Page 49 of Killian (The Doherty Mafia)
I clenched my jaws and tried to steady myself.
“Yeah, the scene is pretty empty. I have very little to work with here.”
“The last time we spoke, you said you had an idea where the girl might be.”
“It was a false lead. Didn’t go anywhere.”
I said that to him the last time we spoke to get him off my back. To give him the impression I was actually working on it.
My father groaned under his breath in disapproval.
“You’ll be the first to know when I find out anything. I’m keeping my ear to the ground,” I continued.
“Killian. Shut the fuck up and tell me the truth.”
“I am…” I tried to say but my father interrupted.
“I was there when Connor came to. Thankfully, I was the only one in the room. He grabbed my wrist like he was trying to cling to me. He said I was a shit boss because I couldn’t keep my own sons in line.”
I pressed the phone closer to my ear. Everything seemed still in the room. I didn’t move a muscle either.
“He said he saw you and that girl running away before he passed out. After she shot him. He said you were working together.”
* * *
My fear had come true before I could do anything about it. Connor told my father pretty much exactly what happened, and no matter how much I denied it, he would know the truth.
So there was only one thing left for me to do.
“Yeah, I helped her,” I said.
A strong sigh left my father’s throat. I heard it loud and clear over the phone. I couldn’t tell what it was—disappointment? Anger? Frustration?
His oldest son had fucked up again. Fucked it up for the family.
“I needed to get her away from Connor. I knew what he did to women.”
“And that affects you how?” my father asked.
“Do you know what he did? Why his wives mysteriously disappeared? What he did to the chicks he took home for the night?” I was rambling and pacing around my bedroom.
My father was silent for a while, but eventually he spoke.
“I heard rumors but he never did it in front of me. I never asked.”
“I couldn’t let the girl go with him. I wasn’t going to stand by and allow him to marry her. I’d be cutting her life short.”
“And now my brother is dead.”
“She is twenty-four. She’s way too young.”
“Did you hear what I said, Killian? My brother is dead and you orchestrated it.”
“Be honest with yourself, Dad. How much of a shit do you actually give that he is dead? I know you never got along with him. I know he pulled some shit on you too. And if Ma…if she was alive, would she have stood for the way he treated women?”
I spoke through clenched teeth and I was sure my father could hear the venom in my voice. I needed him to see the full picture. Maybe if he met Reese…maybe if he saw what I saw, he would have done the same. Any man would have done the same.
“Don’t bring up your mother,” my father sighed.
I rubbed a hand over my face repeatedly till it started to feel raw.
“I wanted to help the girl and give her some hope.”
“You wanted her for yourself,” my father snapped.
“Yes. I did. But that wasn’t the only reason I helped her.”
We were both silent after that.
“Where is she now?” he asked after several moments.
“At my place. In the woods. I’ve kept her here this whole time.”
I didn’t know what he would say next. Was he going to declare a punishment for allowing Connor to die? I was supposed to be his bodyguard for the night.
“It doesn’t matter now. We have to return her to Aldo,” he said.
* * *
What the fuck.
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
“She’s not going back to that guy,” I snapped.
My father sounded like he was already losing patience.
“You have already made too many decisions yourself, son. Decisions that are going to be affecting this family for a while. Time to step back. You’ve had your fun.”
I wanted to break something with my hands. Punch the wall.
Was that what my father thought it was? That the last few days had all just been fun and games?
I did have fun with Reese, but it wasn’t the kind he was referring to.
“I’m taking responsibility for her now, and she’s not going back to him,” I growled.
She hadn’t given me the full picture. I didn’t know exactly what their relationship consisted of. What he had done to her in the past.
However, I did know how he treated her. I saw it the night she was thrown at Connor. She didn’t deserve to be treated that way and it was exactly what I’d promised I’d keep her safe from.
“Aldo already knows Connor is dead. He doesn’t know how. Not yet. But he’s going to find out. He’s going to want the girl back and we have no choice but to give her to him. She belongs to him.”
