Page 107 of Beneath Your Beautiful
Oh my God.
I hated that man, but he came to our rescue, right along with Killian. Now he was dead. It seemed strange we survived, but the police chief died. “And…what about those men?”
Killian either didn’t know or he didn’t want to tell me. “You don’t need to worry about them anymore.”
“And Connor…shouldn’t you be with him now?”
“Ava is with him.”
I felt better knowing he wasn’t alone. I tried not to picture his face, the pulpy flesh and blood, or the knife cutting into his chest. What did he do to deserve that? They were going to kill him after they finished torturing him. They were going to kill me too, probably. Wrong place, wrong time.
“I love you, Killian. I love you so much.”
He let out a ragged breath. “I love you too.”
“Don’t leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Killian
Iunlocked the front door of Trinity Bar and held it open for Jack Madley. “Eden told me you take it black,” he said, handing me a large cardboard cup from Brickwood Coffee.
“Thanks.” I’d already had three large coffees today, but I took a sip of the one he offered me and locked the door behind him. “How’s Eden?”
“Ava’s with her now.” That didn’t surprise me. In the past three days, Jack hadn’t left Eden’s side. She’d texted me, complaining about his helicopter parenting. He was sleeping on an air mattress on her living room floor, scared to let her out of his sight. I couldn’t blame him. If I had a daughter, I’d be the same way. As it was, I’d hoped to be the one by her side, helping her through this, but I hadn’t had five minutes alone with her since we’d left the hospital. “She’s waking up with nightmares every night.”
I lowered my head and rubbed the back of my neck. Eden hadn’t mentioned that. She kept telling me she felt fine and didn’t understand why everyone was making such a fuss. “I’m sorry.”
He didn’t respond. He looked around the inside of the bar, taking it all in. He’d asked to see where Eden worked, and her mural on the back wall, so I ushered him outside to the courtyard and sat across from him at a picnic table, drinking my coffee while he studied the wall. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. I couldn’t even tell if he liked it or thought it was any good. It pissed me off that he didn’t comment on her mural, but I kept my mouth shut and waited for him to introduce the real reason he’d stopped by.
“How have you been doing?” he asked, focusing his attention on me.
“Fine.”Shitty. This morning, I met with my father’s lawyer to go over the will. Seamus had left everything to me and Connor, to be divided equally, which had surprised me. When I saw how much money he’d left us, I’d nearly fallen off my fucking chair. How had a cop accrued so much money? Granted, he’d been on the force for thirty years with a chief’s salary for the last five years and all his life he’d been frugal, but that still didn’t explain the three million dollars in his account. The house was mortgage-free and even though it was a crappy house, the realtor said we’d probably get a million for it. Allegedly, it was a good family home in a coveted neighborhood.
After I’d left the lawyer’s office, it hit me. I didn’t know anything about Seamus Vincent.
Had he been a dirty cop? Had he been getting kickbacks? His work on the force had been the one thing that had redeemed him in my eyes. His sense of right and wrong when he’d put that uniform on. But now, I wasn’t certain he’d even been a good cop.
“Eden and I talked this morning,” Jack said. “She told me about your background. Only because I pushed her for answers. She didn’t want to betray your confidence.”
My chest tightened. I’d been keeping those secrets for so long, from everyone, and it wasn’t something I was comfortable talking about or even acknowledging. I wasn’t thrilled Eden’s father knew about my background. It felt like the odds were stacked against me. After everything that had happened, and everything he knew about me, how could I be deemed a suitable boyfriend for this man’s daughter?
“I grew up in a tough neighborhood in Philly,” he said. “My old man was a con artist and a gambler.”
My brows raised. I hadn’t expected that. Jack chuckled at my reaction. “He used to swindle old ladies out of their savings. A real stand-up guy. He’d take the winnings to Atlantic City and blow it at the craps table. Sometimes he’d win, and we’d get shiny new toys, and my mom would get a piece of jewelry. Other times he lost. And when he lost, he lost big. My mom’s jewelry went to the pawn shop. She’d take on extra hours at work, clean houses, do whatever she could to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. She was always threatening to leave him. But she never did.” He looked off into the distance, caught up in his memories.
“All my life, I wanted to be everything my father wasn’t. When I went to Penn State, I told myself this is it. A fresh start. But I wanted to have a good time and party and all the things I wanted cost money. So, I came up with all kinds of schemes. I used to drive into Jersey or New York. The drinking age was only eighteen in those states at the time. I’d load up the trunk with cheap liquor, drive back to campus, and sell it at a huge profit. Turned out I had a knack for poker and shooting pool too. And I was a damn good hustler. By the time I was a senior, I thought I was a legend. Then I met Eden’s mom. We didn’t exactly travel in the same circles, but she knew who I was by reputation and she didn’t want to get anywhere near me. But, for me, it was love at first sight and I wasn’t about to let her go. So, I told her I’d go straight. No more shady dealings. No more hustling. That worked out great for a while. I got the girl. She kind of liked me. Up until her birthday in April. We were graduating in a month, and I decided to give her a big diamond engagement ring. But I needed money. So, I went back to my old ways. Made a shitload of cash, bought her a big shiny ring, and took her out to dinner. I proposed. She said no.”
He shook his head and chuckled. “She was stubborn, that woman. And she was pissed off like you wouldn’t believe.”
I smiled, thinking about Eden who was also stubborn. “I can believe it.”
“Yeah, I guess you can. Eden’s a lot like her mother.”
“So, how did you win the girl?” I asked, curious despite myself. I wondered if Eden had ever heard this story. It surprised me that Jack Madley hadn’t always been straight-edge, but I respected him even more now. He’d turned his life around and had gotten out from under his father’s shadow. Built a good life for himself and his family.
