Page 29 of The Enforcer's Redemption

"Aisling, dear…" I call out, searching the hall. The closest bathroom to the door is the powder room down the side hallway. When the team carrying the cake appears at the head of the hall,I duck into the closet so they can squeeze past with mumbles of their thanks.

I force a smile and wait for them to pass, then duck back into the dim hallway and continue on. When I round the corner and see the train of Isla's wedding gown lying on the floor with buttons on the wood around it, my heart freezes. A few things happen simultaneously that have my head spinning.

I hear Maeve screaming, banging on the door to the toilet. The knob's been busted off.

Then I hear gunshots and tires squealing.

A commotion out back behind me makes the hairs on my arms rise to attention. I lift a foot, shouting, "Move back!" before kicking the door open. Maeve rushes out in a puddle of mascara and tears.

"She ran… Oh, God… she ran out the door," Maeve blurts out, and I turn and run too. Her shoes are here, just inside the door that swings in the breeze.

I dart into the garden, finding women's footprints in the mud along the side of the house, and I've got my weapon drawn as I hear more gunfire coming from the front of the house. My feet can't move fast enough. My heart is pounding against my chest at the thought that she's out there now, somewhere vulnerable, somewhere scared.

As I crest the property, racing onto the sidewalk, I see Aiden and Nicholas with their guns raised, firing on a car that is racing away. From the side door of the car I see a long white swatch of material shut in the door. They've got her.

"Feck!" I scream, pointing my gun at the car, but there is traffic, and so many of our guests have their cars lining both sides of the street. The car is too far away and there's a chance my bullet could hit Isla. I can't take the shot. "Get the car!" I scream to Nicholas, but the car is parked in, covered in ribbons with tins tied to them, the wordsJust Marriedscrawled on the back window in white soap.

I feel a hand on my shoulder as a dozen men take to the street, and Ronan says into my ear, "We'll get her. Come on… We have to deal with guests before this gets out of hand. Mick will raise hell."

It takes every ounce of my will to turn away from that street and let our men chase them down, but Ro is right. Damage control is the first priority. Aiden and Nicholas will chase, and when things here are controlled, I'll go out too. I won't let Sebastian get away with this. His blood will be mine.

22

ISLA

My head throbs. My palms are bloody. After falling down, they dragged me into the back seat of this car. My breakfast came up, staining this gown and leaving a wretched taste in my mouth. Every time I breathe, I can smell the stench of vomit. It's never a pleasant smell, but locked in a back seat with men I know will most certainly kill me makes it seem even worse.

"You can't do this," I spit, wishing I could lash out and tear them limb from limb. They probably expect me to cower and break down crying, but I'm fighting for my life here. I don’t have time to waste on tears and pleading.

"Oh but we just did, dear Princess." Sebastian is a snake of a man, beady eyes set too far apart on his head. Da told me to never trust a man whose eyes are too far apart. They're vipers, always having to watch their backs.

"Declan will?—"

"O'Rourke is a spanner, born to follow someone else's commands the whole of his life." Sebastian leans forward andpushes a few strands of my hair out of my face, and I see even they're covered with vomit. It makes me shudder when his fingertips brush across my face softly. "He has no clue what he's lost."

"Fuck you," I say, drawing all the spittle in my mouth and ejecting it at him. It misses the mark I hope for and lands on his hand, not his face. But the act definitely does the trick. Sebastian recoils and then smacks me hard. My head whips to the side, and I slump into the lap of a man next to me. He grabs me by the hair and hoists me back up to a sitting position. With my hands bound behind my back, it's difficult to move, and my body aches to the bone.

Words threaten to tumble out, insults and violent threats calling upon the O'Rourke name, but I know they'd do no good. If I keep letting my mouth move when my brain knows better, I'm going to regret it. I bite back the slew of insults I'm thinking and focus my rage into a glare. Sebastian is in control right now, but I know Declan won't let that stand.

"You have something that belongs to me and I want it back," he says calmly, but the undercurrent of venom rides the words, chilling me. I will not under any circumstances lead him to my parents' home to find what I've hidden there. I will sooner die than let him connect that.

"You might as well just kill me…" I turn and stare out the window. I'm not giving them that money back now. They already have me, and there is a large chance that my death is imminent. He can get fucked.

"Oh, if only it were that easy, Princess." Sebastian folds his fingers together cooly and stares at me from his perch on the bench opposite me. The stretch limo isn't large enough for hislanky, towering body, legs so long that he finds it difficult to cross and uncross them without kicking someone. But I watch his right leg drape over his left in a comical fashion and imagine him as a skeleton with a painted skull like the men I watched dancing during Carnival in the south of Spain as a teen.

"I'm asking you to just kill me," I say tartly, but my bottom lip quivers. I don’t want to die, but if it means keeping these horrible beasts of men away from my family, then I give him my permission.

"Well now," he says, resting his hands on his knee, "if you'd come to me a few hours ago, we'd have had a deal. But you see, now my hands are tied. Things just got very sticky. I'm assuming the wedding was a success?" I watch his foot roll around on his ankle and notice the expensive Italian leather they're made from. Everyone in this entire business of Mafia life flaunts their wealth. It's disgusting.

"I refused the vows," I tell him, lying. My body shudders as I squirm and try to get my hands into a more comfortable position. They're going numb. My shoulders ache. I watch out the window, but I can't tell where we're going, just that my dress is pinned in the door and even if I wanted to jump at him and attack, I can't. I'm stuck here.

"Come now," Sebastian says coolly. His eyes darken, and he glares at me with a sudden hostility that scares me. Death would be far less terrifying than this car ride. "You mean to tell me Ronan allowed you to don that dress and then not say 'I do'? He's gone weak then?"

Swallowing the bile rising in my throat again, I ignore him. If asking him to kill me quickly won't work, then pissing him off sohe reacts in rage and does it might. I want him to snap and get this over with.

My mind lingers on how free I felt for a moment. I was out of that house, ready to slip into the shadows and never return, and then this. Declan's words haunt me. How many times did he warn me that I needed him and that only he could protect me? I'm a fool for thinking I could get away alone.

"Ah, so you are suddenly mute?" Sebastian uncrosses his leg and leans forward, gripping my chin and forcing me to look at him. "Tell me where my money is, you tart, or I'll bleed you dry."

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