Page 15 of Killian (The Doherty Mafia)
This had never been a problem before. It was like she’d cast a spell on me.
* * *
I figured our father would be at the office, which was where he spent most of his day.
By the time I drove over there, it was lunchtime, which was perfect because it meant my brothers, and hopefully most of the others who hung around my dad, would have buzzed off for a break.
So when I walked into the office, nobody other than Patrick Doherty, the man himself, was in there. I knocked twice before I heard his disgruntled voice.
He was puffing smoke from his cigar when I entered the room. I peered at my father through the heavy smog.
“Finally. Look what the cat dragged in,” he said, swiveling away from his computer screen.
“You know cats don’t come near me,” I replied. That brought a smirk to his face.
I pushed my hands into the pockets of my pants and tried to relax. The last thing I needed was for my father to see right through me. I had a plan, but it would work only if I managed to keep my story straight.
If I managed to meet his eyes while I lied to his face.
Our family operated on trust and loyalty, two pillars that were drilled into us from birth. Nobody else had our backs except each other.
And this was what Reese made me do. She was making me lie to my father, to my brothers—and it made me fuckin’ mad.
But I couldn’t afford to reveal the truth about last night yet. Not until I knew what happened to Connor. Not until I’d decided what I was going to do to her.
“So, you want to tell me what you’ve been up to all morning?” Dad began.
He poured himself some scotch in a glass and tilted the bottle in my direction. I was tempted but I shrugged. I wanted to avoid any opportunity for making a mistake. My dad treated scotch as a truth serum. I knew his game. I had thirty years to observe his every move.
“You want to know my morning routine? Like what time I take a shit and how I like my coffee? Come on, Dad, I know we’re close but…”
“Killian!” He banged his fists on the table, making the cigar shake between his lips. “Stop with the wise cracks for fuck’s sake. You know what I’d do to you right now if you weren’t my son?”
I glared back at him, challenging him to question my position.
“But you wouldn’t have trusted last night’s task with me if I wasn’t your son, so I think we both know where I stand.”
My father curled his hands into fists again but he didn’t bring them down on the table this time.
“I am this close to yanking away all your privileges if you don’t start talking now. My brother is missing without a fucking trace, and so his new woman.”
* * *
“I know,” I said quietly.
My father shot bullets at me through his glare.
“So why haven’t you said anything yet? What the fuck is going on here?”
“I needed some time to recover, and I figured they would show up somewhere. Well, that he would show up somewhere.”
“Fucking recover from what?”
“I was concussed,” I replied.
I met my father’s searching eyes with determination. I needed him to buy every word that came out of my mouth.
“Concussed?”
“We were attacked last night and I was injured. I’m not sure how long I blacked out for.”
“Attacked by whom?” That was when he jumped up from his chair. He’d sensed danger and probably assumed it was one of our long list of enemies. People who would want his sons dead.
“Her. Reese Deville.”
His brows were furrowed, his face had turned stony and dark.
“That girl attacked you?”
“She found my gun while I was in the backseat with her. She knocked me out with the gun and I’m pretty sure I heard a shot in the car before I passed out.”
“Fuck me,” he growled under his breath.
There was no reason for him to doubt what I said. Nobody from my family would question my story because I’d never given them a reason to. I’d spent all my life being loyal and dependable. Nothing mattered more to me than our family. Then my work.
And suddenly, everything had changed.
I blamed her.
Even as I sat there in front of my father, I knew something had to give.
I couldn’t keep living like this. Lying to my family while I had her locked up in my basement. How long was this going to go on for?
At some point, my family would discover her or figure out the truth, and then what?
I needed to eliminate the problem, now.
“And when I came to, they were both gone. I thought maybe Connor overpowered her, took her somewhere.”
“And left the car behind?” My father wiped his face with a hand. He started pacing the room.
