Page 17 of Aidan (The Doherty Mafia)
Maybe they would eventually have come to hear she was back in town and that I was seeing her. However, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. More importantly, I didn’t want to tell them what I’d seen her do.
If they found out she had secret meetings with a Baron guy, they wouldn’t be as generous towards her as I had been.
I knew it would be a lot easier for me to dig up the truth if I had my brothers working on the case too, but that’s not what I wanted.
No matter what shit Leah was involved in with the Barons—I wanted to keep her safe. At least for a little while longer. Right now, the best way for me to protect her from the Dohertys, Barons and herself, was by keeping her a secret.
I needed to know more so I could act accordingly. And in the process, I knew I would fall deeper in my web of feelings for her.
I had no other choice. I would never forgive myself if I allowed her to get hurt…or worse…without me knowing the full truth.
That was how fucked up it was to have feelings for a woman. It was the reason why I never allowed myself to get involved with anyone else. I didn’t want or need any more liabilities.
Leah was enough for a lifetime.
Reese, Killian’s new woman, was the reason we were all in the shit we found ourselves in with the Barons.
She was Aldo Baron’s step daughter, whom he had traded off to our asshole uncle, Connor.
Killian, who acted completely out of character—decided to take it upon himself to save Reese from the abusive clutches of Connor.
The truth was, he wanted to fuck her and once he did, he fell for her. Connor died under mysterious circumstances that Killian and Reese didn’t want to discuss openly, but we all knew what really happened. They killed the bastard. Maybe it was an accident, but it happened.
And instead of returning Reese to her stepfather as was his right, Killian kept her. In fact, he’s marrying her.
Obviously, Aldo wasn’t happy about it. He wanted his property back.
Killian and the rest of us had stormed Aldo’s mansion to rescue Reese out of there. We’d staged a full scale shootout. Aldo wasn’t going to just forgive something like that. He was going to make us pay for our actions.
And now, a few weeks later, Reese was serving coffee and cookies to a room full of her future brothers-in-law. Killian sat at the centre chewing on a cookie, eyeing his woman as she moved around the room. He was like a puppy in love. If the situation with the Barons wasn’t such a shitshow, we would all be laughing at him for losing his mind.
However, now with Leah back on the scene, it would be disingenuous of me to make fun of him when I couldn’t get her off my mind either.
Had someone put a curse on the Doherty brothers?
My brothers Colin and Brendan stood by the kitchen sink, holding cookies and mugs of coffee. They argued between themselves about something stupid. Tristan and Nolan sat at the table with Killian, looking uncomfortable in Reese’s presence.
While we had all accepted the fact that she was now a new member of the family, she still was practically a stranger. We were a close knit family who didn’t open up to outsiders easily. We all wanted to be supportive of Killian and his woman, but we needed to get to know her first.
Fortunately for Reese, our stepsister Isabelle had already taken a shining towards her and they had become close friends quickly.
“The two of you stop bickering so we can actually talk about something sensible,” Killian growled at Brendan and Colin.
Reese brought a tin of freshly baked cookies to the table and left it there before graciously stepping away.
“I think I’ll leave you boys to talk. I’m sure you don’t want me hanging about.” She smiled at us and Killian gave her a nod. He watched her closely as she left the room.
Nolan pounced on him immediately.
“You better know what you’re doing, man. You’ve started a war with the Barons.”
Killian glared at him with narrowed dark eyes.
“I was prepared for the consequences. I would do anything for that woman.”
I had to clench my hands into fists. The way Killian said it rang a bell. Five years ago—that was how I had felt about Leah. I would have done anything for her.
But did she still deserve that kind of loyalty from me?
“I have my boys working on finding him, but Aldo has gone into hiding,” Tristan said, dunking his cookie in the coffee. He was the only one in the family who ate his cookies like that. It made the rest of us cringe and he rolled his eyes at us.
