Page 17 of His Kidnapped Irish Mafia Virgin

We didn’t say anything for a moment. I didn’t need to look at Maeve to know her expression had changed. Saying those words out loud had changed something in me. What had felt like an old fear suddenly became real again. I couldn’t pretend the attack was random anymore. When I finally looked up, Maeve was looking at me with a sadness I hadn’t seen before. She reached across the space between us, took my hand, and spoke so quietly and I almost missed the words.

“Nora...I think Liam may have been right about one thing.”

Part of me wanted to tell her she was wrong, but another part of me knew she wasn’t defending everything Liam had done. She’d listened to me from the moment she’d walked in, and that counted for something.

“I still think he was wrong,” I said. I looked at the garden outside. “Saving my life didn’t give him the right to control it. He followed me without my knowledge. He brought me here without asking me. He’s not letting me leave. Then he kissed me like my opinion didn’t matter. I don’t know how to look past all that just because he thought he was protecting me.”

“I’m not asking you to forgive Liam. His actions hurt you, and I think he should have done things differently. Now that I know about your stepfather, I know the attack wasn’t random. And that’s important.”

I turned to face her, and I saw concern in her eyes. She wasn’t worried about Liam’s actions. She was worried about my safety. That made this conversation harder.

“I don’t want to stay here,” I said. “Every time I walk through this house, I remember I’m here because someone else decided I should be. I don’t like feeling trapped, Maeve. I promised myself years ago that nobody would control my life again.”

“I believe you,” she said gently. “That’s why I’m asking you to think about this as your decision. Forget what Liam wants. Ask yourself what you would tell someone in your position. If you knew they’d escaped an abusive home, the people they’d escaped from found them, and they had no idea who else might be involved, would you tell them to go outside before they knew they were safe?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Her question left me standing there without an argument. I hated that. I wanted to leave this house, but I couldn’t ignore the fear that settled over me when I thought about my stepfather. The silence between us felt thoughtful, like we didn’t want to speak again until we had the right words.

“I still don’t forgive Liam,” I said. “I’m still angry. I don’t know when that will change. Maybe it never will. But leaving today because I’m angry won’t make me safe.”

Maeve nodded.

“I’m staying,” I said. “Not because Liam told me to. Not because anyone else expects me to. I’m staying because I decided I need to know for sure if my stepfather found me before I go back home.”

The tension on Maeve’s face relaxed. She got up, came over, and hugged me again. Then she said she’d be back in a few days. She reminded me that I didn’t have to deal with everything on my own, and that I could call her if I needed to.

After she left, I stayed where I was. I watched her car drive through the gates until it was out of sight. The house still didn’t feel like home. I didn’t think it ever would. I was still mad at Liam, and still unsure about the kiss. I hadn’t figured out what to do when we saw each other again. For now, I’d made one decision: I would stay at the house a bit longer. It was my choice this time.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Liam

It had been a week since Maeve came to the house, and my men were still looking for answers. Everything they found ended up being nothing. Every address we went to was a dead end. I didn’t like waiting for answers, but there was nothing else I could do. The only thing that mattered was keeping Nora safe until we found out what was going on.

Things had changed a bit during the week. Nora wasn’t locking herself in her room all day anymore. She was eating with everyone and was back to reading books in the library. When the weather was nice, she’d walk in the gardens with one of my security guards watching her. We’d talked a couple of times since we kissed, but not for very long. Our conversations weren’t as argumentative as they used to be. I’d even apologized for kissing her. I didn’t say sorry for wanting to kiss her, because that would’ve been a lie.

It was impossible for me to pretend I didn’t notice her now. She was everywhere. I noticed the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was concentrating on a book.

And I noticed her body in ways I had no business noticing. The curve of her waist when she reached for something on a high shelf. The way her clothes moved against her when she breathed. I almost walked into a door yesterday looking at the sun in her hair.

The crazy thing was that none of it was deliberate on her part. She wasn’t trying to attract my attention. I was simply finding reasons to look at her.

Nora accepted my apology, but she didn’t say she forgave me, which felt fair. She still didn’t trust me completely, but she didn’t look at me like I was someone she needed to escape from. I was working in the study when I heard a knock on the door. I looked up and saw Nora standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. She didn’t look angry or scared…she looked really bored. It took me a moment to realize it was because she had nothing to do.

She was wearing a simple shirt and jeans, nothing that should have distracted me from the fact that she was complaining about her boredom. Somehow, I still found myself lost in her brown eyes again.

She walked into the room, sat down in the chair across from my desk, let out a sigh, and looked at me with frustration. She told me she was running out of things to do because she could only read, walk, and watch TV. She reminded me that she had no phone, no job, and no friends to visit. She couldn’t leave the estate. Listening to her complain was actually nice, because it sounded like she wasn’t trying to escape anymore. It sounded like she was okay with staying here for now.

I realized she wasn’t looking for something to pass the time. She was looking for something that felt normal.

Nora leaned back in her chair and looked at me. Then she smiled. It was the first time I’d seen her smile in days, which made me a little suspicious.

“Let’s play a game.”

I stared at her for a second, because it sounded like a good idea. “What game?”

“Truth or dare.”

“Well, I think that’s very childish.”