Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
I grabbed the phone number and sent it for Sam to analyze, even though I knew the fucker 100 percent used a burner.
“Confirm you’ll be there.” I handed her back the phone. “I’ll go see him myself.”
Her head shot up and she glared at me. “I’m coming, too.”
“You’re not.”
“Tiernan, I want to confront the man who did this to me.”
“Why?” I asked coldly. “Are you expecting any insightful input as to why he brutally raped you? Because you won’t find a plausible excuse.”
“I want him to hurt—”
“He will hurt,” I promised. “I will make it slow, and gory, and unbearable. He will regret the day he was born.”
“I need this for closure.” She glared at me.
“You’re not coming, and that’s that.” I slipped into my peacoat. I had 150K to liquidate in a few hours. Hardly a fucking problem for me, but a big hurdle for a sheltered teenager like Lila. This whole operation felt botched. Amateur. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Stupid people made the most dangerous enemies. They couldn’t tell a terrible idea if it hit them in the face with a shovel.
“Think about it.” Lila jumped to her feet, chasing me across the too-small apartment. I hated that she didn’t have a sprawling mansion, a proper nursery, and a walk-in closet she could get lost in.
Not that she’d ever complained about it despite her plush upbringing.
“He threatened he’d tell the world our secret. Reveal that you are not the real father if I don’t come there on my own.”
“First of all, he wouldn’t be alive to do that.” I slipped into my smart shoes. “Second, even if he did tell, it wouldn’t change a thing. I’d still be married to you, and the baby would still be mine.”
That seemed to placate her as she stopped by the door, placing her hands on my shoulders.
“Promise?”
I stared at her, aghast. “Just fucking try to get rid of me, Lila.”
That earned me a precious smile from my favorite girl.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I love you.”
“Good for you.”
She was still mad. I yanked her close, kissing the tip of her nose. “Hey. Say it back.”
“Fine, I love you, too. That being said, I want to be there, please.”
I leaned down, catching her lips in mine in a sweet kiss. She’d be pissed when she found out I directed all of her incoming messages and calls to my phone. “Never fucking happening. Have a good day, Gealach.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
LILA
The clock struck ten thirty when I put my sketchbook down and rose from the couch.
I couldn’t sit around twiddling my thumbs while my husband was having a showdown with my rapist.
Fury and exasperation swirled in my gut. I knew Tiernan wanted to keep me safe, and I appreciated his protectiveness, but I was my own person, and I wanted to confront my attacker. I deserved to give him a piece of my mind. I even fantasized about telling him everything verbally. Watching his shock as he realized I could speak.
Tiernan made me promise I’d never follow him, never put myself in harm’s way, but we’d never discussed this rule in the case that I knew his life was in danger. He was underestimating the man who raped me. Sure, his actions so far were a little chaotic, but ultimately, he had managed to sneak under everyone’s radar undetected this many months into the pregnancy.
Obviously, he was doing something right.
I was going to break my promise to my husband. Just this one time.
I grabbed my pink gun and tucked it in the satin ribbon holding together my pink maternity dress. It was easily concealed between the rich fabrics of my frock. I slid my phone into my purse and took the stairs down to the pub. Fintan and Tierney weren’t there, and it was still closed to the public. An ocean of scary-looking Irish soldiers looked up from their pints and game of cards. I shot them a glare and punched my phone’s keyboards, using a text-to-speech app.
“I want to go to 7-Eleven to get some chocolate.”
They looked between them, hesitant. I wasn’t one for rash decisions and didn’t have a sweet tooth. And I never asked my bodyguards to take me anywhere. In fact, I usually pretended they didn’t exist.
A bulky guy named Flynn stood up. “Give us a list, will you? I’ll go grab whatever ya fancy.”
Shaking my head, I typed on my phone, transferring my text into words.
“I don’t know what I want. I need to go there and see.”
“It’s late,” he argued.
I tossed a shoulder up.
“And cold,” someone else said.
I rolled my eyes.
“Tiernan said not to let you out of our sight,” a third soldier chimed, his throat bobbing with a swallow. I couldn’t believe the man put fifty soldiers in charge of protecting one tiny woman who never left the house. This was overkill, even for my husband.