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I needed a way out. I needed revenge. I needed to deal with Harold once and for all.
I needed to do it before I fell back into Cameron’s arms.
McNally’s bar was in the Brown syndicate’s area, who were about as neutral between us and the Thompsons’ as could be found in Glasgow.
I spotted my brothers as soon as I stepped into the dingy pub with its harsh strip lighting and sticky floors. They were squashed into one booth nearing the back, with Mac sitting facing me. A grin washed over my face as he spotted me and I quick-walked over to them, so ready to feel safe, even if only for a little while.
‘All right, Maeve?’ Mac asked, standing up to let me shuffle in between him and Ewen, giving me a squeeze on the shoulders as I sidled past him.
‘Still alive,’ I said, giving my brothers a shrug that belied how terrified I actually was of having to live in Harold’s house. ‘Please tell me you’ve got good news?’
Logan, our stand in patriarch, shook his head before rubbing a hand over his chin. ‘Sorry Maeve, we’re still working on it. You’re going to have to hold tight a bit longer. Every way we can see brings a full on war and we’re already still reeling from Dad’s coma and our change in leadership. I don’t think we can go in heavy-handed without it costing us too dearly.’
I sighed, letting my shoulders drop as I leaned heavily back against the cigarette smoke stained leather behind me.
‘They haven’t hurt you, have they?’ Mac asked, narrowing his eyes as he checked me over.
‘No.’
Ewen’s voice was strained as he spoke up. ‘Has he... forced you?’
‘God no. He’s... not a bad guy. Not like Harold anyway. He’s kind of like us.’
My brothers looked at me sharply, as though I’d kicked them beneath the table and proclaimed Cameron a messiah.
‘He is nothing like us,’ Logan said, his jaw tensing as he spoke. ‘Are you going soft? Is he trying to turn you against us?’
‘No. He’s just not all bad. He hasn’t hurt me. He loves his sister, he hates his dad, he’s suffered.’ Heat bled into my cheeks as I spoke, my brothers’ glares making me squirm. I’d so rarely held all of their attention that it felt like I was on trial.
‘Don’t go sympathising with him, Maeve. He’s done shitty things--‘ Logan started.
‘Haven’t you all? You do the same things as he does.’ I clenched my hands tight enough that my nails dug into the flesh of my palms. Why was I even defending him? It’s not like I liked him.
‘He cut off my god damned finger,’ Mac said, waving the healing wound where his fingertip had been sewn back on at me.
‘Listen to me, we will be ripping this marriage up as soon as we can. This is why we didn’t want you going in there. We knew you couldn’t handle it.’ Logan thrummed his fingers on the table as he spoke, punctuating each word with a finality that beat into me.
‘I can handle it.’ My heckles raised at that familiar sensation of being discredited, and being seen as so very weak. Just a woman. So soft. So stupid. ‘I just think Harold needs to be the one to pay. He killed Mum, he shot Dad, he forced this marriage. He is the one trying to bring us down.’
‘The apple never falls far from the tree, Maeve,’ Mac said as he got up from the booth and nodded at the others. We stood and made our way out of the booth as Benny and two other goons of Harold’s watched on from the doorway.
‘Then where does that leave us? Are we like dad?’
Logan shrugged as he and Ewen walked toward the door after giving me a brief hug that did little to make me feel any safer than I had before. ‘Just hold on, kid, we’ll get you out of there.’
Mac hung back beside me, dropping his voice low. ‘You need to avoid falling for pretty words. Remember, Maeve, they are our enemies. He’ll use whatever he needs to flip you against us. He’ll do what his father tells him. He’s just another of Harold’s puppets. Don’t let him play you. I thought you’d be hard enough to cope.’
‘I am hard enough to cope. I can find a way out.’
‘No, you’re not Maeve. But we’ll figure it out.’ Mac pulled me close and squeezed me against him, but it felt anything but reassuring after his words. Nothing had changed in their eyes. Despite sacrificing myself to help them, they still saw me as their useless little sister. ‘Just don’t go fucking anything up until we sort it out.’
So much for a rewarding reunion. On both sides of the battle, I was just an inconvenience and a pawn. They needed to stop underestimating me. I was going to find the key to bringing Harold down, because I had something they didn’t possess. I had an in in the enemy’s home.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CAMERON
The screech of the rolling doors rang out through the cavernous space below my office, where my men were opening and checking the shipment we’d just received. A pile of torn open, discarded footballs lay off to one side as they extracted each bag hidden within. Last time the supplier had tried to shortchange us, but after a visit with him he’d soon promised to buck up his ideas.
