Page 39 of His to Keep
“Would it have changed your decision to help if we did?” Lorenzo asks.
“Of course not.”
He spreads his palms. “Then there was no need to tell you.”
“If you’d known,” Damiano says, “you might have let something slip to Eilidh and then Alexander would have been forced to come out into the open before he was ready.”
“So what if I let it slip to Eilidh? Who was she going to tell?” Even as I ask the question, a humiliating answer comes to me. “You didn’t trust me to pull it off. You didn’t think I’d get her out of the UK safely. Did you imagine Henry’s men would recapture her and she’d tell them he was still alive?”
“Don’t take offense,” Lorenzo says in a placating tone. “You’re young and untested. We didn’t know your capabilities.”
“We couldn’t risk you making a mistake and people finding out about Alexander,” Damiano adds. “You have fucked up in the past.”
I clench my fists, irritated by my cousins’ assessment of me. Is Damiano actually holding the fact I was caught off guard and shot against me?
“Did Antonio know?” I don’t need an answer because the look that passes between my cousins tells me he did. Though I’ve always known he thinks me less capable than my other brothers, it hurts to have proof of it. “You underestimated me,” I shake my head in disgust. “But worse than that, you underestimated her. That woman, my wife, is the strongest person I’ve ever met. Even if I’d failed to keep her out of Jason Henry’s hands, she would never have betrayed your secret.”
Alexander sighs. “If you want to blame someone for the decision to leave you in the dark, the responsibility lies with me. It wasn’t just because I feared word of my survival would be leaked. I wasn’t certain I’d survive going up against the Drummond organization. I didn’t want my sister to have to mourn me twice.”
Now that I understand. “You wanted to protect her.”
Alexander nods. “She’s my baby sister.”
“So why reveal yourself now? Are you ready to go up against the Drummond organization?”
If he is, I want in. I told Eilidh I’d exact revenge for her, and I meant it. I want every man who was involved in her imprisonment to suffer a slow, painful death.
“Yes. Now that Eilidh’s safe and I’ve secured an important asset, I’m prepared to strike.”
I furrow my brow. “Important asset?”
“Cara Drummond,” Niamh replies, her mouth twisted in distaste.
“Ah, of course. The heiress to the Drummond fortune.”
Whoever marries Cara can lay claim to Stewart Drummond’s throne. If Alexander wants to prevent Jason Henry from taking everything, he has to take the girl for himself.
“Yes,” Alexander replies tightly.
“You know, my wife sees her as a kindred spirit, another unfortunate used by the wicked men in her life. She’s very concerned for Cara’s welfare.”
“She needn’t be.” Alexander’s jaw clenches. “She’s mine to worry about.”
Interesting. His declaration betrays more than a business interest in the woman.
“And Eilidh is mine.”
Alexander nods. I’m relieved he hasn’t come here because he decided to interfere in my relationship with Eilidh. I’d have fought him, of course, but I doubt my wife would like that.
“Tell us,” Niamh says. “How is Eilidh?”
Sighing, I cross the room and take a seat on the sofa opposite Niamh and Alexander. “Like I said, she’s strong. She’s got a caring side, but she’s also sassy and stubborn. She challenges me at every turn.”
“But?” Niamh is perceptive enough to realize there’s a downside.
“But I think she’s in survival mode and has been for a very long time. When it finally sinks in for her that she’s safe, I don’t know what will happen.”
Niamh nods. “You fear she’s been suppressing her rage and grief, and it will all come out.”
