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“Not going to happen.”
Ignoring her last comment, I fisted her hair tightly, forcing her to stare up at me.
“You know something,” I pressed. “So, if you don’t want to be punished, tell us what you know.”
Bailey shook her head. “Do you honestly believe that I’m going to betray my father that way?” she asked incredulously. “No way. My father gave me everything. I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t rescued me. If I betray him, he’ll ruin me.”
Cocking my head to one side, I studied her, taking in the swell of her chest as a wave of anxiety settled over her. Bailey’s hands trembled slightly where she had them braced against my thighs, but her face had settled into a mask of indifference. My little wildcat was trying to hide her fear.
“We won’t let that happen,Mo Stoirín,” Kiernan assured her. His hands came up to rub at her shaking shoulders, easing the goose bumps that had settled over her fair skin. “We won’t let anything happen to you, lass. You belong to us.”
I doubted that would ease her fear, but the minx surprised me when her body relaxed back into her submissive position, her breaths evening out.
“I don’t know much,” she admitted, her voice drifting to a low whisper. “Just what I’ve overheard and what Drew has told me.”
Bailey shook her head, denial and fear trembling through her again. She was afraid, and I didn’t think it was us she feared in this moment, but the man who raised her. But why? What reason did she have to fear her father? He was a scumbag, there was no doubt about that, but would he harm his own daughter?
“If I tell you,” she looked at Kiernan over her shoulder, meeting his gaze before turning to me, “you can’t use anything I say. They’ll know it was me.”
Kiernan and I exchanged a look.
“All right.” We nodded.
“And…you can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. If you do, you’ll be signing my death certificate. Don’t let them take me.” The look on her face told me she was serious. Whatever secret she held about her father was bad enough that she feared for her own life.
Don’t let them take me.
Those weren’t random words she’d thrown out. The look in her azure eyes spoke volumes. She’d meant to say those words. Bailey hadn’t saidmy fatherorhim. She specifically saidthem. If it wasn’t her father she was afraid of, then who?
“We won’t.” I cringed internally at Kiernan’s promise. I was supposed to be the impulsive one, not him. It wasn’t a lie. Technically. We wouldn’t let anyonetakeher. We had planned to use her as a bargaining chip, and part of that was making sure there would be no retaliation against her.
Bailey breathed deeply, her lower lip trembling as she exhaled. Her mask of indifference fell back into place, the political mask she had worn her entire life. The one that showed no weakness. I didn’t like that mask.
“What did you want to know?”
“There aren’t any adoption records on you.” I leaned back on my elbows. My cock was still rock hard beneath her, but that wasn’t going away anytime soon. Not until those pretty lips were wrapped around it, and even then, I doubted it would be satiated. Pushing back my primal need to claim the vixen on her stomach in front of me, I focused on the task at hand.
Getting answers and her cooperation.
Bailey shrugged, but I could see the frisson of anxiety running through her. “Can’t adopt a blood daughter.”
Kiernan eyed me.
“Elaborate, Bailey.” Not that much elaboration was needed. If she was about to confirm what we thought she was, this was our smoking gun.
The minx rolled her eyes. “Richard Crowe is my biological father. He had a one-night stand when he was younger, and boom. Me.”
“Who was she?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“You never met your biological mother? Or tried to find out more about her?”
“I lived with her until I was three or four. I can’t remember. She was a no-good junkie who left me in a room filled with needles on the floor and used condoms in the corners.” Bailey’s jaw clenched tightly. “I don’t care about who she was. She lived like a junkie and died like a junkie. That’s all I need to know.”
Fair point.
“Still doesn’t explain the secrecy, lass.”
