Page 36 of Vengeful Secret

“Someone’s following her. Has eyes on her. I need to figure out who it is and why they’re doing it.”

Declan hums in the back of his throat. “Murphy?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know. It could be, but why would they be following Sutton and not Lara or one of us?”

“He said he’d come after our girls,” Declan points out, and I huff out a breath.

“She’s not my girl. She’s a friend. I want to move her and her daughter in here, just so that I can keep an eye out for them.”

Kael raises an eyebrow. “But she’s not your girl?”

“That’s not up for discussion.” I pace around the living room. “Let’s brainstorm, I need ideas on how to figure this out.”

“We could put surveillance on her house,” Kael suggests. “See who’s coming and going, see if there’s anyone that we recognize.”

“Listen, Gray, I know you keep saying that she’s not yours, but you obviously have some kind of connection with her. Murphy could be feeding off that, following those that are close to us,” Declan says.

I sigh and rub a hand across my face, hating the idea that Sutton is being messed with because of me. I don’t want to be a source of stress in her life.

I never wanted to. I only want to make her happy. I’d thought once that I could do that if we were together, but now, I’m not so sure.

Sutton rejected me for a reason, and I can’t even refute it. My life is dangerous. Even though now, I’m the only one who can protect her and her daughter.

“Maybe.” I sit down in Da’s old recliner. I hope he can sit in it again soon. “We’re weak right now because of Da, and I don’t want Murphy getting wind of that. We can send a few men, put up some cameras, but I don’t want a big turnout. I’ll take point on this.”

“You already have so much responsibility?—”

“Declan, please. This is important.She’simportant, and she’s got a little kid that needs to be taken care of, too. I’ll handle it.”

Declan holds up his hands as if in defense. “All right, whatever you say, boss.”

I ignore his comment.

“Are we going to talk about retaliation now?” Kael looks between us.

I frown. “I thought we agreed that retaliation is a bad move right now,” I argue.

“I know that you’re worried about Paige. I know what happened to her was fucked up, but at the same time, we have to think about Da,” Declan tells his best friend. “We can’t let Murphy find out how weak he is, how he’s still recovering.”

“So what, we go subtle?” Kael asks incredulously. “That’s not how the Irish do things.”

“Maybe not, but perhaps we should be more like the Bratva,” I muse, imagining a slow, subtle take down. “We can be snakes just like Murphy can.”

The Bratva, the Russian mob, are notorious for playing the long game.

Declan grins. “I’d love to see the look on his ugly mug if we infiltrated the Murphy clan.”

“So, what, we get an inside guy?” Kael asks, and his eyes widen. “That could actually work. We could train someone to join the Murphy clan, have him report back to us.”

“Let’s table this for now. We need surveillance guys, protectors. I called Liam Morris, he’s bringing a few guys.”

Declan groans. “Not Liam. He’s such an ass.”

I snicker, unable to help myself. “Grow up, Declan. Not all of our men can be your best friend.”

“I’ll call some of my contacts,” Kael pipes up, and Declan nods although he seems a bit annoyed.

I know he and Liam don’t get along, but I don’t care.

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