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“Alright,” I button the front of my jacket, “Let’s go home.”
Mac and I start walking down the dock towards his Audi when my phone rings in my pocket. Assuming it’s Ronan checking in on us again, I pull it out and answer without looking. “I just texted you twenty minutes ago. We’re still fine and on our way back.”
“Hello, Finn.” The deep timber on the other end of the line stops me in my tracks, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. Mac looks at me in concern. I hold my hand up at him and put the phone on speaker. “Who is this? How did you get this number?” All of us have secure phones. Our numbers aren’t available to anyone unless we give them away. Harper’s now too.
“I’m hurt, Finn, really. As someone who altered the course of your life so drastically, I would have figured you’d recognize my voice.” Mac’s brows pinch in confusion, mirroring mine. “I got your number from a friend of yours. Logan, is it?”
Mac and I look at each other in panic at the mention of Logan’s name. He points to the Audi, and we barrel towards it. Mac starts it and speeds away in seconds as he pulls out his phone to call Ronan. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Knew your parents a long time ago. Was such a shame I had to kill them.”
“Declan.” I can feel my hand tighten around my phone, gripping it to the point it might shatter in my hands. I look over as Mac frantically tries Ronan’s phone again as he weaves through the city streets toward the apartment.
“The one and only. I’m going to get right to it. I’m assuming you don’t have much time. I know you have to get home to see my granddaughter.”
“You’ll never fucking touch her.” My carefully disguised temper is now raging like an inferno.
“You see, that’s where you’re wrong. No matter where you go, no matter where you hide, no matter what you do… I will get her. I have my ways.”
“You mean like Liam McDermott? Joke’s on you, asshole. We figured that one out. His body is currently in pieces at the bottom of a river.”
A heavy sigh fills the car, along with Mac’s heavy breathing. “That’s unfortunate, but no matter. He was just a small pawn and is easily replaceable. If I’m honest, I wasn’t relying on him too much.”
When Ronan doesn’t answer a third time, Mac’s hand slams down on the steering wheel before calling Tanner. It doesn’t even pay to call Harper. When she’s asleep, it’s like waking the dead. Once the phone rings out, Mac drops his into his lap and looks at me shaking his head. Desperation and sadness fill his eyes. Terror runs through me, and I fight the urge to vomit as bile crawls up my throat. Mac quickly refocuses on the road as he flies through the city streets, trying to return to the apartment as quickly as possible. But with New York traffic, we’re easily still thirty minutes away.
That’s too long.
Declan’s voice cuts through the car like a gunshot. What he says next is enough to shatter my already fragile heart into a million pieces, “Tell me, boy. How does Harper like her new security detail?”
41
Ronan
Harper fell asleep shortly after we got home. As soon as we entered the apartment, I greeted Logan and Tanner, who had met us here, put her in the shower, and tucked her into my bed. As much as I wanted to spend hours inside her, I could see exhaustion all over her face. She needed the rest. We’re used to these things, but our sweet girl isn’t. I knew she would be worried about us, but I didn’t realize how much. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make the sadist in me a little happy.
Once Harper was asleep, I crawled into bed next to her and caught up on some work on my laptop, not wanting to go to sleep until Mac and Finn were back. Finn texted a few minutes ago, letting me know they were just finishing up and would leave shortly. I really thought that the events of the last five hours would have more of an effect on me, but surprisingly, I’m relatively unaffected. I’m sure that speaks more to my level of sanity than anything, but I don’t give a fuck. We did what needed to be done to keep our family safe, and I will never apologize for that. Now all that’s left to do is deal with the asshole that’s after our girl.
I’ll send a message out to Patrick in the morning letting him know that our end of the plan is done so he can start up on his. I’m sure he’ll be shocked at how quickly we got that taken care of.
I begin answering an email and realize I need some paperwork I left in my office. Before sliding out from under the covers, I lean down and softly kiss Harper’s forehead, and she wiggles deeper into the mattress. “I just have to run to my office quick, Baby. I’ll be right back.”
“Hmmm. Okay. Love you.”
“Baby? Did you just..” She doesn’t hear me, already back to softly snoring. Meanwhile, I’m completely frozen.
Did she just say she loved me?
Holy shit.
Harper Hayes just told me she loved me.
Holy. Shit.
I want to grab her shoulders and shake her awake. I want to say it back over and over and over again. I knew I loved her the night Finn and Mac took her to the club. The night she and I stopped fighting how we felt about one another. I’ve never felt for a woman what I feel for her. I’m not an easy man to love. None of us are. I push and argue with her every step of the way. But what I love most about her is that she pushes back. She fights back. As someone who wasn’t meant to be part of this life, someone who is so caring and kind, she holds her own against me when others would back down. She doesn’t bend. She doesn’t break.
I let her sleep, though. I’ll tell her in the morning when I know she’ll hear my every word.
Softly, I slide out from under the covers and leave my room, quietly closing the door behind me. As I walk down the hall, I notice I don’t see Tanner or Logan anywhere. That’s strange. I walk through the kitchen towards my office when I step in something wet.
