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Fiona blows out a breath, stroking my chest again.
“Why burn down yer building?”
Fiona tips her head back, staring silently at me. A hard pit forms in my stomach as the realization hits me. The night I took her virginity. The night before the fire. The only time I’ve ever been inside her apartment building.
The cunt must have been watching the place. He burned it down, tried to kill her, and killed so many other people because he knew we had sex there. Jesus fuck.
“He’s never tried to set the club alight,” I say mechanically, running through scenarios in my mind. Fiona nods, chewing on her lower lip.
“I think your unwanted Vice cops outside may have inadvertently been your savior there,” she mutters dryly. Well, I’m glad they’re good for something.
“And my apartment building has too much security.”
Fiona nods, tapping her fingers against my heart. “Also, it would be more likely to be investigated thoroughly. No one gives a shit about a rent-controlled dump out in Roxbury, but if a nice building in West Boston went up in flames, they’d be looking. And there’re cameras everywhere.”
“I think it would be best if ye stayed there,leannán. Ye can start yer waitressing shifts once we have sorted out yer brother.”
“I know… Also, if he’s been spying on me… he might… no. He probablywillhave seen the other girls.”
“The other girls?” I frown. Fiona turns her wide eyes to me.
“Mellie,” she clarifies, and my heart sinks. “Lauren, Andie… Tiggy.”
My eyes flutter closed. No. He’s not an eejit. He wouldn’t go after the wives of Irish mobsters. Though, he did burn down an apartment building filled with people.
“Stay in here,leannán,” I murmur, pressing a kiss into her hair as I rise, settling her back into the easy chair. “I’ll be back to take ye home soon.”
Chapter Twenty-One
RONAN
Fiona tugs her knees to her chest, burying her face. My heart clenches as a small sob escapes her. It seems wrong to walk away when she’s upset, but I need to get back to Seamus and the lads. My dilemma is solved when I open the door and come face to face with Mellie, hovering in the hallway.
“Can I go in?” she asks, sounding uncertain. “To sit with her for a while? I won’t pry or anything. Niall will tell me later… if he’s allowed.”
I nod, and Mellie offers me a tight smile as she hurries into my office. When I glance back, my hand on the doorknob, she is kneeling beside the chair, her arms around Fiona.
Closing the door tightly, I stride back into Seamus’s office, but I don’t retake my seat. I’ve too much pent-up anger, so I stalk over beside Niall, snatching up a tumbler and pouring a shot of whiskey.
Shooting it, I leave the glass there, turning back to Seamus, who is watching me intently, his fingers drumming on the desk.
“Well?” he prompts, his eyebrows rising. I sigh, running my hand through my hair with a groan.
“He’s a fecking psychopath. He murdered their mammy right in front of Fi, and when she fled, he murdered her friends who took her in. That’s why the lass got a job here. She figured he wouldn’t be stupid enough to touch her when she had the protection of the Irish.”
Seamus sighs, his fingers drumming faster. “And Paddy’s fights?”
I scowl. I still need to have a conversation with Fiona about self-preservation.
“She wanted to test her theory that she was untouchable,” I force out through gritted teeth. Four sets of eyebrows shoot up, but Liam snorts.
“Of course she fucking did,” he mutters. “Fi has no concept of self-preservation.”
“She had enough of a concept to put herself under our protection,” Connor points out.
“The pepper powder?” Paddy asks. I shove my hands into my pockets.
“That was my fault. I held hands with her during a fight. The bastard saw, so he burned her hands.”
