Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
He stared. He wanted to tell her that she was being dramatic and threatening that sure as fuck wasn’t the way to get him to back off. But as he looked at her, really looked at her, he suddenly wasn’t sure if it was theatrics. Keira’s eyes were a little too wide, her hands shaking at her sides. She looked half a second away from bolting out of the room.
“Keira—” He cut himself off as the door opened. “Get out. I’m busy.”
Cillian poked his head in. “It’s important.”
Important could mean any number of things, none of which were good from the look on his brother’s face. He drummed his fingers on the desk. Keira didn’t look any more interested in whatever news Cillian had than she was interested in anything lately. He wanted to shake her, to yell in her face that she was still among the living and her lifestyle would put her in an early grave faster than being an O’Malley would.
He made an abrupt decision and nodded at Cillian. “Tell me.”
His brother stepped into the office and shot a look at their sister. When Aiden didn’t tell her to leave, Cillian shrugged. “A courier just delivered this.”
The envelope was the size of a greeting card, the paper thick and their address written in a bold hand across the front. The return address was just an emblem, a stylized R that wasn’t quite a family crest. Romanov. “What does that bastard want?”
Keira laughed, tilting her head back against the chair to stare at the ceiling. “What all evil bastards want—world domination with a side of death and destruction.”
He opened the envelope and examined the card. It wasn’t much to look at. Plain white, obviously expensive, but without any pictures or words on either side. Aiden cursed himself for stalling and flipped it open. It took his brain precious seconds to process the words, and when it did, he had to fight not to throw the thing in the nearest fireplace. Instead, he very carefully read it aloud.
I’ve found your darling Sloan. That old proverb demands an eye for an eye. By my count, you owe me both a wife and a sister. I’ll be content with one of yours. Keira or Sloan, Aiden.
I’ll be generous and allow you to pick.
The alternative is war.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Cillian looked ready to drive to New York solely to throttle Dmitri. “He has to know that you won’t give up either.”
“He does know.” This wasn’t about a wife, and it wasn’t about Dmitri’s half sister, Olivia, who was currently residing in the family home with Cillian. It was a power play, plain and simple. If they bowed to this demand, they might as well kneel and offer their throats for whoever wanted their territory.
Not to mention I’ll give one of my little sisters over to him over my dead fucking body.
He’d let his father dictate Carrigan’s marriage, had stood back while her desperation drove her straight into James Halloran’s arms. He’d be damned before he let it happen again. “He wants war.”
“No.” Keira pushed to her feet, shaking her head. Her eyes looked clear for the first time since he’d had her hauled into his office. “Not that. Never that. I don’t care what it takes. I’ll do it.”
“Out of the question.” He nodded at Cillian, who instantly stepped forward to usher Keira out of the office. Only then did Aiden give in to the urge to shred the card into tiny pieces, each move controlled and contained. It didn’t help. He could still see the words imprinted there, the silk-coated threat.
They had to do something about Dmitri Romanov—and they had to do it now.
* * *
MacNamara.
The name seemed to echo between them, and in the silence that followed, Sloan half convinced herself that she’d misheard. “That’s impossible.” She wasn’t foolish enough not to realize there had to be other people with that last name in the country. Of course there were. But for him to be here, to know the things he knew…She shook her head. “Impossible.”
“I have no issue with your family.”
Every word he said confirmed what she could hardly believe. Everyone knew what had been done to that family, though the details on why they’d deserved it were a little hazy, most likely because her brothers hadn’t wanted to traumatize her. Sloan had met Callie’s father. He might be as ruthless as her father—he couldn’t have brought his family into so much power if he wasn’t—but he seemed to actually respect the fact that his daughter had the skills necessary to take over their operations. Something he and Seamus O’Malley didn’t see eye to eye on.
She’d thought the stories must have been exaggerated, but…“I don’t understand. How are you here? Colm Sheridan…He…”
“Wiped out my entire family. Yeah, I’m aware.” Nothing showed on Jude’s face, but then, he’d had a very long time to come to terms with this truth. Sloan had had all of thirty seconds.