Page 53 of Twisted Secrets
Down, girl.
She wasn’t supposed to be lusting after her savior. She was supposed to be explaining the situation so he could change his mind about taking on her mess. Olivia studied his expression, but he gave her nothing to go off of. He wasn’t freaking out, and he wasn’t totally dismissive of it. It kind of blew her mind. If she’d found out that a person she thought was just an average Joe was actually connected to one of the most powerful crime families on the East Coast, she’d have at least muttered a few choice words under her breath. Not Cillian, though.
But then, he was a member of a family that could be classified in the same way. Maybe this was all in a day’s work for him.
She looked out the window and settled back into her seat. Or tried to. Her muscles were so tense, she could already feel a headache starting at the top of her spine. “Before our father died, Dmitri gave his word that he’d see it done.He won’t break it.”
Cillian snorted. “He has no problem breaking his word.”
It sounded like he had personal experience with that, which lined up with the comment Dmitri had made when he showed up to threaten her. Part of her wanted to know what the O’Malleys had done to earn his enmity, but most of her was just so damn tired.It never ends. “You’re wrong.”
“No, I’m not.”
She sighed. “Look, I don’t like Dmitri. I actually kind of hate him, but once he gives his word, he doesn’t break it.” She hesitated. “But he’s as slippery as they come when it suits him, so it’s possible that he manipulated the situation to meet his needs.”
“That’s as good as lying.”
“I’m not arguing that.” She went back to picking at her jeans. “But whatever his faults, he loved Andrei. He’s going to do whatever it takes to see his last wish fulfilled, regardless of how I feel about it.”
“Are you sure he doesn’t want you back there because he actually cares about you?”
She snorted. “Dmitri can barely stand me. I’m like an itch he can’t manage to scratch. It irks him.” And here was the part that would make or break how Cillian felt about her. “He came to visit me today. Somehow he found out about us—though it’s kind of too soon to call this an ‘us’ I think—and he…he wanted me to spy on you.”
Cillian didn’t look over. “It makes sense. Through me you’d have information on all of the O’Malleys’ inner financial workings. It’d be enough to give your half brother a golden bullet to hit us where it would hurt most.”
“I would never do that.”
“I know.” Again, there was no doubt in his voice. It was enough to make her wonder how thehell he was so confident about everything, because she felt like she was standing on a narrow cliff and there were earthquakes shaking the ground beneath her feet. He reached over and took her hand. The contact grounded her, his skin warm against hers, a reminder that she wasn’t facing this alone. “He didn’t like your answer, I take it?”
“No. He didn’t threaten—Dmitrineverthreatens—but he made it clear that if I didn’t fall into line at least on this, he was going to prompt Sergei to take Hadley.” The fear that had her calling Cillian in the first place rose up and choked her. “I won’t let him take my baby. I’d die first.”
“I’m here, Olivia. You aren’t alone.” Cillian squeezed her hand. “We’ll figure out a way around this.”
She wanted to believe him. She really did. The problem was that Olivia didn’t see a way around it. Every road led back to Dmitri being the one in power and taking what he wanted, just like he always did.
Chapter Sixteen
They didn’t talk much for the rest of the drive. Cillian kept a hold of Olivia’s hand, and the little shakes that made it through that tiny point of contact worried him. He understood her fear. Even if Dmitri Romanov didn’t have a reputation for being one cold son of a bitch, any family like theirs would fight tooth and nail to keep its members close and under its thumb. His included.
Hell, between his father and brother, they’d driven Carrigan away by trying to marry her off to none other than Dmitri Romanov. He wondered if Olivia knew that, though he doubted it from her comments about her half brother keeping his word. It was something Cillian would have to tell her, because it was one more reason to prompt the man to come after them. No wonder Dmitri had been downright delighted to discover she’d gotten close to Cillian. He was still pissed about how things had turned out six months ago. Dmitri hadn’t done anything overtly threateningsince then, but he also hadn’t responded to Father’s attempts to make things right.
He could be the one behind the missing money.
Cillian filed the thought away for later. Once he had the information from Aiden, he could figure things out one way or another. Coming up with wild theories wasn’t going to help anyone—only facts would. Right now, he needed to focus on making Olivia and her daughter as secure and safe as possible.
That, at least, he could do.
He took the turn onto the dirt road leading out to the country house. His mother had wanted it paved years ago, but his father dug in his heels about it. It had been a dirt road since his childhood, and while he might allow a few upgrades in the house itself, he wanted the land kept as untouched as possible. It was one of the strange contradictions of Seamus O’Malley. He was unashamedly a city man who loved his luxuries, but when they came out here, it was like something relaxed in him. Like he was transported back to a simpler time before he became one of the three crime lords in Boston.
Naturally, it was only in the last year that Cillian had been able to look back and realize that. Growing up, he’d been more focused on cramming as many adventures into their time out here as possible. He wound through the trees, going slow to avoid some of the potholes that had developed over the years. It was like stepping into another world. He and his siblings had roamed these woods during the few weeks of each summer they spent out here. Oh, Sloan and Devlin had always posted up somewhere with a book and ignored the rest of their siblings’ pleas to come play, but the rest of them had never been closer than when they wereaway from the city.
It wasn’t like that anymore.
Time changed everyone. He knew that.
When Aiden finished high school, their father deemed him old enough to start the training his being heir required. He hadn’t gone away all at once, but somewhere in the last decade or so, he’d become a near-stranger. And Teague…Teague had nearly disappeared into himself before Callie came along. Now Carrigan was dead to the family, Sloan was more ghost than woman, and Keira was on a path of self-destruction that worried even him.
And Devlin?
