Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Lachlan turns to face me, and his boyish face looks older. His brows draw together, and there are lines around his mouth he didn’t have before. Being an active member of The Clan ages you.
“Went to scout out the family home,” he says. “Carson and I went. Fixed the locks, installed a few more. Carson knows his way around there better. Would’ve gone with Cormac, but you can’t go anywhere discreetly with a guy like him.”
I can’t help but smile. Cormac’s enormous size makes it impossible for him not to be noticed.
“Aye.”
“Evidence of a struggle. Carson and I found a few locals, did some digging, asked some questions.” He pauses. “Found something that matters.”
The skin on the back of my neck prickles with awareness. I know what he’s about to tell me will hold weight, might even impact everything else we’re doing.
“The body of Aine Hurston.”
Mother of God.
“Haven’t told anyone else yet,” Keenan says. “We have a plan, and I don’t want to fuck that up. Not now. And it doesn’t impact much of what we have to do right now.”
What is he talking about? It impacts fucking everything.
Without her mother around, Sheena will have to do something about custody of her siblings, and if she means to me what I think she does…
“You alright, Nolan?”
“Aye,” I say, shaking my head. “You think the O’Gregors had anything to do with it, then?”
“No doubt,” Lachlan says. “She was into them for money for the drugs.”
I turn to Keenan. “You know what this means.”
He nods. “It means you’ll do whatever you have to. Whatever you decide, you’ve got the backing of the brotherhood.”
“Where does it end?” Lachlan asks. “If they want vengeance on us, and we draw them out of hiding… if we fight them, where does this end?”
“Doesn’t have to be an all-out brawl between us,” Keenan says. “Their gripe was because they think we took Tiernan. We ventured onto their territory, ruffled their feathers, but that’s more easily forgiven.”
“They killed his mother,” I say.
“Aye,” Keenan says. “And according to Clan code? That means he owes them nothing.”
“What do we owe them?”
Keenan clenches his jaw and looks out the window. “We didn’t harm them. We don’t owe them a tribute, we don’t even owe them money.”
“Of course not.”
“We draw them out,” I say to Keenan. “Make them meet us, and tell us what they demand. Then we’ll have counsel and decide if we can meet their demands.”
He thinks over what I’ve said, and nods. “Right. It’s the only way. Who’s going with you, Lachlan?”
“Carson, Tully.”
“And Cormac and the rest stay here in case the O’Gregors go momentarily insane and decide to attack us here at our house.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “They are the drug dealers around here. Could be high.”
“Good stuff they carry. Could lead them to believe they might actually defeat us.”
“Hallucinogens, then,” Keenan says with a smile.
We can’t help but joke about this, but we know the threat is very real.
I meet Sheena upstairs. She needs to know about her mother, but not now. Not when she’s already on edge about where we’re going and what we need to do. In silence, we prepare, packing only what’s necessary. Her hand trembles as she zips up a bag with clothes. A little bag sits by the door.
“What’s that?”
“Sam’s things,” she says in a little voice. I turn to her, but she turns away. I reach for her, but she deflects my hand. I don’t pursue her, not now. We have a job to do.
In short time, Tiernan, Fiona, and Sam are ready to go. We give Sheena a car, but I don’t join her, not yet.
“You go ahead,” I tell her. “It’s best if they think you’re alone.”
She nods, swallowing hard. A strange look crosses her face, but I don’t really understand it.
“Y’alright?” I ask.
She nods. “Aye,” she says, her voice hoarse.
“Wish you weren’t going alone?”
Her eyes fly to me. “Of course, Nolan,” she says. “Don’t you know?”
I shake my head. Goddamn, I don’t know anything for certain anymore.
Her eyes soften, and she reaches a hand out to me and squeezes.
“I don’t want to do this alone.” For some strange reason, her words hold a note of finality. “But I will. I have to.”
“Do what alone?” I ask.
She only shakes her head and walks away.
We’ll talk more about that later.
I track her on my phone and watch as the cars behind her leave. The plan is for me to follow behind in short time. I can’t follow too closely, or people in Stone City will get suspicious.
It kills me, though, to watch her drive away, to know that she’s taking herself and those children into a dangerous situation.
“Fuck it, give me the keys,” I tell the driver who stands next to me.
“Sir?”
“Give me the fucking keys,” I repeat.
He hands them to me, watching me warily, but my decision’s made. I sit in the driver’s side, slam the door and put the keys in the ignition. I drive toward them, but at a distance so no one notices. I took nothing with me, but all I need is right ahead of me, only two cars up.