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“I knew your footsteps wouldn’t be that loud!” I said with a shout, only slightly limping as I made my way toward them, throwing my arms around the both of them in a quick hug.
They ignored my outburst, Alex checking over my injuries and pulling some first aid supplies from the backpack he kept in his car. He started splinting my wrist without a word, and I was slightly emotional over how his hands shook as he patched me up. Even Bex fussed over me, brushing broken glass from my hair, her usual frown wobbly at the edges, as if she cared.
“I must look like shit, huh?” I joked, the two of them cracking the slightest bit at my words.
“Better hope Rory loves you,” Bex said as she gave me a once-over, wincing slightly when her eyes reached my face.
“She does,” I said confidently, even if she hadn’t explicitly said the words yet. My own wince took over my face when I tried to wink, my vision shaking when I closed my eye. “Though shemight have to love me gently for a few days. Pretty sure I have a concussion.”
“We should get you to a doctor,” Alex finally said as he finished splinting my wrist. “Though I’m assuming you’ll want to get your girl first.”
He didn’t pose it as a question, nor did he sound opposed. We knew each other well enough to know our family came before ourselves, so I didn’t even bother to nod before climbing up the embankment my car had flipped into, making my way toward Alex’s car.
Alex’s phone broke the silence, but he didn’t as he answered it, too stoic to even say anything. I would’ve rolled my eyes at his seriousness if I wasn’t sure it would make my head hurt even more than it already did.
“Dev’s with me. His phone was destroyed.” I glanced over my shoulder at his words, slowing down when he stopped to focus more intently on the phone call.
“Is it Rory?” I asked, sure she was wondering where I was. I should’ve been home ten minutes ago, and I imagined her calling my phone, worried something had happened to me, before reaching out to Alex.
But Alex just shook his head, mouthing John’s name as he listened intently to the bodyguard. Even through my dizziness I couldn’t miss the tightening of Alex’s jaw, the way his eyes flicked to mine before he said, “Call Cillian. We’re on our way.”
“What is it?” My gut clenched, not from pain but in warning, and too soon I was sprinting toward Alex’s car, Alex and Bex close behind me.
Alex didn’t speak until we were on the road, but I already knew what he would say. Or at least, the end result of it.
“John said that he’d gotten a call claiming his husband had been in an accident and was in critical care at the hospital downtown. He’d made it halfway before he’d thought to call you,Dev, and your phone went straight to voicemail. That made him wary, so he called his husband. Declan picked up the phone, totally fine, having no idea what John was so worried about.”
“And Rory?” I asked.
“He left her safe at home about twenty minutes ago.” Alex’s voice wasn’t worried, but then again, it never really was. But I knew Alex wouldn’t be pushing twenty over the speed limit if he thought Rory was still safe at home.
“A lot can happen in twenty minutes,” I murmured.
Chapter 28
Rory
“What’s the plan here?How much are you being paid to do this?” I forced between gritted teeth, using every ounce of mental brick-building I’d wasted trying to keep Dev out to instead avoid the mental picture my great-uncle’s words tried to create. If he wanted to monologue like a villain, I’d waste time until Dev showed up. And try to escape myself, if the opportunity presented itself.
I glanced around the space, noting that Seamus had moved to block the main exit. I surreptitiously tried to see if there was a back door I could run through, but the back of the house looked caved in, the rafters sticking out at odd angles, vines and moss growing in the back room from exposure to the elements.
“Do you really want to know what they offered me? The money, the power, the connections? Would any number I say make you understand?” Seamus asked.
I kept quiet, my gritted teeth my only answer. Of course whatever he told me wouldn’t be enough. Nothing would be enough to betray your family. I’d hidden my whole life for my family, looked the other way as dead men were dragged across our yard, as my bodyguards disappeared after dying in the lineof duty for my father. And yet, I would never betray him, not for any amount of money or power or freedom.
“As for the plan,” Seamus continued, taking my silence as the answer it was. “The plan is for you to fulfill the agreement I made months ago, the one your father snubbed. Getting you away from your protectors was the first step. Soon enough, the men I’ve sold you to will arrive and I’ll get my money. They’ll take you away, and I’ll play the bereaved uncle as your father and your husband attempt to track you down, though it’ll be too late for a rescue.”
His voice was smooth as he laid out all the ways he had planned to betray me, betray my father. I supposed it would be easy to convince everyone of his innocence. After all, I’d fallen for his act when he knocked on my door and taken me away. I hadn’t even tried to get my phone back after he took it from my hand, and I imagined it was still at the house, slipped from his pocket when my back was turned.
“And what makes you think I’m going to let anyone take me away?”
“Rory, darling,” he said sadly, and for the first time today, I saw the slightest hint of sympathy on his face. “I don’t think you have it in you to stop me. But even if you did, I’d make sure you wouldn’t be conscious enough to try it a second time. I believe your future husband would prefer a conscious bride, but unconscious is better than nothing.”
He pulled a small black case from his pocket, unzipping it to reveal a couple needles and a glass vial filled with whatever drug he planned on injecting me with. He pulled out the vial, sticking in the needle in to prepare the syringe, the movement a clear threat if I refused to cooperate.
Unfortunately for him, I’d undergone quite a bit of soul-searching these past few weeks. And I was no longer the shy, lonely girl he knew. The one who’d been alone, weak and relianton others to keep me safe. He’d been careless, bringing me out here alone, underestimating my strength and my wits. And how much I wanted to fucking escape.
So while he was busy showboating, his footsteps moving him closer to the light shining through one of the windows so he could better fill the syringe, I lunged for the front door, shoes slapping against the wood flooring.
