Page 10 of Sanctuary

Connor stiffened slightly, but his voice remained neutral. “There are a lot of people here. You’ll have to be more specific.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t play games with us. We know she’s here. Hand her over, and we’ll leave peacefully.”

Declan grunted. “And if we don’t?”

The stranger’s hand moved to his hip, where I could see the outline of a gun. “Then things might get... unpleasant.”

I held my breath, waiting for Connor’s response. This was it. The moment of truth. Would he give me up to save himself and the others? Or would he stand his ground?

Connor’s voice, when he spoke, was like steel. “I’m afraid I can’t help you. Whoever you’re looking for, she’s not here. And even if she was, we don’t hand over our people to strangers with guns.”

The tension in the air was palpable. I could see the other men shifting restlessly, hands twitching towards their weapons. The leader’s face darkened with anger.

“You’re making a big mistake,” he growled.

Connor didn’t back down. “The only mistake here is you thinking you can come to our home and make demands. Now, I’m going to ask you once to leave. If you don’t, we’ll be forced to defend ourselves.”

For a long moment, no one moved. Then, slowly, the leader took a step back. “This isn’t over,” he warned.

“I think it is,” Declan replied, his hand resting casually on his own weapon.

The group retreated, disappearing out the front doors. As soon as I heard the deadbolt turn, I stepped away from the wall and stared right at Connor.

“Why did you let them in the house,” I demanded. Not that I had the right to demand anything, but it wasn’t everyday that hired thugs were invited into the home of the Irish mafia.

Declan looked me in the face, and smirked. “Because if things got out of hand, we would have taken care of them inside. No witnesses.”

I swallowed hard. The rumors about him were true. He was a hardass. “Now what do we do?” I whispered, fearing they were standing outside with their ears pressed to the door.

“You weren’t fucking kidding when you said they meant business were you?” Connor muttered.

I jumped when Rory yelled from the living room, “Got it!”

“What does he have?” I ask.

Connor’s eyes lit up at Rory’s exclamation. “Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the living room. The warmth of his fingers intertwined with mine sent an unexpected jolt through my body, momentarily distracting me from the gravity of our situation.

As we entered the room, I was struck by the stark contrast between its cozy, traditional decor and the high-tech setup dominating one corner. Rory sat hunched over a bank of monitors, typing away on the keyboard as lines of code scrolled rapidly across the screens.

“What have you got?” Connor asked, leaning over Rory’s shoulder to peer at the displays.

Rory swiveled in his chair, a triumphant grin spreading across his face, gesturing towards the largest monitor. “While you two were playing nice with our uninvited guests, I was running facial recognition on the security camera feeds.”

I stepped closer, squinting at the grainy images on the screen. They showed multiple angles of the men who had just left, their faces highlighted by green boxes.

“And?” I prompted, my heart racing with anticipation.

“And we wait for Colin”— he waved a hand at Connor and Declan — “their cousin to get back to us on those faces,” Rory said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Who is he?” I felt like such a snoop asking all these questions, but I had to know.

“Their cousin, I just said that,” Rory said with a chuckle.

I looked down at the cuff of my sweater and picked off a loose thread before saying, “I know, but what does he do? Is he part of the family?”

Rory swiveled in his chair and looked up at Declan. I didn’t miss the look they exchanged, and I felt like kicking myself for the slip up.

But I had to know.

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