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“You okay, Baby?” My hand holds Harper’s tight, spinning my signet ring on her thumb with mine.
Once we finished breakfast, Mac filled us in on what happened with Logan. He spared the most gruesome details, wanting to protect Harper from hearing more than she needed to, but Finn and I knew. We knew that there wasn’t an inch of Logan’s body that wasn’t screaming in pure agony by the time Mac granted him the mercy of death.
Mac also told us he had our clean-up crew come bag up the body, which means he dismembered it, hence the purpose of the empty room with a drain in the middle of the floor, and shoved it into plastic bags before burying it in one of the dozens of abandoned lots I own on the outskirts of the city.
We’re all waiting to see if the same panic that took hold of Harper last night is about to resurface, but much to my surprise and immense pleasure, she looks perfectly calm.
“Is it terrible of me if I said I’m glad he’s gone?”
I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss the back of it. “Not even a little bit. He deserved everything he got and more. Nobody hurts our girl and lives.”
“Then yeah, I’m okay.”
As if the universe could sense that those words just came out of Harper’s mouth, Trevor’s name, one of the guys I have watching the bookstore, flashes on my phone as it vibrates on the counter.
Mac and Finn see his name, and their entire bodies instantly harden, preparing for what’s on the other end of the phone call.
Hitting accept, I answer and bring the phone to my ear, “What’s up?”
“It’s on fucking fire!”
“What is?” My grip immediately tightens around Harper’s hand.
“Hayes’! I don’t know what happened, but the whole thing just burst into fucking flames, Boss.”
Fuck.
“How bad?” My eyes are bouncing between Finn’s and Mac’s, trying to silently convey the severity of the situation.
“Really fucking bad. There won’t be anything left. The buildings next to it are in bad shape too. The fire department is already here and working on putting it out. This is the first chance I’ve had to call you.”
“Don’t move. We’ll be right there.”
Mac and Finn are already moving towards their rooms to get dressed when Harper asks, “What’s going on?”
I force myself to meet her eyes for the first time since the phone rang, worry etched across her face. But I know as soon as I tell her what happened, that worry will be replaced with absolute despair.
“It’s the bookstore.”
She’s up from her chair in a flash. “What happened? Did someone break in?”
Standing from my spot, I hold her face in my hands. “Why don’t you sit down, Baby.”
“I don’t want to sit down, Ronan. Tell me what happened. What’s wrong with my store?”
I let out a regretful sigh. “There’s a fire.”
Harper gasps and lifts her hand to her mouth, her eyes immediately welling with tears. “No.”
“I’m so, so sorry, Harper.”
“How–how bad is it?”
“The fire department is working on putting it out right now, but . . .”
A small tear slides over the freckles on her cheek. “Just tell me.”
“Trevor said it’s—he said it’s gone, Baby.”
