that her fascination with me was one-sided.

But that’s nothing but a lie.

My hunger for her grows the longer I’m in here, the longer I’m away from her.

I remove the folded piece of paper from the envelope and clutch it in my hands. These letters are enough to kill me, to make me want to hold her in my arms or spank the holy hell out of her for doing what she did.

If I hadn’t been tempted by her, none of this would’ve happened. But we got to talking, and I missed it when she slipped something into my water that knocked me out cold. If I ever get out of here, it’ll never happen again.

I brought shame to my name and my job. Patrick is never going to want me back. I should be used to disappointing people by now. I did a lot of that with my own family.

It was a true honor to be assigned to the boss’s daughter. Many wanted the position. But I failed to carry out my duty, and I can’t do anything to take it back.

If I get out and Patrick doesn’t reinstate me as her bodyguard, I’ll still watch her. She’ll always be mine to protect. That’ll never change.

I’m lucky Patrick pays my attorney bills. He didn’t have to. I could afford twenty with what he’s paid me, but the gesture means there’s a part of him that can forgive me like my parents never could.

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