Page 26 of Risky Fight

He let’s go of me and I hurry out. I see a young girl smoking near a van, “Clarissa?”

“Yeah,” she turns to me, “do I know you?”

“L…Leila. I’m new. Boss said we need to go get more silverware,” I give her a hesitant smile but she puts out her cigarette and climbs into the van. I hurry to get into the back and she glances behind her, “Not sitting up front.”

“No, I prefer the back.” I hope she doesn’t think it’s weird.

“Suit yourself, but then I choose what music we listen to. I feel like a damn Uber, don’t you want to sit here?” she turns the radio up and points to the seat next to her. I shake my head. It’s Irish pub songs, I recognize the playlist. She starts driving and I hold my breath.

I hold it until we’ve passed the gates, gone down the road and are on our way back to the nearest town. Then I let it out slowly and I know once she stops, I’m going to have to do something drastic so she doesn’t realize she’s just helped the hostess escape.

She doesn’t talk which I’m thankful for and eventually she pulls up outside a wonky looking house. We get out and I shake my head, “My anxiety is acting right up. I needed to get out of there, he was being so demanding.”

She puts a hand on my shoulder, “Hey, it’s okay.”

“Could you tell him I quit? Please?” I plead with her and she nods.

“Look, it’s not the right thing to do but you’re no good to anyone panicking. Don’t be in service if you’re not a people person.” She’s snotty but I nod to agree.

“You’re right, you’re so smart.” Dumb bitch is going to be in a world of trouble when Roark realizes she drove me away from him.

She smirks and turns, “Good luck.” She heads towards the house and I take off down the road. I need to put as much distance as I can between me and Roark.

I need to find somewhere to lie low and I think I know where I’m going. The dock yard is not too far, and it’s late enough that if I stay in the shadows, I should be able to slip in unnoticed.

Chapter16 - Roark

I have had parties in Hollywood and Vegas, and all over the world, yet a party here at home just feels different. Like I have been missing from my own life all this time. The Irish just know how to celebrate differently to any other culture. Beer and music and comfort food flow all evening. Aside from Lou’s less than lady-like behavior, I actually had fun.

The lads were even singing, they had enough drink in them to think they might win American Idol. It was nice for everyone to meet Nolan, and for him to see his family, all of them. Aunties and uncles and cousins and second cousins. He found family that can be friends, which excited him because he has a birthday soon. Lou told me he wanted a party, but I haven’t had time to give it enough thought. This is all new to me, I am not entirely sure of all the things I should be doing.

I’ll ask Lou to help me arrange things after we recover from tonight. I can see there will be a few hangovers in the future. Maybe even a few passed out guests who will have to be removed from the sofa’s, rugs, and other places. As the crowd thins out, I look around and this house I bought seems like a home. There’s a warmth about it, and it finally feels like I have made the right choice coming back here.

I’m walking through the celebration debris, Nolan has passed out in the play tent he and his cousins set up in the living room. He looks so peaceful, and the entire night he was happy and smiling as if he’d forgotten his mother was gone. I leave him there, not wanting to wake him. The chances of him staying asleep if I move him are slim to none.

“Bye,” one of the stragglers waves as they exit down the hallway, “thanks, this was a blast.” It was, and by tomorrow the entire world will know about it. The headlines will be a nice change from the anger over my retirement.UFC fighter returns home to reunite with his first love, with the rather romantic photos they took earlier tonight.

Lou looked fucking hot as all hell dressed up, even if she hated it. I know her well enough to know dresses and heels are not her favorite things to wear. Lou is a sneakers and leggings lady, she always has been. I think growing up without her mam, she missed out on all those girly things that other girls learn from the women in their lives. Lou rebelled against being a lady at every turn, and if her brothers had allowed it, she’d have become a fighter herself.

Like her bestie Rory, I think she’d have kicked ass in the ring. She kicks it out of the ring so imagine allowing her to beat the snot out of someone in it? It was a missed chance, and I feel guilty over it. She missed hers and I took mine, breaking her heart and spirit by leaving her behind. Thinking about Lou, where the fuck is she? The house is starting to get quiet and I cannot hear her causing chaos or a fight. I start to look for her, knowing she could drink anyone here under the table, I know she hasn’t passed out. I actually didn’t see her drinking anything tonight, maybe she was trying to make sure she didn’t misbehave.

“Lou,” I call down the hallway towards the bedroom, “Lou, where are you? I think almost everyone is gone, or being loaded into taxi’s.” I say, checking every open doorway to see if she might have fallen asleep somewhere. She isn’t in any of the rooms, so I go back down the hall to the living areas and out onto the back patio.

She’s nowhere. In fact, right now it is only Nolan and I left besides the staff who are cleaning up. I’m slightly concerned when I ask if anyone has seen her and no one has. She wouldn’t try get away now, would she? We made the announcement, it is all public, not once did she even protest tonight. She smiled and lapped up the attention, surely she hasn’t got away? How would she? There was security crawling all over the house, making sure the press stayed out, the rag magazines were all about this event. Crowding the gates and harassing everyone coming in and out. I made sure it was Fort Knox, that only the staff and invited guests could get in and out.

Lou leaving would have set off alarm bells for the security staff, I know they would have alerted me. How else could she get out? There is only one entrance and exit, all my cars and my motorcycle are here and accounted for — but Lou is fucking gone!

“Where is she?” I holler at my security staff, “how did you lose her? She is mine, and it cost me dearly to have her. Fuck, I’ll kill whoever let her out of here. How stupid are your team?” I growl at the manager who brought in extras in for the event. This is his fault, it was his job to keep everyone safe, to make sure no one got in or fucking out.

“We never saw her leaving, she was not on the list so no one would have let her go without sending an alert,” he says, “she must be here, Sir.”

“She is not fucking here, which is why I called you.” I am getting irked by how they do not see the urgency of the matter. “Where is my fiancé? If she did not run, then someone took her, which is possibly worse.” Those two bottom feeding brothers of hers owe money to shady people, and if they used her to pay me, they might have double-crossed me and used her to pay someone else, too. I wouldn’t put it past them. “Fetch the O’Neill boys, both of them.” I instruct them, “Start searching, and double check all the security footage. Either Lou ran or she was taken, but no one rests until she is brought home.” I am not giving her a chance to get any further away, she is a smart, wily thing and she probably planned this all along. That is why she was so amicable about throwing a party. It was her opportunity to escape, and I was a fool not to see it coming.

Fuck. My fingers twitch with rage, and I start to pace up and down the room. Wondering where she would go, who would help her? I don’t know a soul in this city who would cross my family, it is ill advised to be enemies with us. My phone rings, and I pull it out hoping it is Lou, but it’s Raymond. I silence the call. I fired him, yet, he cannot get the hint. Still trying daily to convince me to fight, I will not be a monkey in their circus again.

There are bigger opportunities open to me working with the Russian. It is giving me the chance to build an empire. My own legacy, not just making money for the UFC franchise until I am too old or broken and they toss me out. No, I am going my own way and nothing will convince me otherwise. I was making other people rich, and now I am going to build something for myself. My father is ready to trust me to take over, and I want to prove I’m the man he wants me to be.She can’t be gone, someone knows something. I am starting to get concerned, because my family has enemies. Lord, even I have a few of my own. What if she has been taken?

“Get all the cater staff back here and start asking questions. Every driver, taxi and Uber that came in or out. All of them. One of them saw her, helped her or took her.”

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