Page 19 of Stolen Rival
He offers me his hand, his eyes telling me to get on board the train or it’ll run me over without so much as a second thought. Resigned to whatever fate awaits me, I reluctantly comply and follow him along the hall, down the stairs, and out to the car where a driver is waiting.
Dressed all in black, he’s adding to the feeling of foreboding that I’m perhaps being driven to my own funeral. Patrick will probably make me dig the hole myself and all.
When we’re settled in the car with the door locks closed, the driver glances over his shoulder at us in the back seat. “Where to, Boss?”
Patrick turns to me, waiting patiently for me to meet his steely stare. “Brannock House, please, Gerard.”
Chapter 11
PATRICK
Every dropof blood drains from the face of the redhead sitting beside me. Her mouth opens and closes, but nothing comes out.
“What’s the matter,mo mhuirnín? Cat got your tongue?”
“You… I… you can’t.” Breaths saw in and out of her chest, a sure sign she’s verging on a panic attack. She clutches her shirt in a tight fist, knuckles white.
“I can’t what? Know about the brother your father kept hidden for eighteen years?” I laugh. “Sweet, innocent Sorcha McCarthy. Protected, or rather over-protected, by her family. They really should have prepared you for the realities of life. It must be a rude awakening to realize you’re powerless, rudderless.” My smile is cruel. I know that without even looking in a mirror. “All alone. Except for Cathal, that is.”
Her spine elongates, shoulders pressing into the soft leather seat. “If you hurt him, I’ll kill you.”
I reach out a hand and tuck a stray curl behind her ear. She jerks away from me, as if my touch burns her. Threading my fingers into her hair, I gently tug her head to one side,exposing her pale neck, a rapid pulse hammering in her throat.
“What happens to him depends on you,mo mhuirnín.”
“Wh-what does that mean?”
I release her, giving my attention to the blur of hedgerows out the window. It’s pleasing me to keep her on edge. Why give her all the answers so easily? Let her sweat. Let her fuckingworry.Her family almost ruined everything. Plans that were months in the making. Just because she appears to be an innocent bystander doesn’t mean she gets a free pass.
She’s still a McCarthy. And that means she’s the enemy.
An enemy who will soon be in my bed. In my life. For as long as my cousin lives, that is. As soon as I’ve secured the American business, and he’s in the ground, then I’ll get rid of her. I haven’t yet decided whether that will be with a bullet to her brain, or a divorce.
Either way, our enforced arrangement isn’t going to last. Niamh was different. She’d have been a terrific wife, a great mother. She was shy, introverted, a woman who knew her place in the hierarchy we inhabit. That’s not to say women aren’t in positions of power. In my organization, they are. But Niamh was a gentle soul. She didn’t have the constitution necessary to rise within the ranks. That’s why she was perfect for me.
But this spitfire, she’s built for more. If we’d encountered one another in a different life, she’d have made a great partner. An equal.
Except I don’t need a fucking equal. I need a stooge. Someone who will play the part I write for them and remember that ad-libbing brings consequences.
Time is short. My cousin will have heard about Niamh’s untimely death by now, and he’ll want to know what I plan to do about it. I can avoid his calls for a week, maybe two, butafter that, I need to present plan B. Andplan Bneeds to know her place, namely, mouth shut unless she’s talking from the script I’ve given her.
Considering the malevolent expression on the face of the woman sitting beside me, it’s going to take coercion to bring her to heel.
Which is the entire reason we’re on our way to Brannock House.
Truly, I couldn’t have planned this better. If she didn’t have this Achilles heel, there’s not a chance this side of hell she’d have come around. No, this wildcat would have fought me all the way.
Now… I hold all the cards, and I know exactly how to play them.
“I said, what does that mean?”
I twist my head slowly. “I heard you the first time.”
“Then answer me.”
One corner of my mouth lifts. “It’s endearing how you think you have any power in this situation. Let me make it clear. You don’t.”
“I mean it, Mahoney. If you hurt a single hair on my brother’s head, I will put you in the ground.”
