“I know it’s been a while, but I… I just wanted to see if we could meet, just to talk.”
“Talk?” I bite back the irritation creeping into my voice. “It’s beenweeks, Oscar. What could you possibly have to say to me now?”
“I miss you.” There’s a pause before he continues. “We’re family, and that matters.”
Family.
‘You didn’t seem to think that mattered when you were trying to marry me off to Sean O’Keefe.”
“That was Rion’s decision.”
“That you agreed with.”
Oscar exhales on the other end of the phone. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“Welcome to my world.”
I get to my feet and head out of the kitchen. My body is too on edge to sit still, and I don’t want to risk Ronan overhearing my conversation, so I take the stairs two at a time and duck inside my room, closing the door softly behind me.
Oscar is still quiet on the other end of the phone, so I decide to be the one to break the silence.
“Oscar, a lot has changed.”
“I know. I’m not calling to stir trouble. I just… I miss my sister.”
I slowly lower myself onto the bed as a familiar hollow ache builds in my chest.
“Have one drink with me, Riley, and then I’ll leave you alone. I promise.”
I hesitate, staring at the floor.
Would having one drink with my brother really be so bad? Despite the hell he’s put me through recently, it doesn’t erase the fact that he was there for me when I was riddled with grief when our mother and sister died. I was an empty shell, but I got through it because of him.
“Fine. One drink.”
He exhales. “Thank you. I just… I want to see you. That’s all.”
“I’ll text you a time and place.” I hang up the phone and toss it onto the bed.
I feel like I’ve just agreed to walk across a tightrope in a hurricane.
What the hell am I doing, going to meet with my brother who is known to be associated with the very man who is trying to take down Kieran’s family?
The last thing my relationship with Kieran needs is more secrets, but I also know that if he knew I was meeting with Oscar, he would either insist on chaperoning me himself, or he would spend hours briefing a security detail and scouting the perfect venue to make sure I would be safe. Failing that, he could forbid me to go altogether, and that’s not something I’m willing to risk.
Sighing, I get to my feet and head back downstairs to retrieve my coffee.
My head is so full that I’m tempted to go back to bed because sleep feels like the only solution to my problems.
However, when I walk back into the kitchen, I find one of those problems staring back at me in the form of Kieran.
He’s leaning over the kitchen island, skimming through the induction packet that I stupidly left on the table.
“I-I didn’t know you were home.”
Kieran glances up and offers me a smile. “I just got back. Didn’t you hear my car?”
“Uh, no… I was on the phone to Lucy.”
