“Yes.”
“The Irish mob boss. Our enemy. The man who’s been at war with this family for twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We met on a plane. I didn’t know who he was at first, nor did he know who I was. We hooked up. Then your people dragged me here before I could tell him anything.”
Victor stares at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. “He came to me,” he says slowly. “Two weeks ago. Demanded I return the woman my people took off the street during a mob shooting.”
“He did? He came looking for me?”
I can’t fathom this. It must mean I wasn’t just another random hookup. Maybe he likes me too. He must like me enough to meet up with a Vance to try to find me, much less Victor.
“You have to let me go,” I say to my uncle. “You can’t keep me locked up here forever.”
Victor doesn’t seem to listen. “Does he know about the baby?”
“No. Why?”
“Then he’s not going to.”
“You can’t keep this from him.”
“I can do whatever I want. You’re my niece. That baby is a Vance before it’s anything else.”
“It’s Cassian’s child.”
“It’s leverage,” Victor says, and the satisfaction in his voice makes me want to scream. “Do you understand what this means? Cassian Rourke’s child, carried by a Vance daughter. Raised under our control. That baby is worth more than any alliance I lost when you ran away.”
“I’m not a weapon. The baby isn’t a weapon.”
“Everything is a weapon if you know how to use it.”
“I won’t let you do this.”
“You don’t have a choice.” He turns to his men. “Increase security on the compound. I want someone watching her at all times. If she tries to leave, stop her. If she tries to hurt herself, stop her. That baby is too valuable to risk.”
Then he turns back to me. “You’re staying here until you give birth. After that, we’ll move you somewhere more secure. Ireland, maybe. Somewhere Rourke would never think to look.”
“You can’t do this.”
“I already am, little niece.” He heads toward the door, his men following.
I lunge forward, but one of the men blocks me, his arm across my chest like a bar.
“You can’t make me do this!” I scream at Victor’s back. “I’ll kill myself! I’ll kill the baby! I’ll do whatever it takes to stop you!”
Victor pauses at the door and looks back. “No, you won’t,” he says calmly. “Because despite everything, you’re not a killer. You’re just a girl who made a stupid mistake, and now you have to live with the consequences.”
9
CASSIAN
The manacross from me is still talking when I put the gun on the table.
“Mr. Rourke, if you would just listen to reason?—”
