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Five
Brennan
She was crying,and the sound pissed me off.
I’d always liked Aela. She was good people, strong, and exactly what my brother had needed in a woman. That bitch Deirdre had been all about the position, the posturing. The family name and the family wealth. I’d known she was a money-grubbing slut, had known she was tangled up with Declan for a reason even if, to this day, I had no idea why they were together because I’d seen Dec’s loathing for her every time she stood by his side.
I was surprised the rest of the family hadn’t noticed that either, but sometimes I saw things that no one else did, so it didn’t come as that much of a shock.
While Deirdre was everything I loathed in a woman, Aela was the exact opposite.
She’d have been my type too, if she didn’t have her hooks into Declan, and when I said hooks—I meant it. I’d never seen him go gaga for a chick before, but I got it. Not only had she been beautiful, still was, truth be told, but she was solid, honest, and good. She’d been raised to know that wet work was part of the life. Had been nurtured to accept that the things men did for the family weren’t always the nicest, but it was just how it was.
She wouldn’t question. She would only accept.
But for all that, she wasn’t biddable.
Even back then, I’d seen the spark in her.
I’d actually seen what would trigger a career in art that still took me aback.
A few years ago, I’d seen her in Manhattan, and I’d started keeping tabs on her. Those tabs, however, hadn’t enlightened me to the fact that she was a single mom. If they had, I’d have looked into the kid, because how she and Dec had ended things, over a goddamn grave, it wouldn’t have surprised me if there’d been a baby. And I’d been right.
Which just proved that I should have listened to my instincts.
Heaving a sigh, I pointed at the screen, put my phone on mute so she couldn’t hear me but I could hear her weeping, and I told Conor, “Hack into her security system.”
He sniffed. “Bitch, please. I’m already in. What do you want?”
“Eyes on her.”
“She’s in the bedroom, right?”
“Far as I can tell. Sounded like she activated a safe room though. Maybe she’s somewhere else in the house.” I’d heard the telltale sound of automatic locks that indicated there was some heavy-duty security in the place, and I’d had Conor on the case ever since.
“Useless as always,” he told me, but I ignored him and his snark. He was just pissed I’d woken him up.
We were still at the warehouse, still at Dec’s side after he’d given us all a scare and had gone into cardiac arrest. He was okay, stable again, but he was unconscious, and I had this weird feeling that if I left the warehouse, if I took one step off the property, he’d die.
I knew it was stupid, knew it and was pretty ashamed of it.
It felt far too much like superstition for my liking, but even so, if it meant sticking to his side and keeping an eye on my baby brother, I’d do it.
Dec was good people. One of the best of us. Sure, he was just as deep into this shit as we all were, but I loved him. Not because I had to, but because I chose to.
People didn’t realize there was a difference, but for someone like me, who didn’t love often, who loved seldomly in fact, it was a massive deal.
My thoughts had me glancing at my father. He was snoring away, his head tipped back against the wall with his arm around Ma, who was tucked into his side. Her hair had fallen out of the high bun she usually wore it in to keep her mass of curls out of her face, and she looked exhausted with tear tracks on her cheeks, her face lined from the way she was sleeping.
I loved my ma. By choice.
My da? Not so much.
With them both sleeping, Eoghan and Inessa huddled in one corner napping, and Aidan out front, limping back and forth in front of Declan’s ward, scaring the piss out of the doctors on staff, Conor and I were the only ones around who could help Aela and her son.
Our nephew.
Fuck.
