Page 64 of Guarding Salvation

“Who raped Lana. You did what any of us would’ve done.” Titan was looking at him in the rear-view mirror as he spoke.

“Would you have killed him?”

“Without a shadow of a doubt, I would have. I did much worse to avenge my brothers. I know I’m not that man anymore but I’m not sure I’d do that part differently if I had the chance. We aren’t choir boys, Bein. We’re not the heroes. We fight the good fight, but we fight it dirty and raw and yes, we break the law, and many would say our morals are skewed but the truth is they need us to be those people. The world needs the grey we provide when the system lets them down. That’s why we exist, why Jack set up this team with the approval from the highest word in the land.”

“It was long-winded and wordy, but Titan is right. We are what we are.” Snow smirked at Titan as she squeezed Bram’s arm in support.

Perhaps his friends were right and he was taking on blame that should belong to someone else, but a lifetime of service was ingrained to be better, and maybe he couldn’t see that his better was just different to others.

“Okay, now all the kumbaya shit is out the way, we need a strategy to protect our backs from Doyle and find Aoife. I propose Watchdog, Lotus, Rykov, who for some reason is coming with us, set up the castle and scope the place as a stronghold. If Doyle gets there before we find Aoife… We need to make sure he doesn’t find her first and also protect the villagers. He won’t think twice about killing them all and starting an all-out war.”

“The castle was built to protect Laird and Lady McCullum from the English, and it’s a very defensive position,” Titan added.

“We can set up tripwires on the perimeter and have Watchdog handle the surveillance. We have enough weapons in the boot and I can get Rory to make sure the gun cupboard is available. I wish we had Valentina, Monty, and Scout with us. They’d certainly help us find Aoife quicker.” Bein could feel the tension and worry eating at him.

“Yeah, me too, but she’s visiting Rafe and his girl Nix in Oxford for a few days. I can ask Bás to call her in, but my guess is by the time she gets up here you’ll have already found her.” Titan agreed.

“Yeah, leave it. We have enough people to find Aoife. You just worry about Doyle.”

“Let me handle that. You find Aoife so we have the upper hand with that at least. I’ll oversee everything when we get there. You just find your girl and deal with Boyd.”

“I’ll find the little bastard and when I do, he’s going to wish he never heard my name.”

The rest of the journey was Bás on the phone making plans and giving orders, doing what he did best, while Bram sat and thought about the different spots he’d go to if he was trying to hide out in the woods and mentally narrowed it down to three possible locations. He’d need to speak to Rory first though and get his opinion. He knew the estate better than him these days and he valued his brother-in-law’s thoughts. How was he ever going to make this up to Aoife? He’d beg her to forgive him, because selfish bastard that he was, he knew after this he couldn’t give her up and walk away from her no matter how much he should.

She was his heart and she belonged with him if she’d have him.

Chapter 26

Aoife had been feigning sleep for the last twenty minutes or so as she watched the man who had taken her pace the entrance to the cave where he had her captive. Boyd, that was what Lana had called him and she mentioned his brother had raped her.

Aoife felt her heart break for the woman she’d come to care for in the last few weeks. Sympathy and empathy for the pain and feelings of shame and guilt that she knew from bitter experience came with an attack like that. It was the worst violation a person could go through and that it’d happened to someone else she knew made her angry, fury ripping through her veins.

Yet it was the other things he said that were forefront in her mind right this second. Boyd kept saying how Bram had murdered his brother. Was that in retribution for raping his sister? She didn’t know but she did know it was part of the reason that Bram probably thought he was a bad person, that he had a darkness inside of him.

She didn’t see it that way, if he’d done what Boyd said then she felt nothing but pride for the man who had defended his sister. Was it right to kill? No, she knew that, but neither was rape or child abuse or a hundred other things and yet animals who thought themselves human got away with it every day on technicalities or because the victim was treated like the criminal.

Perhaps it made her a bad person, but she felt only pride and love for a man who would defend those he loved with such conviction. She’d seen him with his nieces and nephews, and they adored him and the feeling she knew was mutual. How could a man who would let a child paint his nails for a tea party be evil? To her mind, he wasn’t, and she’d never believe otherwise.

Her leg cramped up, the pain of the cold in her limbs, which were giving her pins and needles as they warmed up, making her flinch. Boyd looked at her sharply and pointed his tall frame moving closer.

“You’re my payback.”

Aoife understood he wanted her to ask why so he could tell her all the ways she’d suffer and frighten her but she was immune to such things. When someone lived with evil every day they became accustomed to it as if the dark veiled threats became a part of them. She wanted to know more about his brother and what Bram had done though, so she’d play his game. It would pass the time while she waited for Bram to find her, and she had no doubt he would.

The bracelet she’d dropped on their way through the woods would hopefully be found and he’d save her. It was the first time since her mother had died that she had hope and she’d hold onto it until her dying breath. “What for?”

Boyd swung from the pacing he was doing at the edge of the cave. The rain had eased but the cold hadn’t let up, the fog not lifting an inch since they’d hit the tree line. She didn’t know what time it was, but her guess was it had to be somewhere around nine am.

“What for? How can you lie with a man and not know who he is, what he has done?” Boyd moved closer to her his finger pointed in accusation at her. He was tall with blond hair, which was almost the same colour as his skin, making him look boring and nondescript. He wasn’t ugly, but he was forgettable. His build was average, but she knew he was strong and he was probably of average height. Even his eyes held nothing but grey with no evil or warmth, he was just nothing.

“Bram is a good man. He loves his family and he loves me.”

“He doesn’t know what it is to love someone, or he’d never have done what he did.”

“Bram knows better than anyone what love is. I know evil and he’s not it.”

“Your father?”