Page 54 of Killian

The yelling was loud as Conor took it out on Lorcan. Lorcan remained quiet as I entered the room to see him sitting at the end of the table, letting Conor hammer it into him. Conor turned to see me standing there and he stopped yelling.

“What’s the plan, dickhead?” he aimed toward me. “We need to fucking get them back. Why are we just sitting around?”

“You’re right,” I said. Conor was surprised enough he didn’t know what to say.

“What?” Lorcan finally spoke.

“We need to stop being the three brothers who want to rule peacefully,” I todl them. “Father never had these issues and you know why? People feared him, that’s why. We need to do what needs to be done so our women are safe, and no one thinks they can overrun us.”

“Killian…”

“Enough, Lorcan. You don’t have a woman to protect. You don’t get a fucking say in this.”

It was a low blow, even for me, but it had to be said. I could see the darkening in Conor’s eyes too. He knew exactly what I was talking about. He had probably been thinking the same thing.

“You can’t change the way we do things,” Lorcan said, standing up. “We worked our asses off to show them we wouldn’t be like that. They were scared of our dad, and his men. A town in fear will never be the way to go.”

“Then why is it that dad never faced this kind of shit? You’ve not been tortured and beaten to hell by them. Dad would never have that happen, Lor. We’re too soft and now our women are in the middle of it.”

“What would dad have done if mum had been taken?” Conor asked in a calm tone. A scarily calm tone that I knew was spring loaded for an attack.

Lorcan’s tension relaxed because he knew it would have never happened. No one would have dared, but if they had, our father would have launched an attack so vicious, no one would dare to try anything again.

“It’s time to harden up,” I said. “You know we’re right.”

Lorcan sat back down, tense once more. He was relenting to us, and I knew it was because he knew the only way forward was to be seen as the power. The power who can look after our people.

The coke was active in my system. I could feel it already and I wanted to punch the fuck out of anyone who got in my way, brother included.

“You have to stay here,” Conor said to Lorcan. “One O’Farrell at the helm, at all times. You know you have to stay.”

Lorcan nodded. “Fine, but I want constant updates and don’t be fucking going in half cocked. Take everyone, strategise.”

I nodded and Conor joined me as we headed out to the car.

SLOANE

Teeghan had been texting on her phone for the last thirty minutes, as we traveled in silence. She kept her eye on where we were through the half boarded window in the back of the van. I couldn’t believe she didn’t just pull me out of the van at the docks.

She put the phone into her jacket pocket and zipped it up, before she checked through the window to the cab. It had been quiet for a few minutes as Darren drove us back to wherever the hell we had been. Teeghan slowly and quietly crept over to me and started to pull the knots out of the ropes around my wrists and pulled the rope free. She held her finger to her mouth to keep me quiet as she pulled the rag from my head.

“I need you to be super quiet and don’t react,” she whispered to me. “I have a plan. In about three minutes, we’re going to jump and roll. You understand?”

I nodded, unsure of what the hell she could have planned.

“We can argue after we escape,” she whispered. “For now, I need you to relax and listen to me.”

I tried to breathe but my heart was hammering so much that I was starting to feel jittery. Teeghan took my hand in her own and tried to calm me down as she continually checked the window for Sinead to catch us.

“We got this,” she whispered. “We just need to roll before we jump out. Don’t jump with your feet, you need to sort of roll your body into the air and let yourself roll onto the dirt road. The hedges will hide us if they find out what we’ve done but we’re about to head onto one of the worst roads in Ireland. The potholes will cover our escape.”

I nodded, trying desperately not to think of what jumping out of a moving vehicle could do to my already battered body.

Teeghan glanced up at the window again, to ensure they hadn’t seen her, and then she helped me to my feet.

“Wait,” she whispered, as we hovered near the door, our bodies bent over, but I was already thinking of how I was going to spin my body into the air. “On three.”

I nodded to her.

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