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My body contracts violently and all of my seams begin to unravel. “If she gave my child to someone…”
He catches my shirt and spins me toward him. “If she did, she had to. Her father would have killed that child without batting an eye. Then he would have killed her for getting pregnant. You know that.”
Max knows how to stop me dead in my tracks. His words crush my spine. The ugly truth. It takes a minute before I can speak but he doesn’t let go of my shirt. Instead, he holds me accountable.
Calmly, he says, “Tell me you understand.”
I understand. But I don’t want to. It’s the last thing I want to believe. “I do,” I say, sounding ancient. “You think Coghlan didn’t know she was pregnant?”
“Ask yourself that. What would have happened to her if he knew?”
“Fuck. Hewouldhave killed her.” I scrub both hands over my face. “She was pregnant and had to hide it somehow from that bastard. What a shit-sucking nightmare.”
He shoves me back a few feet. “Now. Get your damned head right. Don’t push this. Do what you’re here to do first. Then we’ll deal with the baby thing.”
One more question is burning me. “And if it’s not mine?” I ask tightly.
“Then you’ll have a chance to start a family of your own with her. She’s obviously not with this man now. We would know that. She’s into you, Kieran. That’s an undeniable fact. Now. Go. You need to get to Coghlan’s. I’ll be here. You have my word, no one is getting to her this time.”
I straighten my tie. Feeling ragged but more focused. “What’s the deal with the redhead in the stilettos?”
Max’s eyes flick back toward the suite’s door where Carra and Eva are meeting. When he looks back at me, his eyes have darkened like I’ve never seen them before. “I thought she’d be perfect for the job. If you saw her spar, I think you’d agree.”
“Talking about me keeping my shit together, I hope your team is tight too. Including you. I’m worried about Carra. Not just about outside threats. But that she might take off.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“You really think Eva’s going to convince Carra she’s a concierge?”
His voice fills with admiration and something else. “If anyone can, Eva can. She’s a force to be reckoned with. The woman is a former spy, worked on some Special Ops teams too. They say she’s a master at disguise and as one guy said, ‘as brave as they come.’”
“I’ve never heard you talk about a woman with that tone before, man.”
He chuckles darkly. “You’ve never heard me talk about a woman at all.”
“My point exactly,” I say as I button my jacket and turn for the elevator. “Get that wall taken care of. I’ve got shite to do.”
As the elevator slides shut, he’s still cursing me.
CHAPTERNINE
There’s a pleasant buzz of alcohol in my veins. Enough to make me much more agreeable and much less coordinated. I understand why they call it ‘tipsy.’ Mostly because my heels are too high. I cannot pull off shoes like the dragon wears. That was obvious two seconds after Eva presented me with ‘some heels for the dress fitting.’
But I play along, and Eva holds my hand to steady me as I stare in the mirror. “This is non-sensical! This gown is meant for a delusional six-year-old wannabe who wants to star in a fairy tale.”
The dress designer’s eyes bulge. A choked offended sound bursts out of her open mouth.
I feel horrible. “I’m sorry. I’ve had too much to drink. I mean, it’s lovely. True perfection. What bride wouldn’t want to look like she’s walking in a cloud on her special day?”
The skirt is gigantic. A mountain of puffy whiteness that I can’t even understand. How does it defy gravity and stand out like that?
I gush a little more. “Truly. This is such a dream dress. Like a Disney movie dress for a wedding.”
The woman’s feathers settle. My barrage of compliments seems to have eased her horror. I really didn’t mean to say it was nonsense. It just sort of slipped out. I cut an evil eye at Eva.
“It really is lovely.” I let my fingers skim over the thousands of rhinestones around the princess waist.
“You do look amazing in that dress,” Eva says. She smiles wickedly and laughs darkly. “Your tits are gonna steal the show. Poor Kieran’s head is going to explode.”
