Page 27 of The Chief's Captive

I may run, but that thought seems doubtful now, like the past few weeks have somehow made me change internally. Ronan is definitely the monster I think he is, but not all of him. His entire heart isn't dark. I've seen the light places there. I know he wants good for me. I know he wants me to be healthy. I know he cares. So maybe I wouldn't run.

The thought feels paralyzing but also like the right thing. The entire situation is completely messed up, but I've found him to be everything in a man that I'd want. And will I ever find that again elsewhere? A man with authority to beckon doctors to my side for a fever. A man to lavish me in whatever expensive thing I want without batting an eyelash. A man who makes my body come alive just with a flick of his eye.

These are the things I wrestle with because he seems so perfect at times. But I'm so terrified of him, his business, his family, the child I'm carrying and what it means for me. Would it make more sense to give in and just love him and let him love me? Not fight this anymore? See what sort of man he really is?

"When I was a boy, I found a cat." He turns to face me, hands still tucked into his pockets. I look up at him wondering where he's going with this. "The cat was very young, probably too young to be away from its mother. I was saddened by that. It was sick and feeble, and my father told me to put it in a pillow sack and toss it in the river."

He looks at me like the authority he is. His jaw is set. His eyes are glazed over. His shoulders are as square as a soldier's, and I feel the heat of his presence burning through me.

"I defied my father because death, in any form, should be a last resort. Death should be something that is chosen only when all other options have been exhausted."

I feel my body tense and anger rising in my chest. If he thinks putting me through all of this and then babying me are his "resorts", that he's ticking off a list only to wind up with death as his final option for me, he's going to have a rude awakening. Even if that comes when my cold, dead body is lying in a morgue and he finds he murdered his own child.

"And I hid that cat from my father as I brought it milk and food and nursed it." Ronan walks toward me, and I feel my body cringe, but I try to seem relaxed. "When the cat was almost four months old, my father heard it calling to me. I was only ten years old. He found it. He put it on the kitchen counter in front of me, and he took a rolling pin and beat it on the head to knock it out. Then he screamed at me that following orders was the only proper thing."

I swallow hard, not wanting to hear the end of this story. His father seems more cruel than any person I've met. Who could do that to a kitten? Why do that?

"Am I the cat?" I ask timidly, and Ronan takes his hands out of his pockets and sits on the side of my bed.

"Maeve, I am protecting your life here, whether you believe me or not." His hand rests on my knee, and I see the compassion in his eyes. I've never seen this before. I see the affection there, and it moves me.

"But what if things weren't this way?" I scoot forward, taking his hand and lacing it through mine. He seems moved by that, glancing down at my hand in his and then back to my face.

"What do you mean?" His eyes search mine.

"What if instead of allowing your family to kill the cat, you show them the cat isn't scary or harmful and that by being generous to the cat, you've created something new, something precious? A pet to keep and…" I get choked up as I think of only one thing—freedom. Whatever form it comes in. I need it.

"What are you saying?" he asks, tilting his head. His thumb brushes over the back of my hand, and I sigh and my shoulders drop.

"I'm saying, what if I can be trusted, Ronan? What if I can take the oath your doctor took? The one your new doctor will take. What if instead of putting me in a body bag to leave here, we have an understanding, a relationship?" That last word is a knife in my heart because I'm not sure I know whether I can do that or not. But I'm not sure if I have a choice. Not with the fetus inside my womb.

"I…" He sighs, and I see the tiniest shake of his head as he thinks about what I'm saying, and then we both hear a shout down the hall. He sits straighter and listens, and whatever it is, it sounds urgent. "I'll be back," he says, but before he leaves, he leans forward and kisses me roughly. His lips glide across mine, stubble scraping my face, and for once, I finally don't want him to leave. And it's not because I don't have his answer. I feel close to him.

But he gets up and runs out, and I'm left feeling distraught. I'm actually considering making a pact with the Irish Mafia inexchange for freedom. Freedom that will come at a massive cost—birthing the Irish heir, and my entire future being tainted by crime. What am I even thinking?

19

RONAN

Finn and I climb in my car and head toward the pub. From what I gather based on what he's told me just now, our hunt has been successful. I sent my men, including my brothers, out on a mission—destroy Eamon in any way possible. So far, we've taken out a few of his men but without much success. He's good at hiding, I'll give him that.

"So tell me what I’m looking at…" My grumble aimed at my younger brother isn't meant to be an indication of my mood toward him. I'm finding myself facing battles on every front, even in my private time with Maeve. I want so badly to give her what she wants, but the things she'll have to do to prove her loyalty to the family in order to take that pledge are things she won't be willing to do.

On top of that, she would never forgive me if we did things the way this family normally does. I held Dr. Butcher's life in my hand. He was a faithful and loyal man because I know how to leverage things, like his lovely wife and three grandchildren. He knew if he breathed a word to anyone, I'd have slaughtered hisfamily. It's how this game works. And it’s the only way to obtain true loyalty from those who haven't joined this family willingly.

Maeve has her mother, but I care about her. There isn't any way I could put a gun to her mother's head to coerce her into silence. I stare at the road ahead knowing Maeve will never love me for me. She still thinks of me as a monster and a maniac. If I were to threaten her family to purchase her silence, there would be no point in letting her return to her normal life. I will have lost the only thing about her that I want—her willingness to see me for the man I really am and to want me in spite of it.

I will have become the monster she believes me to truly be.

"Three of Eamon's men down… Aiden was shot, but it's not bad. He's off with the vet now. Just a round to the thigh. He'll be good as new next week. And Declan has one of Eamon's top guys at the pub ready for us to interrogate him. Word on the street is Eamon got your warning off Shane's corpse. He didn't make it to the drop…"

This is the first I've heard this, but it doesn't surprise me. Shane was in bad shape when I was done with him. Hell, he was in bad shape before he got to me. The man ought to have known better than to side with my enemy. The strength behind my authority has never been challenged, not even when it was my father's post. This city belongs to me, and I won't let anyone take it or divide my people.

"Have you heard a report on Butcher? What was the go with that?" I glance in the distance, noticing a bright glow on the horizon. I wonder what it's from, but my eyes can't distinguish it and Finn starts talking to me. I turn to look at him as he drives.

"Lochlan says Butcher was a hit by Eamon as well. He has people sitting on your house, Ro. Says the doc visited your home and was a threat to his plan, so they took him out. It's shit. Butcher was a good man. He didn't deserve that."

I clench my jaw as my brother speaks. He's right. Dr. Butcher was a good man. Even though we figuratively had a gun to his head, he did his best to serve us. We paid him well and he was a faithful servant. His wife wasn't happy about it, but they lived in luxury thanks to my good treatment in exchange for loyalty, and men like that are few and far between. This new doctor I have is already proving to be a little difficult. If she doesn't straighten up, she'll earn the cement boots the hard way.

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