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“Meri jaan,” I whispered, cradling her face in my hands. A bruise was blooming on her cheekbone after her scuffle with Seamus, and I regretted not kicking him harder when I hadthe chance. Alex had him trussed up in the corner, but my revenge wasn’t worth leaving Rory, her skin warming my hands and kick-starting my heart after it had stalled in my chest after John’s phone call to Alex.
“Dev, I-I was so worried,” she stuttered out, stepping back so she could take in my scrapes and bruises. She brushed a thumb over the bandage on my wrist. “Are you okay? Seamus told me he hired some men to run you off the road.”
I shook my head, promising, “Nothing could keep me from you.”
“How did you find me? Seamus had my phone, and I figured he tossed it before we drove here.”
“Your phone is at the house,” I told her. I didn’t tell her how arriving to find her phone sitting on the entryway table with the house empty had been one of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life.
Despite Alex’s lead foot getting us to the house in half the usual time, we had already been too late, finding an empty house with Rory’s phone left behind.
I reached out and fingered the mangalsutra wrapped around her neck, the one she hadn’t taken off since I’d given it to her. I couldn’t tell if she just enjoyed the piece of jewelry or if she had taken the superstition about wearing it to ensure my long life to heart, but either way, I was thankful for it. Not just for the symbolism.
I spun the necklace so the clasp sat in the middle of her chest, my fingernail tapping against the disk I'd added to the back of the chain. Where our names were engraved next to our wedding date. But what was more important sat underneath the metal.
“Alex had the idea first,” I said casually, flicking the disk. “A tracking chip hidden in a piece of jewelry, something no one would look for. It allowed us to track you down pretty quickly once we knew you were gone.”
Even knowing I had the backup in place, the moments logging into the account that held Rory’s location were some of the longest of my life. I couldn’t stop worst-case scenarios from running through my mind: what if Seamus found the tracking chip, what if Rory simply hadn’t worn the necklace, what if it had somehow been damaged?
I’d stared at her dot on the map the entire drive here, hoping and wishing and praying to every god I didn’t believe in that it wouldn’t move. That we’d find her unharmed, and I’d never have a need to use this last-ditch precaution again.
I waited, slightly nervous for Rory’s response to my admission of tracking her without her permission. Without her knowledge, even. I knew Rory was aware of Ames’s necklace and its significance, and yet I’d never told her she held the same protection, too worried speaking of it would guarantee I’d need it later on. Like a Chekhov’s gun, once mentioned, necessitates use.
But Rory just laughed, head tipping back in relief as she grinned. She shook her head, smile still on her lips, as she murmured to herself, “God, I love you.”
I was on her in an instant, lips devouring hers even as my head swam with my concussion.
“Love you so much, Red,” I murmured between kisses, my tongue eventually prying her lips apart so I could taste her. I tasted the tears on her skin that she’d cried while she fought off Seamus. I growled in her mouth, half-determined to finish claiming my wife while the other half warred to make him pay further for hurting her.
Rory’s shaky balance finally made my decision for me, and I dropped to my knees to check on the ankle she’d been keeping her weight off of. I probed the skin, frowning as Rory winced, the skin already swelling around the bone.
“Can you move it, baby?” I asked, watching as she rotated her ankle a couple inches in each direction, though she gritted her teeth at the movement. “Probably not broken, but I’ll wrap it. We need your first aid kit, Xan.”
Just as I finished speaking, the front door opened again, this time at a much more leisurely pace as Bex sauntered in. “Surrounding area is clear for now, though we may want to get a move on soon if we don’t want to meet Rory’s buyers.” She snarled the last word, making it clear how she felt about the entire situation.
She tossed me Alex’s first aid kit, the same one they’d used to bandage my wrist an hour ago. “Thought you might need this.”
I nodded my thanks as I opened the backpack, pulling out some compression wrap and starting to bind Rory’s ankle. I heard a grunt from Seamus in the corner, and I figured I wasn’t the only one who wanted to take out a little bit of aggression at the idea of Rory’s great-uncle selling her to the highest bidder.
“Wait,” Rory interrupted my wrapping, her hand that she’d rested on my shoulder for balance tightening until I looked up at her. Her face twisted in confusion as she finally processed Bex’s words. “How did you know what Seamus was planning on doing?”
“We hacked into his emails,” Bex said casually from across the room, toeing Seamus with the tip of her boot, as if he were an inconvenient insect. Bex just laughed when Seamus tried to kick at her, stepping easily over his feet. “Once we knew where to look, it was easy to find the information he’d been trying to hide.”
“But how did you know where to look?” Rory asked, brows still furrowed.
“Xan called your father when we got to the house and you were gone. Apparently, he’d heard rumblings that a European crime family had arrived yesterday in town. Then, when he wentto sound the alarm that you were missing, he realized Seamus - who had been staying at the compound - was missing as well. Cillian connected the dots, realized the family Seamus had brought to him in hopes of creating a marriage alliance were the same men who’d arrived yesterday. He figured it wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Didn’t take much digging on the drive over to confirm your father’s hunch. We have about an hour before they’re due to arrive.” Alex grunted out from across the room.
I knew Rory’s capture had felt personal to him, too. The daughter of his longest-standing ally, the wife of his best friend, his fiancée’s friend. Not to mention the memories Rory’s disappearance likely brought up for him. The way he’d gone to Ames’s work this past summer, finding it empty after her ex had kidnapped her. His eyes had looked almost as haunted as mine when we entered the house to find Rory gone.
He’d forced Bex to drive us here from my house, digging into Seamus’s hidden email account, which was simple for him to find once he knew to look for it.
“We can leave as soon as Cillian gets here,” I agreed. “I’m sure he’ll have some…unique ideas on how to deal with Seamus.”
“If he doesn’t, I do,” Bex said with a chilling grin, her eyes narrowed on the man curled in the corner. I imagined she was recalling the man who’d gone after her girlfriend this past fall, who’d targeted Wren because he thought she was weak. “Though I’m happy to see Rory already did some damage.” Bex shot my wife an appraising look before squatting close to Seamus. “Our women aren’t weak. No matter how many times you come for them, we’ll protect them. And they’ll protect themselves.”
Chapter 30
