Page 50 of Twisted Secrets
Five men to cover twenty acres. Cillian bit back a curse. He couldn’t have it both ways. He couldn’t keep this under the radar and still take a small army with him. He went back to his closet and reached up to grab the .45 he kept there. He didn’t normally carry it with him—too many things could go sideways in a conflict when someone pulled out a gun—but his father had made sure he knew how to use it. “That’ll have to work. Can you have them ready in twenty?”
“Jesus. Yeah, I’ll light a fire under their asses.” He paused. “Do I want to know what this is about?”
“The less you know the better. Have them meet me in the garage.”
“Will do.” Then he was gone, off to coordinate.
Cillian checked the clip in the pistol, and then dug through the dresser to find the holster Aiden had bought him years ago when he’d bitched about the gun ruining the line of his suits. Shoving one into the waistbandof his slacks might look cool in the movies, but it wasn’t comfortable, and it was hardly safe. Cillian was rather fond of his ass—he didn’t like the idea of shooting off part of it. Not to mention the chafing was a bitch.
He shrugged into the holster, fastened it, and then slipped the gun into place. A few practice draws were all it took to have muscle memory kicking in. As long as he kept his jacket unbuttoned, he’d have a clear line. He wasn’t as good as the men they had on protection duty, but he wasn’t a slouch, either.
One last walk-through of his room, and he had everything packed that he needed. There wasn’t much need for three-piece suits in the country, so he’d unearthed a few pairs of jeans and T-shirts that he tended to forget he owned. He checked his watch. Right on time.
Down in the garage he found the five men Liam had promised him. Mark, Jacob, Grant, Rodger, and Finn. They were all solid guys, though he’d had the most experience with Mark. The man in question stepped forward. “Do you need an escort or do you want us to go straight there and get set up?”
The mantle of leadership wasn’t one that Cillian craved, but there was a first time for everything. He thought quickly. He didn’t know what danger there might be in the immediate future, but if Olivia wasn’t panicked enough to be running without a plan in place, then there was no reason to think that he wouldn’t be able to get her out of state on his own. “Go straight there. I’m leaving the city inside of an hour.”
Mark nodded. “Got it. We’ll watch for you.” He and the other four men slid into one of the Hummers they kept for special occasions. The trio of vehicleswere outfitted as small tanks—the kind of thing a person only took if they were expecting the worst kind of trouble. Since Cillian didn’t know exactlywhatkind of trouble to expect, he appreciated Mark’s choice.
For himself, he chose a Beemer. It was fast when the situation called for it, but it was nondescript enough that it didn’t call attention to itself. Add in the customizations of bulletproof glass and a reinforced body and it was the best option. Cillian threw his bag into the backseat and headed out.
Technically, he was going by Teague’s for the key, but the truth was he wanted a few minutes to talk to his brother and get a backup plan in place. Olivia might not like the idea of disappearing, but if she was scared enough to consider it, he wanted her to have that option. Maybe she wouldn’t take money from him, but legitimate papers could go a long way. If Cillian was out of town, he wouldn’t be able to get that ball rolling…but his brother could.
He just had to get him to agree to it first.
Chapter Fifteen
Olivia checked her bag for the twentieth time. It had everything she could possibly need—which meant it had the majority of her and Hadley’s possessions in it. Without her daughter’s favorite toys scattered around the living room, the apartment looked dull and lifeless. It was almost enough for her to call the whole thing off. Maybe she was overreacting. Hell, she’d handled things herself before. She could do it again.
Except her version of handling it had bought her less than a year. Sure, she hadn’t been trying to disappear completely, but there was no reason to think that if she ran again she’d be any more successful. If it had been just her, she wouldn’t have hesitated.
But it was a whole lot easier to gamble with her life than it was to gamble with her daughter’s.
She moved to the window and checked the parking lot again. The hour Cillian had given her wasalmost up, so he should be showing up at any time. He wasn’t who she was watching for, though. The fear that brought her back to the window again and again over the last hour was that Sergei would appear. It wouldn’t be Dmitri—she knew that much. He wasn’t above getting his hands dirty, but he was a big fan of using the best weapon for the job. For this job, that weapon would be her ex.
She’d given up regretting her relationship with Sergei right around the time her daughter made her appearance in the world, but that didn’t mean she was willing to forgive and forget. He’d already proven that he would choose the Romanovs over her. When she needed him the most—when she thought she had a chance to finally slip her leash—he’d let her believe he was leaving town with her…and then turned around and hauled her back to the Romanov residence, which resulted in her being under lockdown for the last four months of her pregnancy and the first two months of Hadley’s life. Until Andrei died.
Her heart thudded at the memory. She’d barely waited for his death to be announced to leave, and that time she hadn’t given Sergei a heads-up. She hadn’t toldanyone, though she’d seen her mother on her way out. The woman hadn’t even glanced at Hadley, too wrapped up in playing the grieving mistress in her impeccable black couture dress.
I wonder if Dmitri showed her the door as soon as our father’s body was in the ground.
She shook her head, letting go of the small shred of satisfaction that thought brought. There were bigger things to worry about right now—like Sergei showing up at the same time Cillian did…
Oh God. She’d brought Cillian into this. She’d never forgive herself if something happened tohim because of her. She hadn’t even considered that as a possibility when she called him. All she’d been thinking was that she needed help and he was the one man who had the means to give it to her—and who might not hold it over her head for the rest of her life.
She checked on Hadley, but her daughter was sleeping soundly on the couch where she’d lain down with her favorite blankie while Olivia hurried around and packed their suitcase.Thank God for small favors. She grabbed her phone and dialed Cillian again.
He picked up almost immediately. “Did something else happen?”
“No. I just…” She braced herself. He was helping her because he was a better man than she could have dreamed. It wasn’t fair to drag him into her mess. “Cillian—”
“Hold that thought.”
A knock on her door had her spinning around. She approached the faded wood like it was a poisonous snake and leaned in to peer through the peephole. A gorgeous tattooed man in a three-piece suit stared back at her. “You’re here.”
“Open the door, sweetheart, and let’s blow this joint.”
“This was probably a mistake.” She realized how stupid it was to be having this conversation on the phone when he was on the other side of her door, but she couldn’t quite make herself unlock it. Not yet. “I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me.”
