Page 40 of Colin (The Doherty Mafia)
It wasn’t like I would actually be able to get away from them if they made a move on me. The four men filled up all the space in the loft with their mere presence.
I usually prided myself as being the kind of girl who knew how to take care of herself. I was a trained detective after all. A member of the American police force.
But currently, I was locked in a space with four men I knew were here to harm me and I wasn’t carrying my weapon.
“You can relax, Marley Price, you’re not getting hurt. Not today,” the man said. He had a thick oily voice and he looked me up and down, sizing me up like I was a prize bull.
“I asked you a question,” I snarled at him.
He looked at one of his men and they both chuckled like I’d said something funny.
“So I take it your husband hasn’t told you who I am.”
My husband? I thought nobody outside the Doherty family knew about the wedding. And it was pretty obvious to me that this man was outside the Doherty family.
“I was just about to leave. If you want to speak to Colin, he’s not here. You’ll just have to come back later.”
Stupidly, I made for the door and two of the men stepped up to me and dragged me to the center of the room. I yanked my arms away from them, but I knew enough to not try and fight them. This thing could turn very ugly for me if I wasn’t careful.
“Come on, Marley, who are you kidding here? We both know I’m here to see you. We waited after Colin left so you could have a bath and relax. We didn’t want to interrupt,” the man continued speaking with a smile on his face.
My skin prickled at the thought that I was being watched this whole time. What else had these people seen? Did they see us having sex in the bedroom too?
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, we didn’t intrude on your private times as a happily married couple.”
It was like he could read my mind and it made me sick with fear and anger.
“What the fuck do you want from me?”
“I want the same thing you want, Marley. To bring down the Dohertys. And it seems like this would be the perfect opportunity for us to work together, don’t you?”
Before I could respond, the man gave a nod to his men who grabbed my arms again and dragged me to the kitchen table where they forced me to sit on one of the chairs.
“I’m Aldo Baron by the way,” the man said as he followed us to the kitchen. He pulled out a chair of his own and sat down across from me, crossing his legs in a peculiar fashion.
“Now that we’re all cozy and comfortable, why don’t we talk openly, huh? We’re all friends here, sweetheart.”
Twenty-Two
Colin
I wasn’t happy with the way things were left between us.
Isabelle and the girls showing up in the morning had thrown me. We were in the middle of having sex, and my brain was muddled. The more time I spent with Marley, the more I realized I was capable of feeling something.
It had been a long time since I last felt something real. After Tina, everything had been a blur. My mother’s death had left me feeling like an empty box and I didn’t think anyone could fill it.
But being with Marley made me feel alive.
I wondered if maybe I had a purpose beyond being just another member of the Doherty family fulfilling the familial duty.
And then the girls showed up and gave me a glimpse of what it would be like to have Marley in my life permanently. Seeing her with my sister and sisters-in-law, laughing and making breakfast together—made me feel things I didn’t want to feel.
And I took that frustration out on her.
I shouldn’t have.
I should have stayed at the apartment that day. I didn’t know how long I actually had left with her, and yet, I chose to remind her that our relationship wasn’t real.
We both knew that already.
And then when she asked me if I wanted her to leave—I didn’t tell her I wanted her to stay.
So I didn’t know if she would actually be there at the apartment when I went back.
I had to spend the day in the office taking care of a few phone calls and some filing nobody else wanted to do. I tried forgetting about my wife, but she was always on my mind. For all intents and purposes, she truly was my wife. Whether we wanted to admit it to each other or not.
And yet, I refused to treat her as one.
I made a few stops on the way back home and when I finally got there, I found myself wishing I could take back what happened between us that morning. I was an idiot and I didn’t even know how to apologize.
