This study is the only smoking room in the house, but he barely smokes in here anymore. He mostly quit because of Lucie and his kids. But he likes to keep a cigarette with him. Maybe to calm him. Hopefully it’ll do the trick right now before he unleashes holy hell on me.
“I haven’t gone crazy,” I say, right as Seamus bursts back into the room.
“That’s right. He’s gonefucking mad, the littlegobshite,”hesays, glaring at me. “There’s a lass up there, and she’s small, dressed like a dancer, and angry. Very, very angry.”
“There is a reason, you git.” I stroke Clawzy’s fur, and he purrs, the little rumble vibrating against my chest. He stretches out one paw, long and fluid.
I bet Molly would be jealous of his flexibility.
Though…I remember just how flexiblesheis…
Pity I don’t like her.
“You get yourself in trouble, Dec?” Cal asks with more than a little sarcasm.
“Is the lass a wee lass, or just short?” Torin flicks a glance at me.
“Are you asking if she’s under eighteen?”
My asshole brother merely offers me a small smile.
Not that they’d think I’m trying to get with someone under eighteen, but there are lines we don’t cross, like kidnapping kids, hurting kids—and to him, taking one to make a point or get something from their family—is a no-go area. His small smile has razor-sharp teeth.
I let out a labored breath.
“Really?” I roll my eyes. “Not underage. She’s also not that little. And there is a reason why I took her.”
“Too much watchingSeven Brides for Seven Brotherswith Mam when you were younger?” Seamus asks.
“No.”
I probably shouldn’t have brought her here, but someone tried to hurt Marlowe in the fucking dance center. Someone who hid their identity. If I hadn’t caught her, she’d have turned her ankle or hit her head or broken something. Point is, it wasn’t an accidental bump, it was a vicious push.
It seems someone wants to harm Molly, and her mam wants to pay to keep her safe. She knows who I am. Our name carries weight. And she knows I can protect her daughter.
It’s a fine deal, one I’ll take.
But there’s a lot more here than just someone threatening harm to Marlowe. There are many more layers.
Her father is missing, but there’s nothing mentioned about his disappearance in the press. All I can find is that Heston Briggs is on sabbatical. But Marlowe doesn’t think that’s the case, for some reason.
Besides all that, her mam knows the Marcello crime family’s Don, a family I know Cal’s interested in working with.
Then there are my missing drugs with potential cartel involvement, and someone with a cartel tattoo just happens to be following Marlowe. Plus, we still have the suspicious, elusive Leon, and a dead cop back at the warehouse.
I don’t like any of this. At all.
Marlowe is hot headed, a brat who can’t see past her nose, and she’d run off into trouble—again—if I left her to her own devices.
She definitely needs a bodyguard.
And I want to get to the fucking bottom of it all.
Now all I have to do is find the right way to sell it to my brothers.
Seamus lets out a snort. “I guess the question we’d like an answer to is why the fuck is some girl tied up in our home?”
I lift an eyebrow at Seamus. “Because I needed somewhere to put her while I looked into things.”
