Page 79 of Twisted Secrets
“Why don’t you—”
“No. Not until I know she’s okay.”Please be sleeping. If he’d done something to her baby girl, she’d bring him back to life so she could kill him again.Not good enough.Not by a long shot. Olivia slipped out of Cillian’s arms and crossed the living room in a daze. It had all happened so fast. One second Sergei was there, his larger-than-life presence threatening to smother hers. The next, he was dead and gone. He’d never be able to hurt her again.
She opened the first door, but it was just a bathroom, as tiny and clean as the rest of the house. The next door was locked. Her heart skipped a beat. She rattled the lock. It was one of the old ones that could be popped with a bobby pin—which was something she didn’t have.
“Let me.” Cillian gently nudged her out of the way and set his shoulder to the thin wood. She glanced back to find dour-looking men filing into the living room. Without a word, one produced a tarp, and they set about wrapping Sergei’s body in it. It took seconds, and then there was only a small stain on the faded blue carpet and the cracked plaster where her head had met the wall. Another man came through the door with a bucket of what looked like cleaning supplies.They’ve done this before.
Yeah, no shit. When you do illegal things, people get hurt, and it’s necessary to cover it up.
She turned as Cillian hit the door again, cracking the wood and sending the part still attached to the hinges slamming into the wall behind it. Olivia saw the familiar flash of a gun andmoved, slamming him into the wall and covering as much of his body as she could with hers.Fire exploded across her back, the burning fury a match to her throat. “Gun.”
“Got it.” He pulled his out again and peered around the door, nearly taking a bullet to the face. “We’re not here to hurt you. We came for the girl.”
A torrent of angry Russian was his only answer. Olivia frowned, trying to concentrate enough to translate the words. “She’s not happy that we’re here.”
“I gathered.” He peeked around the door again. “Hadley’s there. She doesn’t seem to be hurt.”
Relief made her light-headed. Or maybe it was the blood she could feel soaking her back. She slumped to the ground. “Get my baby girl, Cillian. Please.”
She hit the ground, his answer sliding through the darkness blotting out her vision. “I will. I promise. Just hold on, sweetheart.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The sight of Olivia on the floor, her dusky skin too pale, made Cillian’s mind go blank. All he wanted to do was scoop her up and get them both the hell out of there. But she trusted him to take care of the angry Russian in the other room and save her daughter.
He caught Liam’s eye and motioned over his shoulder. So far the woman was solely focused on keeping them out of the room, rather than hurting the little girl she had in her arms. If she didn’t have that damn gun, he’d just rush her, but he couldn’t take the risk that she’d turn the weapon on Hadley.
Liam frowned, and then made a circling motion with his hand. He didn’t wait for Cillian’s nod to take another man and disappear out the back door. They’d slip around to the window behind her. He just needed to wait for their signal.
It didn’t take long.
The sound of breaking glass was hiscue. He rushed into the room. The older woman had turned her gun toward Liam, and Cillian wasted no time grabbing her arm so the shot went wide. She was strong, but he was stronger. He wrestled the gun away from her and then turned both on her. “Put the child down.”
She spat something he couldn’t understand, but she set Hadley down on the mattress. The little girl was awake, her tear-stained face enough to make his heart ache. Her lower lip trembled. Cillian shoved his gun into his holster and motioned to her with his free hand while he kept the other gun trained on Sergei’s aunt. “Come here, baby girl.”
“Mama?”
“She’s here, too.”Unconscious on the floor. He couldn’t afford to think about that. Not yet. Hadley had to come first. He went down on one knee. “Let’s get you home.”
Hadley slid off the bed and toddled over to him, shooting terrified looks at the woman behind her. What had she done to the little girl? It was almost enough to make him pull the trigger right then and there. Only the fact that it would add to Hadley’s trauma stayed his hand. He picked the toddler up and stood. “We’re leaving now. I highly suggest you stay in this room.”
Cillian backed out the door. Liam must have come back around, because he was at his side instantly. “Your woman was hit?”
“Yeah.” He wanted to pass Hadley over and be the one to pick up Olivia, if only to comfort himself with the fact that she was going to be okay, but Hadley had a death grip on his neck.She’s terrified and you’re the only person in this room she knows.He cuddled her close, trying to comfort her while he focused on the situation at hand. “Her back. We need to get her out of here now, before someone comesto investigate.”
“On it.” Liam pulled out his phone and gave terse orders to whoever was on the other line. Then he went to his knees next to Olivia and carefully prodded her. “Bullet took a chunk out of her back, but it was a graze. Nothing vital hit.”
He released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Let’s get out of this fucking hellhole.”
“Yes, sir.” He picked Olivia up carefully and led the way out of the house. Their train of vehicles now idled at the curb directly outside.
Liam glanced back. “The little one isn’t going to be letting go of you anytime soon.”
Considering the shakes rocking her tiny body, he didn’t want to risk traumatizing her further by forcing her to do anything other than bury her face in his neck. It was only because she was clinging to him so tightly that she hadn’t seen Olivia yet. A small favor, but he couldn’t drive and hold Hadley and sit with Olivia at the same time. Cillian nodded. “Put her in the backseat and drive.”
He moved around the back of the car and got into the other side. Keeping a hand on the back of Hadley’s head, he accepted the towel Liam had gotten out of the trunk. Between the two of them, they got it folded and propped behind Olivia, and then buckled her in. He didn’t like how pale she was, but they didn’t have much in the way of an alternative. Right now the main goal was to get the hell out of Dodge.
So he sat back and stroked Hadley’s hair and back until her little sobs abated. He kept checking Olivia, but her breathing was steady and so was her pulse.Nothing you can do.“Have Doc Jones ready for us.”
