Page 107 of Dublin Brute

“Consider it done.”

With the decision made, I press my foot down harder on the gas. “I’m coming, angel. Stay safe until I get there.”

Nora

Steam curls around me as I step out of the shower, wrapping a fluffy towel around my body. The hot water helped wash away some of the tension from missing Brendan while navigating the mercurial moods of my father.

My phone screen lights up on the counter, showing a missed call from Dan. My heart skips. I grab it, water droplets falling from my fingers as I access the voicemail.

“It’s me. Lock down, angel. There’s trouble. I’m on my way.”

Oh, no.His voice is hard—dangerous. Gone is the playful tone from our time at the loft. That was definitely Brendan the Quinn mafia enforcer calling.

But he can’t come here. My father is downstairs in his office.

I drop the towel and scramble into my closet, yanking on the first things I touch - yoga pants, sports bra, oversized sweater. No time for underwear. My wet hair soaks through the fabric as I hop on one foot, shoving the other into a sneaker.

Maybe if I run down the block, I can intercept him before?—

The sharp knock at the front door freezes me mid-motion.

Too late.

My heart pounds as I stand paralyzed between my bedroom door and the window. He said lock down, but that knock… Brendan’s here, probably ready to burst in with whatever danger is following him. And my father is right downstairs.

Another knock, more insistent this time.

Hoping to send him away before my father comes to the door, I race down the stairs. “I’ll get it.”

I swing the door open and stop, mid-racing-heartbeat. It’s not Brendan.

It’s a guy in a navy hoodie.

“Hello? Can I help you?”

He lifts his gaze, and recognition hits me like a punch to the stomach. It’s the man Brendan beat up the night of the charity fight—the man who was chasing me. My instincts kick in and I swing the door to close it.

I brace it with both hands and push, but it won’t close.

He’s got the toe of his boot in the way.

With a solid shove, he pushes through the door, knocking me staggering back. His mouth quirks up in a cruel smile. “Hello, Nora.”

Brendan

The engine of my Charger is growling as I slam on the brakes outside Nora’s home. Drake is face down on the front lawn, a pool of blood staining the manicured grass beneath him. “Fucking hell. Help him, Finn.”

The front door was closing as I pulled up, so hopefully…

I’mnottoo late.

Every violent impulse known to man is driving me right now. I will gut this fucker. I will gut him and fucking bathe in his entrails.

But not until Nora is safe.

The only thing that’s keeping me from totally losing control of the beast that lives within me is knowing I need to be smart to save Nora. Despite what her father tells her, Quinns are a different breed of dangerous.

We aren’t mindless thugs—we’re calculated killers.

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