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“I know, angel. I know. I’m so proud of you. Now I have to prove that I love you.” Lachlan tears out of the parking garage and weaves through traffic. Despite the cell phone laws, he cradles it against his shoulder. “Hi, it’s me. I’m stopping by. With Katya.”
My throat goes tight… God, he’s facing my father. Making me face him. “Lachlan, no.”
“It’s about time,” he says to me.
Holding my hand the whole way, he confuses me when he doesn’t make the turn to my father’s estate. “Wait, where are we going?”
“My parents’ condo. They’ll be leaving for Arizona in a couple of weeks. It’s better for my mother’s health.”
“Lachlan, please no. Don’t force me on them.”
“They don’t know you. And that’s my fault.” He kisses my hand. “They’ll see when we’re together how right you are for me.”
We drive across the border to a beautiful high rise that overlooks the East River. I’ve heard about this exclusive building filled with CEOs and celebrities. Gangsters, too.
Holding my hand, Lachlan walks us into the lobby and to the security desk. “My da’s expecting me.”
The guard at the desk hands him a keycard and hits a button to open steel gates. We step into an elevator, and Lachlan puts the keycard into a slot marked PH.
Penthouse.
The elevator opens, and two guards in suits with assault rifles block the door. I gasp, and shrink back, the sight of a gun like that triggering me.
“It’s okay, Katya.” Lachlan holds me against his chest. “They’re always here. Kieran insists on this level of protection for them.”
Lachlan surprises me by speaking in another language to one of the guards. I’m guessing it’s Gaelic. It sounds so pleasant compared to Russian. But what is he saying, and why can’t I know? This makes me uneasy, especially since his face goes grim after several exchanges back and forth.
Squeezing my hand, Lachlan says to me, “Brace yourself, angel.”
My heart jumps into my throat thinking I’m walking into a war zone and am about to face an onslaught of hate.
From people with the same name as me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Lachlan
Katyaneedstoknow.Needs to understand. I want this marriage to last. There’s usually one surefire way to make a woman know how important she is to you…
But as soon as the condo door opens, the smell hits me. Antiseptic. The sound finds me next, the whir of machines.
Da ambles into the foyer, dressed in a pair of black trousers and a dress shirt with no tie. “I told you on the phone not to come. It’s not a good time.”
“Did you just meet me? I don’t follow orders too well.” I tuck Katya’s hand in the crook of my elbow as I fold my arms.
“You follow your brother’s orders.”
“He didn’t send me to that awful training camp.”
“I guess you would have preferred prison. Because that’s where you would have been if I didn’t intervene.”
I don’t argue and I’ve buried this tension between us because I understand my da has seven other kids, one being his only daughter. Then Ma got sick. Forced him to retire and hand everything over to Kieran.
“And never did I get a thank you,” he adds.
I think about that, and he’s right. To an extent. “It’s hard to say thank you for being sent to a place where I was barely treated like a human. I’m guessing I wouldn’t have starved or been beaten in prison.”
Da scoffs. “Maybe not a lad your size.”
