Page 69 of Stolen Mafia Vows
“Emily!” I call out and step closer, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on him. “Emily, I only want to talk.”
Terry repositions the gun to my right knee. “Right, asshole. You’ve had your fucking fun at my daughter’s expense.” He sniffs loudly, his nose twisting from side to side. “So, unless you want to join your brother, I suggest you tell me where my daughter is and get the fuck out of my sight.”
I hear him, but the words make no sense. He’s askingmewhere Emily is.
She isn’t here. Emily mentioned extended family in Ireland, but not with any familiarity. So, where did she go? An icy sense of dread slithers around my veins and settles on a mental image of my father sitting behind his desk and telling me that Emily is our way into the Murray stronghold.
I lower my arms slowly. Perhaps Terry can see the confusion inmy eyes because he doesn’t shoot although my kneecap is bracing itself for the explosion of pain.
“I don’t know where she is. I found my car abandoned on the side of the road with the keys. Where else would she have gone?”
His eyes narrow, but his hesitation means that at least he’s listening. “Keep talking, asshole.” He starts walking along the pathway towards the road where I’m still standing.
“She left the car with the headlights on. Her phone is switched off. And she wasn’t on foot.” I leave him to figure out the rest.
“You’d better not be messing with me right now.” There’s about six feet separating us.
“Why would I do that?” I track my eyes pointedly toward the gun in his hand. “I love your daughter. I wouldn’t use her to score points.”
“You’ve got some fucking balls coming to my stepson’s doorstep and talking about scoring points. A decent man would’ve asked my permission before marrying my daughter.”
I could plead that I believed Emily when she said we had his blessing. But that would drag me even lower in his esteem, and I’m already swimming amongst the garbage in the gutter. “You’re right.”
My Pa would have a fit if he could hear me right now, but I’m not losing sight of the fact that I’m here for Emily. I’m doing this for her. I’ll do this every day for the rest of my life if it brings her back to me.
“I should’ve asked your permission,” I continue, “and I will put that right. But right now, I want to find Emily.She said that she has family in Ireland, would she have gone to them for help?”
He breathes deeply, his chest expanding and constricting with each inhalation. I allow myself to believe that we’re on the same side here until he shakes his head, a sinister smile twisting his lips.
“I must be going soft in my old age. You almost fucking had me.” He cocks the revolver again and waves it in the direction of my knees. “I’m flying back to the States at 8 p.m. tonight. You have until then to bring my daughter back to me, and if you don’t follow through… Let’s just say that I won’t be quite so accommodating next time.”
Terry Keegan turns around and walks back inside the house, leaving me standing there, blood oozing from the bullet wound in my shoulder. The door closes softly behind him.
A glance left and right along the coastal road, and I notice the bodyguards posted outside each cottage in the vicinity. All armed. All staring in my direction and waiting for me to leave.
I walk back around the car, climb into the driver’s seat, and start the engine.
I pull away from the cottage slowly. Not only because any sudden erratic movements will cost me my life, but because I’m still trying to process the conversation with Emily’s dad.
She isn’t here, that much is obvious.
Terry believes that I know where she is, I’m convinced that much is also true. If he didn’t, he’d have killed me on the spot and had his men drag me down to the sea andfeed me to the fish.
I’m also certain that if Emily had approached her Irish relatives for help, they’d have informed Terry that she was safe.
A sickly sense of dread is swilling around inside my gut as I drive home. If it comes to a choice between loyalty to my family and loyalty to Emily, there’ll be no contest. Emily will win every time. And the fact that I’m questioning my father’s role in Emily’s disappearance tells me all that I need to know.
He would see her as collateral damage. Caleb is the target, but he will destroy anyone else who stands in his way of avenging Ruairi’s death. He’ll use them all, and then he’ll claim their empire for himself even though he’ll get no satisfaction from it.
Home, I’m out of the car almost before it has screeched to a halt on the driveway. Through the lobby, I crash into my father’s study, knowing from the thick silence that he isn’t there. I storm through the house to the kitchen, startling Gran so much that she drops the cup of tea that she was making onto the counter, brown liquid spilling across the surface and onto the floor.
“Eoghan?” Her mouth forms a round ‘O’ of shock when she sees the blood soaking through my sweater. “What happened?”
“Where’s Pa?”
A sharp stab of guilt hits me in the chest because Gran deserves better, but it smooths out with the knowledge that she’ll forgive and forget once she realizes what’s going on.
She doesn’t even react to my rudeness. “He’s with your uncles.” She pauses. She might keep things close to her chest, but she understands, more than anyone, how these situationswork and what a meeting with my uncles generally means. “Where’s Emily?”
