Doubt creeps up on me. What if Haisley’s right and I’m walking into something I shouldn’t? Should I wait for my father to come to me? Would he even? Grinding my teeth behind thin lips, I rap on the door as hard as I can.
“Dad! Dad! Open the damned door!” I shout loudly, and I jam my finger into the doorbell repeatedly. “Dad! You open this door right now! I know you can hear me in there!”
Yelling into the microphone connected to the security pad, I tap my foot and pull my phone out of my purse. I dial my father’s number, and very faintly, I can hear it ringing inside the house. I know he’s there, and the hairs on the back of my neck bristle. “Dad! Open the do—”
Stumbling back when the door swings open, I gasp in shock and clutch my purse to my chest. My father stands lamely on the other side, his face swollen and dried blood clinging to his temple. Alarm boggles my eyes, and I inhale sharply as my heart leaps into my throat. “What? Dad! Oh. What happened to you!”
My dad grips the doorframe tightly to keep himself on his feet, as if the sound of my voice is enough to knock him on his ass. I reach out, but he pulls back with a jerk. Glaring at me with a scowl, his lip curls up in a snarl.
“Like you don’t know,” he spits, his voice a mere wheeze. It’s the first time I’ve heard it in so long, and my chest tightens. “Don’t act like you’re innocent.”
“I don’t. Dad, what’re you talking about?” Clutching at my throat as hurt rampages through my system, I tense when a shadow falls on us. Keenan emerges from behind my father, a deadpan expression on his face. “K-Keenan? What? What did you do?”
“I was just leaving. I’ll tell you l—” The mere audacity.
“No,” I interrupt with trembling lips, and Keenan stiffens when I shake my head. “You did this? Keenan, did you . . . you beat up my dad and make him return the money?”
“Delilah, there’s so much your dad was doing. Knitted Hearts was only the tip of the iceberg in comparison to his other nefarious activities. He deserves everything he got today, and to be honest, he deserves so much more.” Keenan steps out of my dad’s house to hold up his hands, and I shake my head in disbelief. Stepping back, I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Meanwhile, my father doesn’t seem at all inclined to speak up, to even defend himself.
Because he did this. He attacked my father. And my father had no intention to ever try to rectify his crime, even for me. God, that’s heartbreaking in itself . . . but what my fiancé did. The cruelty. The fact this turned into physical violence. I don’t know what to think about it, or that I can even look past it.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT
KEENAN
Flipping my cell phone over in my palm from pure aggravation, I stare at a large crack between bricks. The bar’s outdoor patio is original, and I can feel the agony of fires, fights, drunken love. I lift my ale to my lips with my free hand only to pause. I’m at one of Liam’s bars. It’s called Maeve’s, and he originally started it in Ireland. I believe their first location was Dublin, but they’ve been expanding the pub across the United Kingdom. Truth be told, I believe it’s one of Liam’s only ‘clean’ business ventures. Though I suppose he launders money through it somehow.
Scrolling through my phone, I search endlessly for any sort of message. Something, but I haven’t heard from her. I wish I had, but she’s upset. She has every right to be. I crossed a line and I know it, but he deserved everything he got plus more. He might think he’s out of the woods, but he’s not. I have men watching his every move, and in the event he crosses the line, they’ll waste no time intervening. I’ve given them strict orders, as has Liam.
It takes everything in me to resist the urge to throw the glass just to watch it shatter. Shatter, like my relationship with Delilah is shattering right before my eyes. I didn’t think she’d show up so fast. I didn’t think the transactions would be authorized so fast. It all flew by before I could get out of there, but at least Eamon and Keeva got the girl before Delilah showed up. Fuck, I still need to talk to Delilah regardless. She has to know what kind of monster her father is.
Rubbing my chin in agitation, I inhale shallowly through my nose. My muttering leads me nowhere. Delilah will have to take her time. The money’s back, but not willingly. Her father would’ve kept it. If I hadn’t stepped in, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.
Maybe I shouldn’t have stepped in. But would it be right of me to have let her go down with her father? The longer the embezzlement went on, the riskier it would be. The closer someone would come to accidentally figuring out the issues on the books. Delilah would’ve gotten the blame, even if her father had plans to pin it on the accountant. She was the one operating the company, so fingers would’ve been pointed at her regardless.
I sigh, and a waiter walks into the section of the bar where I’m sitting. “Oh, excuse me. Can I get another?”
I have nothing better to do than drink, waiting for Delilah to make a decision. I’ll wait as long as it takes too. Luca’s somewhere in the bar with me, but I told him I needed some space right now. The evening obviously hasn’t gone as planned, and I’m hopeful that with some time, Delilah and I will be on the right path again. For fuck’s sake, she’s the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.
“Cousin.” I tense, tearing my eyes off the cobbles as Liam sits in the chair across the small, circular table. He grumbles, rubbing his palms together as he crosses his knees. “You’ve been busy the last twelve hours. I hear it went well.” I should be surprised he’s here, but I’m not. I wouldn’t call Luca a tattletale, but he’s simply doing his job. His job, which means he debriefs our cousin about every little thing that happens, which I’m sure has resulted in his sudden appearance.
“That depends,” I reply gruffly. “Delilah’s father returned the money he stole from Knitted Hearts, but . . . Delilah’s unhappy with how it happened.”
“Ah,” an amused smirk crosses Liam’s face before he speaks again, “you tortured him. Small picture versus big picture.” Liam pauses as the waitress sets an ale down in front of me, and I grab it as he gestures to her for another. Taking a big swig, I hiss at the sour, almost disgusting taste on my tongue, and it’s not from the beer. “What happened?”
“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know. I went to snoop around his place, and what I found, I couldn’t just leave. Hell, you know what Luca showed me. I have no doubts about it.” I rub my lips as they tremble in apprehension. “Sure, we found out more confirmation that Knitted Hearts isn’t even the worst he was in, but if it ever came out, Delilah would take the brunt of the damage. I mean, he’s a gnarly, old bastard, Liam. He wouldn’t get any repercussions he couldn’t run from, and he’d leave her behind without hesitation. But what he was doing with the . . .” I swallow hard and fight to speak of his actions. It’s odd how hard it is for me to say what’s happened, to speak about what he’s been doing for God knows how long. I’m sure it’s because I raised my sisters after our mum died, and I couldn’t bear to even think about it. Fuck, and this man acts so high and mighty, claiming he’s religious and does so much good. He’s nothing more than a fraud.
“I know. She probably knows that too, Keenan, even if she doesn’t want to admit it to herself. Do you think she knows about what Luca showed you?” Liam asks, and I doubt he’s meaning it in the way he’s sounding, but it bothers me.
“No, Delilah would never condone what her father did, and I’m sure of that. I doubt she even knows what he’s been doing. From what Luca and I discovered, he hid things extremely well.”
“Yes, Luca debriefed me about how you were able to access the basement. That alone tells me Cormac was damn certain to hide as much as he could.”
I nod in agreement, lift my ale, and take another sip. “Yes, he did. Disgusting bloody pig,”
“So, do you regret your decision? You could’ve gone after Asim and took a hand in finding him. I know you’ve been angry with me because I haven’t pinpointed his actual location yet, but you would’ve seen how difficult it is to get a man like him.”
“I don’t know if I do or not,” I answer truthfully. The waitress appears again, and Liam smiles in thanks without taking his eyes off me. “I would do anything for Delilah. I think what happened with Cormac proves that. Delilah doesn’t even know anything beyond the theft at Knitted Hearts, and I want to keep it that way. It’s bad, Liam. He didn’t just steal from them, he stole from others too. Luca and I found so much evidence against him, and it goes beyond the teenage girl we found in his basement. Fuck, money aside, that’s the worst he’s done. He’s a pedophile, Liam. You have children. Your sisters have children. Men like him don’t deserve to breathe the same air as those innocent little ones.”
