Page 128 of Brutal Obsession

“I’ll drive you.” She finishes kissing Finn and strides my way.

“What are you going to do?” Finn calls after us.

“Top secret!” Riley grabs my hand, and we power walk—as quickly as I can, anyway—to the garage, where she produces a set of keys. One of the sports cars chirps, we climb in, and my sister and I are off the estate in minutes. After learning to drive in the boondocks with me, she’s gotten really comfortable driving in Manhattan.

She rolls the windows down as we ride, the heat oppressing us. Riley’s always loved summer air, no matter how humid and stuffy it gets. She sucks it in happily, racing through green-lit intersections like we’re in a video game and she plans to win.

“So?” She almost yells over the wind and noisy city air. “What are you going to do?”

Signs for the airport pass us by.

I take a deep breath. “Say something.”

Finn texts us the flight information, so by the time we arrive, I can tell Riley which terminal we need to go to.

“Pull over up there. I’ll go inside and?—”

I point toward an open patch of curb, but my sister interrupts me.

“No way. I’m not losing you in an airport again.” She navigates into the parking deck across from the terminal. “Let’s wait for him out here.”

“What if he’s not coming out, Ry? He could be going off on an assignment for all we know!” My heart trips a little as I crane my head in every direction, searching for any sign of the man I love.

“Calm down.” Riley uses her ‘mom’ voice. “Finn said Cian only went after them to talk. He’s not getting on any planes.”

“But what if you’re wrong?” The hysteria in my voice surprises even me. “And we don’t know where he parked. Or what kind of car he drives.”

“That’s not actually true.” Riley turns a corner in the lot, and a man appears down the aisle. Keys in hand, head down.

It’s him.

“Riley!”

She slams on the brakes. “What?”

I can only point.

My sister tracks my gaze and sees the enforcer we’re looking for striding away from us.

Cian Mahoney.

I already knew I loved him but watching him doing something as mundane as walking to his car fills me up from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head with a deep, newfound affection.

I throw open the door as Riley lays on the horn.

Cian jumps, head whipping in our direction. As soon as he spots me, that cold, pretty-boy persona he wears melts right off. The same way Finn’s gruff, deadly demeanor softens to mush when he sees my sister.

I start making my way toward him. I’m irritatingly slow, so he meets me halfway and blinks at me, his jaw dangling open. “Harper? What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you.” My fingers land on his forearm, and that giant hand of his floats up to cup my elbow.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

“Where’d you park?”

Cian presses a button on his key, and a deep blue Audi a few spaces up beeps.

As she passes us, Riley gives me an encouraging smile before maneuvering toward the parking deck’s exit, leaving us alone.

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