As they follow her orders, Lexie shoots to her feet, the teacup clattering on the table as she bolts toward her grandmother. “Nana!”
Claire catches her in a fierce embrace. “Goodness gracious, child. I was so worried about you.”
“I’m fine.” Lexie pulls back and regards me with pride and awe. “Thanks to Liam.”
I shake my head, the blood from my temple finally beginning to crust. “That is a bloody lie, Claire.”
Claire’s gaze sweeps over the carnage, the longsword, and the remains of my father. She doesn’t flinch.
“Okay, okay, thanks to us both,” Lexie adds, her voice climbing in excitement. “I might have made a scene just so I could drop the barrette in his lap. Then, I splashed the tea in Darragh’s face, and I disarmed him! And Eamon helped, too. He gave me the letter opener and signaled me with the tea.”
Eamon waves a hand dismissively from his spot by the elevator. “She didn’t need me too much. Also stabbed O’Malley first. I merely…tidied up the mess.”
“Hush, everyone!” Claire finally raises a hand, sharp enough to cut through the banter. “Lord, have mercy on this house.”
Her narrowing eyes scan the room. She sees the “castrate and dismember” oath fulfilled on the floor. “You kept your promise, Liam,” she notes, sniveling just a fraction before she regains her composure. “But…not a drop of blood on her head?”
Lexie winces, glancing down at her sorry state, then offers a sheepish shrug. “That’s the weasel’s blood. And a little is…well, I may have thrown up. But Liam held my hair.”
“Enough!” Claire snaps, blowing out a deep, weary sigh. She pinches the bridge of her nose, her shoulders slumping. “What am I going to do with the two of you?”
I open my mouth to speak, but Claire brandishes a daggered look at me that shuts me up instantly.
“That was a rhetorical question, Mr. Donovan.” She regains her matriarchal authority. “I already know exactly what I am going to do with you.”
Lexie spins around and throws her arms around me, her body shaking. “Nana, no! You can’t…don’t take him. Don’t let the FBI arrest him.” A beautiful storm rages in her expression, all for me. “Please,” she finishes softer, pleading. I cup her cheek, releasing every weight in my chest.
“Don’t have a stroke now, Elexia.” Claire approaches us from the side. “I’m not breaking out my handcuffs today. After all…” Her features harden into slits, a clear hint for me to listen.
“It wasLiam’sintel, provided through his associate Eamon Donovan, which helped give the Bureau the names of the Old Guard members and their extensive connections to the international drug cartels. Thanks to his ‘cooperation’, the FBI has already arrested over a dozen high-ranking criminals, broken up their enterprises, and seized their assets.”
I feel my brow lower in genuine confusion. “I didn’t?—”
Claire throws me a look that says, ‘shut up and play along if you want to walk out of here alive’.
With a short, dry laugh, I pull Lexie closer, a slow, soul-filled warmth filling my chest for the first time. “Aye,” I play the part. “I did indeed, so I did. A man’s got to settle his business accounts, doesn’t he?”
Claire relaxes a fraction, though her gaze remains frosty. “Moreover, bringing down the head of the Irish Family—who was strengthening those old ties by selling stolen Holocaust art on the Black Market—has also put you in the very good graces of the government, Mr. Donovan. Recovering several of those pieces tonight will go a long way in ensuring your…transition to legitimacy is undisturbed.”
A sense of utter victory spreads through me. Something I never could have imagined a couple of weeks ago. Not before…her. I lower my head and press a kiss to Lexie’s brow.
“It was a pleasure, Claire,” I say, drowning in my savior’s gaze, the storm settling into something serene, steadfast.
“It was a necessity,” she counters, sighs, and assesses us both. “You have some powerful new connections now, Liam. Ones with their hands in all sorts of Congressional affairs. I suggest you use them wisely. And stay away from silver longswords for the foreseeable future.”
Posturing high, Claire stabs a finger toward the back hallway. “Now, both of you. Get out of here. My teams and…Mr. Eamon…will handle the clean-up and the ‘official’ record of what happened in this room. Your Pagani is waiting in the parking garage.”
I turn to Lexie. The wonder in her eyes knocks the wind right out of me. And makes the entire damn night worth it.
She folds her hand into mine. “Take me home, Liam.”
I kiss the back of it. “This time, you’ll be gettin’ my car bloody.”
She snorts a soft laugh and sticks her nose up in the air. “Look who’s talking.”
“Naughty girl,” I add right before sweeping her into my arms and tossing her over my shoulder, ignoring my ailing ribs. “After we shower, you’ll pick out a new book, Darlin’. And we’ll act out the first spicy scene we find.”
She presses a kiss to the small of my back and murmurs, “Sounds like a grand new trope.”
