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“Now, you go and get that lass, and take her to see her scum-sucking da. Hold her hand, kiss her a lot, let her know that you are there for her, son. Because when the chips fall, you will be her rock, and she’ll thank you for it. It might not be now, it might not be tomorrow, but once that hurt goes away, she’ll see the light, lad.” I swallow, knowing full well that da never says anything unless he means it, and has thought it through. I nod, jaw muscles working. He ends with. “You send me a message when you’re ready to take her, son. I’ll have the jet at the ready.”

“Thank you, da.” I say with another nod. I nod at Connor as well, who salutes me.

“Good luck, Declan.”

I walk out of there, thinking how much da has changed recently. Once a stone-cold man, seemingly heartless, he’s turned into a man with more palatable balance. Business is still a top priority, but as of late, it isn’t the only priority. Knowing what I know, I walk out of the office, with a clear conscience, because what I’m doing, I’m doing out of love. No hidden agenda. And while I know that my day is full of meetings, I send Moira a text message. It simply says that whatever choice she makes, I have our company jet ready, should she decide to see her da. Anytime she wishes.

It takes a while for a response, and I'm in a meeting when it comes, but ultimately, she has decided to go see him. Despite my conscience, my jaw muscles still set, and I can’t help the firm scowl that forms on my face at the thought of looking that son of a bitch in the eye, knowing full well that he’s hurting my girl. But it helps that I’m one step ahead of him. It also helps knowing that Moira is no fool, either. Frankly, I’m just here to protect her and corroborate my initial suspicions, knowing that I’ve already had a full investigation done on him.

She’ll see the light. She’s seen it before.

Another meeting with the Ford brothers turns into an off-site mission, exploring yet another parcel of land, and some equipment investments, but during said meeting, when Dalton Ford takes a personal call, and we’re left for two minutes, da murmurs to me. “We’re looking into the son of a bitch that posted that video, too, by the way.”

“Good. I figure that’s how James McTavish found Moira.”

“Exactly. Connor was on that quickly, and we’re drawing up paperwork with the lawyers. Those assholes don’t like it when you threaten them, and they dance around so much it makes my head spin. I don’t have time for that bullshit, frankly, so we’re shutting them down directly.”

I nod. That’s when my phone beeps with a text message that I don’t expect...

Chapter 11

Declan

Ihavetolooktwice. Moira has sent me a text saying that she’d rather go it alone. She doesn’t want me taking her to Scotland. My fingernails dig into my palms as my hands fist together. Dalton has returned from his personal phone call outside, and I have half a mind to leave, to walk out right now, but I can’t. It’s one thing to go be a support to her on a whim, during business, but it’s another thing entirely to run to her, force her to go with me instead of on her own. There’s a scenario I didn’t see coming. And I’m not sure what to do with it, nor is it the time to think about that, when Dalton’s face is set, like he’s going in a different direction.

The Ford brothers are building a newer airport, and while ground broke a while ago, there have been many pitfalls along the way. “The deal fell through with the metal distributor.” Dalton states gravely.

“Fuck them.” Jack says casually.

“We can’t just fuck them.” Dalton argues. “They’re the best metal fabricator in the country. It’s either them or we go to fucking Asia.”

“Yeah, fuck that.” Colton says. “I don’t want any of that Asian garbage on my bodies, man. We’ll find someone else.”

Jack tips his chin up. “What made them bail?”

“They didn’t like some of the details of the deal.” Dalton responds.

“Like what?” Jack scoffs.

“The payment terms. They want some ridiculous fucking turnaround time.”

“So what?” Jack shrugs. “We can fix that. That’s why we’re here with the Harris boys, dude. Isn’t that their job? To make sure that we’re liquid enough to pay off debts in record time?”

Da interjects. “Whatever you need, Dalton, we can handle it.”

Dalton sits back further in his chair. “What if I got a bad gut feeling about these assholes. It’s the payment terms, sure, but my gut is telling me that this is just the tip of the iceberg. We get into bed with these jerkoffs that are fucking around with us for nickels and dimes, and what else are they going to try to pull? Today it’s payment terms, and then we give them a multi-billion-dollar deal and they pull more shit.”

I wave. “Dalton, we deal with this sort of shit all the time. That’s why we have the best paid lawyers in the country, man. Don’t sweat it. We get an ironclad agreement with them, and make sure that they don’t fuck you over.”

“Exactly.” Jack agrees. “And our lawyers trump any lawyers in the country, so if they try to fuck with us, we sue their asses off, and then we bail.”

“I don’t know, man. It seems like a lot of fucking trouble. Why don’t we just go with the company we’ve always used.” He almost whines, but I can tell that his wheels are turning. These boys came to play, not to fuck around, and they’ve dealt with their share of bullshit, so they can smell it from a mile away.

“I told you why.” Colton states. “Because they’re already at full capacity keeping up with our current fleet. They can handle some of the new airport, but not all of it, so we need another set of hands in this. We’ve been through this. I say we do what the man says and hit up the lawyers. This isn’t our problem, Dalton. This is between the lawyers to cook up a kickass deal that they can’t say no to, and that they can’t fuck us over for.”

“We’ve got you covered, Dalton.” I reiterate. “Whatever you need, we’ll be there.”

He draws in a deep breath and releases it, nodding. “Okay.” He looks at Colton and Jack. “But it’s your ass if they cause any shit.”

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