Page 27 of Accidental Irish Daddy

He slaps me, hitting me hard enough to send me to my knees. Then he kicks me in my side, knocking me all the way to the floor.

“Stop it! Stop it!”

We both look up to see Bridget on the stairs, her eyes wide with fear. Liam points to her and bellows, “You shut your mouth, you little bitch!”

I scramble to get to my feet, and he whirls around, trying to grab me. I get out of his reach just long enough to reach the living room and grab the empty beer bottle on the end table by the couch. He grabs me by the hair and yanks me back. I twist around and slam the bottle over his head.

This thing is tough and harder to break than it seems.

He cries out in pain, letting me go as he stumbles backward. I run around him and halfway up the stairs, grabbing Bridget by the arm.

“Come on!”

We run out of the house and into the car with him shouting insults after us.

I start the car and drive away from the house as fast as I can.

I’m on the road before it hits me that I only have four hundred dollars to my name right now…and that’s for Bridget’s medication.

Really, I don’t have a penny to my name and I only have the clothes on my back…what the hell am I going to do?

My mind spins. I don’t know if Roisin is home tonight. I pull out my phone as I drive, dialing her number.

“Hey,” I say when she picks up, and even I can hear the shaky, sobby tone in my voice. “Please let me and Bridget stay with you tonight.”

She pauses but only for a split second. “Yeah, of course. I’m home now.”

I hang up and suddenly the tears start flowing. What the hell am I going to do?

I get to Roisin’s house within minutes. When we get out of the car, I do my best to wipe my face and not look at the mess that I must look.

Bridget takes my hand lovingly. “It’s gonna be okay, Aisling,” she says. “We’re safe now.”

I smile down at her and pull her into a hug.

“Yeah,” I say to her. “We sure are.”

8

Grant

I’m up with the sun this morning. I need to get into the office to discuss a new client that just came in, some tycoon that needs security for his stay in the city.

Whenever we get a new client, I have to whip my team into shape. Good impressions are the most important things in this business. My clients have to be able to trust that I can get the job done.

I also want to avoid Aisling as much as I can. I don’t need any more distractions right now. The last thing I want is another incident like the one I had during the ad presentation.

As I’m making my coffee, I get a text from my partner Aidan. He’s planning on stopping into the office to drop off the nightsticks he wants to outfit some of the employees with. I’m not a fan of nightsticks, personally, but as I understand it, they’re effective. I’ll have to see what he’s talking about when I get in.

I’m pouring my coffee when the front door creaks open. I glance at the clock on the wall and see it’s just after eight o’clock!

Aisling walks into the kitchen and jumps as soon as she sees me.

“Morning, Mr. Duncan.” She avoids meeting my eyes. Her hair’s down today and it falls in her face as she looks away from me.

“You’re here early,” I say as she walks past me to the cabinet for the tea bags. “My mother doesn’t get up for another…”

As Aisling reaches up, a little bit of a bruise is peeking out from the bare space under her armpits. I frown.

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