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“Later,” Monster tells me before walking out, leaving me with Sully.
There will be questions about why someone would be targeting me. All I wanted was to move on from my past life. Father Donahue is dead, and I have nobody else to lean on. Being with the club will provide safety, up until the day they find out who I really am.
“Hey,” Sully says, capturing my attention. “Don’t let him get to you. Monster may come across as a bastard, but he’s a goodun,” he tells me. “He won’t kick you out on the streets if he knows you’re in danger.”
I stare at him for a long while. I’m unsure of what to say. I wish it could be different, that I didn’t have to lie to them. But it’s the only way I know I’ll survive this. Getting out of here isn’t going to work, not until I know for sure my father is dead. By then, Mum should have returned—she has to come back. Then I can head back to London and try to start a new life.
“I just don’t want to be a bother,” I tell Sully. “I’m only going to bring trouble down on the club, and that’s the last thing I would ever want.”
“Once you’re in,” Sully says then, “you can’t leave.”
“What if I don’t belong?” I ask.
It doesn’t go unnoticed how broken I sound, how scared I am. I don’t want to talk any more. If I do, I may give away the fact I’m holding a secret, a dark and dirty one.
“Nobody belongs in the club,” Sully informs me gently. “We’re all just broken pieces fitting together. We make up a family, not by blood, but by loyalty. The code of the Royal Bastards runs deep.”
“I just don’t think I’m part of that family, that connection you guys have,” I say, shaking my head as my words falter for a moment. “I’m not a part of it.” I lower my head, focusing on the floor instead of the intense stare Sully is currently giving me.
His tender fingertips touch my chin, lifting my gaze to meet his. “You may think you’re not part of the family or the club, but you are. You were the moment Monster allowed you into the house. When he agreed to let you work at the bar. Don’t let his gruffness get to you,” he tells me with a small smile curling his lips. “He’s like that with everyone.”
“I suppose so,” I finally whisper. But I don’t tell him the real reason I feel so nervous, so scared of the man who runs the club. I can’t. “We better get back in there,” I say, pushing to my feet.
Wincing at the pain radiating through my arm, Sully places his hand on my lower back and leads me out into the main area of the club.
We find the rest of the brothers surrounding Monster, who looks like he’s raging. I don’t at all want to be a part of it, but Sully doesn’t let me go. Instead, he leads me right into the foray, and I’m suddenly the centre of attention.
Monster is the one who speaks first. “Who was that?” He gestures with his chin towards the door. “Who was tryin’ to kill ye?”
There’s no doubt in my mind it’s my father’s men, but I can’t tell Monster the truth. Patrick’s men know who I am, and they know he wanted me dead once he got the information out of me. Even though I couldn’t give him much, I don’t think they’ll let me live.
I shrug. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Monster growls as he takes a few steps towards me.
The rest of the men watch intently. The music hasn’t stopped, the show is still going on, and the clientele are focused on the women rather than the altercation happening right behind them.
“I’m not lying,” I bite out. Tipping my chin upward, I square my shoulders and then lock my gaze on Monster’s. “It could be Bragan’s men, but they wouldn’t want to hurt me. I was nothing to them.”
“If you worked for the bastard, then they’ll be gunnin’ for you. What did you really do in that house?” This time, I have to look away from the intensity of Monster’s glare. “Miren.” He says my name slowly, testing it on his tongue, and I want to run.
I want to turn around and run away, but I can’t because he’ll find me. There’s no place this man wouldn’t look if I were to try to disappear. But I can’t. Because the moment I attempt a getaway, my father’s men will find me. I want so much to be free; I even thought I had my freedom, but I’ve only imprisoned myself in another home where I’m nothing more than a distraction.
I finally turn my attention on Monster. “I don’t know why they would want me dead. I was in that house for a long time, but I didn’t see anything. It’s not like I was a witness to a crime.”
“Get her back to the clubhouse,” he orders, but he doesn’t look away from me. His attention is locked on me as if he can carve out the answers he needs. Sully steps forward, and he walks with me.
We leave the club, and the night air has a chill in it. It’s almost Christmas, and I’m alone with no family to speak of. I don’t know how to get to my mother, not when I’m being watched so closely. And after the attack, I’m probably going to have a twenty-four-hour guard following me around.
“He’ll come around,” Sully tells me.
He brings me to the room I was offered on my first day, and he waits on the threshold of the bedroom. Inside, it’s warm. With the heating on, the cosy atmosphere is so different to what it’s like in the club.
I turn to Sully. “Thank you.”
“Agh, there’s no need to be thanking me,” he says with a smile. “You get some rest. I’ll be out here if you need anything.”
“You don’t have to—”
