Page 55 of Twisted Secrets
He snorted.At least they have their priorities in order.
Since Olivia hadn’t reappeared, he got to work putting together three PB&J sandwiches. It only took a few minutes and, after some consideration, he cut thecrust off of one of them. He seemed to remember Keira going through a stage where she refused to eat crust on anything for years. Then he poured three glasses of milk. He wasn’t a huge fan, but he figured Olivia needed the calories. Plus, little kids were supposed to drink a lot of milk, weren’t they?
Hell, he didn’t know.
She came back into the kitchen as he situated the plates and glasses on the little nook table set against the bay windows. It was getting dark now, but in the morning the sun warmed the whole room. He glanced over. “I hope you like milk and PB&J.”
“I’m not really hungry.” She set Hadley at the plate with no crust and smiled. “How’d you know?”
“Educated guess.” He didn’t have a whole lot of knowledge when it came to kids, but he was going to do his best. He pointed at the plate on the other side of the kid. “Even if you’re not hungry, you need to eat. It’s important to keep up your energy.” Something his parents had taught him a long time ago. The O’Malleys had only been on the brink of war once that he could remember, but the risk was always there. It didn’t matter what kind of crisis showed up, they were expected to keep functioning as if the world wasn’t falling apart around them. It was great in theory, but he’d seen it in practice when Devlin died. There was something sowrongabout moving on with life while the world was falling apart around them.
“I don’t know.”
He angled his body away from Hadley and ran his hand down Olivia’s spine. As much as he didn’t want to traumatize the kid, being this close without touching Olivia, even innocently, felt unnatural. “We might have to bolt with little-to-no notice. If you’re ready topass out from exhaustion and hunger, you’re not going to be able to keep up.” Yeah, it was harsh and, no, he’d never leave her behind, but he needed to get through to her. If she didn’t take care of herself—or let him take care of her—they were going to be in trouble.
“Fine. I’ll eat.” She grabbed a sippy cup he hadn’t noticed and poured Hadley’s milk into it. After depositing that in front of her daughter, she dropped into her own chair.
“Good.” He took the seat across from her and went to work on his own sandwich. Truth be told, he wasn’t really hungry either, but since he’d just made a big deal about eating to Olivia, he had to follow his own advice. He watched Hadley out of the corner of his eye, amused that she seemed to be smearing more peanut butter and jelly on her face than she was getting into her mouth. She downed half her cup of milk and sat back with a burp that would have done any one of his brothers proud. Cillian grinned. “Nice.”
For her part, Olivia looked horrified. “Oh my God, I’m sorry.”
“Why? Compliments to the chef.” His mother would have sent him a death glare if he’d belched at the dinner table, but he wasn’t about to tell Olivia that. He sat back with a sigh. “So, what’s next?”
“I need to get this one cleaned up, and settled in, but then…” Her gaze landed on him, a low heat kindling there. “Then we’ll see.”
“Olivia.” He took a deep breath, trying to get his body’s instant reaction to her tone under control. “Let’s get you guys set up in one of the spare suites. That should meet your needs nicely.” Though, truth be told, there was suddenly one specific need he was looking forward to meeting. He glanced at the clock on the wall.From the level of Hadley’s stickiness, he had a good fifteen to twenty minutes to touch base with Mark and do a perimeter check of his own before they settled in for the night. Hopefully that would be enough to keep him distracted from the fact that he and Olivia pretty much had the house to themselves.
He wasn’t liking his odds, though.
***
Olivia stripped Hadley down as the bath filled, her thoughts a thousand miles away. Every time she turned around, Cillian was surprising the hell out of her. First, he’d put himself out there to get her somewhere safe, then he’d made sure she was eating and had taken care of Hadley. Taken care ofher, right from the second she first reached out to him. She didn’t know what to think of that.
No, that was a lie. She knew exactly what to think of it. She liked it. She liked it a lot. In a world filled with untrustworthy and downright murderous men, Cillian stood apart as a shining star of virtue. She snorted. Okay, maybe not virtue. Very little of what they’d done together since they met was virtuous, but that didn’t change the fact that he had yet to betray her.
She looked around the bathroom, taking in the understated décor. The entire house was made up like that, comfortable and attractive and downright cozy now that night had set in. Something had changed in Cillian when they got out of the car below. He hadn’t quite relaxed—she’d caught him putting himself between her and Hadley and any door or window to the outside—but he looked almost more at home out here than he did in Boston in his fancy suits.
Being out here with him was so…domestic. Well, domestic with a dash of sheer fatalism since her half brother and ex were no doubt figuring out right around now that she wasn’t in her apartment. She’d called Benji on the way out here, so at leasthewasn’t going to worry about her.
That didn’t stop her from worrying about everyone back in Boston, though. She hadn’t meant to make friends and start to care about people. Her plan wasn’t to be a pillar on her own, exactly, but she’d known that there was a decent chance Boston wasn’t her final destination, so she’d tried to keep some distance between herself and the people around her.
She washed Hadley’s back. Obviously, from the way both Benji and Mrs. Richards reacted, she’d failed miserably.
More than that, it hurtherto leave them behind. She hadn’t realized how much she’d enjoyed her time in Jameson’s until faced with the fact that she might never go back there. And Mrs. Richards was a saint put on this earth to keep her tethered to reality when her past got too close. What if she never saw them again?
She carefully poured a cup of water over her daughter’s head.It doesn’t matter. I’ll miss them, but Hadley is more important than anyone else. Keeping her out of Romanov hands isn’t negotiable.
And Sergei?
She dumped more baby bath wash into her hand and went to work on Hadley’s unruly mane of hair. If she thought for a second that Sergei had any interest at all in their daughter beyond trying to please Dmitri, maybe things would be different. She’d grown up with one parent who borderline hated her, and the other who was almost completely checked out. She knew howimportant parents—good parents—were. If Sergei actually loved their daughter, she wouldn’t hide Hadley from him.
But he didn’t.
At best, he saw her as a pawn to get Olivia back to his side. He didn’t understand that Olivia wouldneverbe his again, or that he’d burned that bridge all on his own without any help from anyone else. Dmitri and Andrei hadn’t ordered him to bring her to the house, but Sergei had known they wouldn’t be happy if she disappeared, so he’d taken it upon himself to deliver her there. He’d used her freedom to propel himself even higher within the ranks. Even over a year later, it made her sick to think about.
She washed Hadley quickly, and sat back on her heels and let her daughter splash around in the water. As foolish as it was, she couldn’t help comparing Sergei’s actions to Cillian’s. The latter stood to gain quite a bit once he knew who she was. Dmitri wanted her back, and he wanted her back badly. Delivering her to him would be a great way to foster goodwill between their families, and she didn’t see how Cillianwouldn’tbenefit from that.
He still might.
