Page 76 of Brutal Obsession

I drag one hand over my face. This complicates things.

The De Lucas are after her. She’s wanted by the Kings.She’s a mafia daughter, the child of my boss, the ex-fiancée of my best friend and future boss. Shane Gallagher instructed me to haul her ass back to New York so she can face the music for all the chaos she created by running away.

Nothing about our situation has changed since this morning, yet everything seems unfamiliar, new, and strange. I don’t even know how to act around her. Am I supposed to pretend like twice was enough? As if that little taste was all I needed?

That’s how I’d treat her if she were any of the other women I’ve slept with, but in all those other instances, my apathy was genuine.

I am who I am, and I don’t lie about the way I feel.

If I treat someone like they’re expendable to me, it’s because they are. And if I treat someone like I cherish them, it’s because I…

My eyes widen, fixed on the ugly blue popcorn ceiling.

I refuse to finish that thought.

My phone shrills on the nightstand, interrupting my disastrous thinking.

I answer before I check the Caller ID and regret it the second I hear Finn Gallagher’s voice.

“We just got a phone call from Harper.” The irritation in his tone glances right off me. “Where the hell are you?”

The eerie, bitter surprise of betrayal spreads over me, thick and viscous like someone cracked an egg on my skull.

I’m off the bed in seconds, marching toward that closed bathroom door. With one good kick, I pound the thing open and glare inside.

The shower’s running all right, and so is Harper.

As in, she’s gone.

Again.

“I had Rory trace the phone she used?—”

“Give me the coordinates.” The words are one notch beneath a growl as I tear through the motel room, gathering my clothes and nearly ripping them in the process of dressing myself.

“The De Lucas are on the move. I’m sending reinforcements your way?—”

“No.” I damn near bark. “Don’t do anything. I’ve got this. I’ll get her.”

It’s a struggle to speak when I’m this angry.

“Cian.”

“Listening.” Shoving out the front door into the blinding tropical sun, I’m forced to squint as I head toward the motel parking lot.

“What’s going on there?”

“Nothing.” I sound defensive as fuck because I am.

Harper tricked me. What does she take me for?

What about everything we shared last night? I put myself out there, connected with her on a level I’ve never come close to before, and she runs away the morning after as if I’m some kind of undesirable one-night-stand? She even left the shower on to throw me off!

“Tell me the fucking truth, Cian.” Finn exhales loudly. “Or I’m not sending you the coordinates.”

My feet stop moving.

Now, I’m pissed at Finn.

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