Page 16 of Dublin Devil

She rolls her eyes at me, and it’s way too fucking adorable. “That’s why I keep saying I need to go.”

“But go where? You were beaten up for a reason, Piper. I don’t know what the reason is because you’re not sharing, but I know that your father is involved and you can’t just take an Uber back to the McGuire compound. You’re in trouble and I’m trying to help.”

She hands me her iPhone. “You’ve done what you could. You scooped me off the street and had me patched up, but that’s where your involvement ends. I need to get home before Billy finds me here.”

“Why are you so worried about Gravely? Does he threaten you?” I wait for an answer but don’t get one.

A moment later, the door opens in the front room and then slams shut. “Sean? Where the fuck are you?”

“Kitchen,” I shout back.

Seconds later, my older brother is standing in the kitchen doorway glaring at our guest. After a beat, his heated gaze shifts to me. “What the fuck were you thinking? Get her out of here.”

I stand. “I was thinking that the daughter of our enemy was lying beaten and bleeding on our side of the river. If something happened to her in our streets, it needed to be addressed. The last thing we need is for her to be over here, playing on the other side of the tracks and for her to get assaulted by one of ours.”

Tag’s expression darkens. “Is that what happened?”

“No. This is somehow tied to Mattie and whatever happened in a hotel on the south side.”

“Problem solved,” Tag says, flinging his arm through the air with a fierce wave. “Call a cab and send her across the goddamned river. Let her family take care of her. She can’t behere, Sean. After the Aiden clusterfuck, we don’t need more bad blood with the McGuires.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

Tag doesn’t seem affected by my words. “Then explain it to me quickly because we’ve got a busy day.”

I take a couple of steps back and lean my ass against the countertop. “I can’t explain it because she’s not talking. I don’t fucking know what happened.”

“Then how is it our problem?”

“It’s not,” Piper says. “And as I told Sean, as soon as I finish breakfast, I’m out the door.”

“No. You’re not.” I hold up a finger to keep her from arguing with me. “Your father either had you beaten or allowed you to be beaten to within an inch of your fucking life. You crossed the bridge last night to flee his territory, deciding that the Quinns were a safer bet.”

“Well, she was wrong about that,” Tag snaps. “Because if her Da is abusing her, she can go to a fucking woman’s shelter. She can’t be here.”

“And I’m not shipping her off without knowing what kind of trouble she’s in. Christ, Tag, she’s an innocent in this. She’s a young woman I found battered in our streets. Do our laws only apply if she has the right last name? Da wouldn’t think so. That’s not how he ruled.”

Tag stiffens at the low blow of throwing Da in his face, but it doesn’t make my comment any less true and he knows it.

He turns to face Piper, and I hate the way she shrinks away from his ire. “What did your father do, Piper? If you tell us the truth, maybe we can keep you safe. But you’d need to tell us the entire fucking story.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t tell you.”

“No. Youwon’ttell us,” I correct.

“Semantics. Look, Sean, you helped me and I’m grateful for the kindness, but if I tell you my father’s business, I’ll be a traitor as well as a disappointment. I’ll be cast out of my family.”

Honestly, I don’t see that as a big loss, but that’s me.

Tag looks at me and shrugs. “Then there’s nothing we can do. She won’t tell us and it’s not our problem. Every moment she stays here puts the truce, the people of Dublin, and our family in greater danger. Send her south and be done with it. And do it within the hour.”

He dips his chin, holding me in his gaze, and I can’t get over how much like Da he is. And like our father, Tag is in charge of the Emerald Isle Mafia.

He’s the boss and if Piper won’t help me help her, then what am I sticking my neck out for? I don’t like it but she’s not giving me much of a choice.

“Fine. I’ll take care of it.”

Tag leaves and the walls of the house rattle when the door slams.

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