Page 117 of Ruthless Dream

I choke on the word. It’s the closest I can get to saying the truth, and I know my dad will read between the lines. He’ll conduct a full security sweep. My body burns as I wait for a response.

“Dad?”

“Did he physically hurt you?”

“Dad.”

“Adeline.”

“No.” But he’s planning on killing you.

“Adeline—”

“You told me to say the word.” I squint out at the horizon, blinded by the sun hitting the neighboring building. “I’m saying the word, Dad.”

“What has he done?”

“Do you really want to talk about my heartbreak, or will you help me be a petty bitch and get this Irish bastard out of my city?”

This is the Adeline Marie Akatov people expect. The spoiled Bratva princess. I can snap my fingers and ruin lives just because I’m annoyed.

“My darling daughter.”

My shoulders relax at Dad’s voice. He sounds like my dad again. The competitive man who swears he can make the best pancakes.

“I will have your mother call you,” he promises. “Keep your chin up. You’re an Akatov.”

Little does he understand that I am the weakest Akatov.

Never again.

CHAPTER 30

Ciaran

Adeline’s phone goes straight to voicemail. It’s the third time I’ve tried to call her in the past half an hour. Something’s either happened to it or happened to her.

I’m about to grab my wallet and keys and head over to her new place when there’s a knock on the door.

I pause, my hand creeping for the gun in the back of my waistband.

It’s dark now, the evening setting in an hour ago.

I’ve been with Seamus and Dermot all day down at the docks. Wallen was there too, but I’d always had plans to check in on Adeline. She sent me a text after her final exam, ecstatic to be over with the semester. I know she grabbed lunch with Nat and afterward headed to her new place.

I’m happy for her. She’s worked hard on her schoolwork, and I see her relief now that she doesn’t have to deal with Rina and Trish, her weird as hell roommates. But that doesn’t mean I want her to get used to having her own place.

I’ve been careful the past few weeks as I set the groundwork for marriage. There’s going to be a gut reaction on her side, there always is. She’ll rant about being fiercely independent, but I have ways of making her understand this is for the best. At the end of the day, she’ll do what’s best for her family, and an alliance by marriage is what’s best for everyone. Plus, I have an inkling that she’s sweet on me. I see it on her face when she smiles at me.

But something isn’t right, because she’s not answering her phone.

I don’t have long before I need to meet up with Cormac again. He made me swear to come back to his place by nine and that’s not far away. He had that same look on his face—the one that means there’s no option but to obey.

I peek through the peephole on my door and frown. “What are you doing here?” I ask my da. I’m not surprised he knows where I live, but he’s certainly never showed up before.

He’s wearing a dark green suit jacket, his clothes pressed. His hands remain in his pockets, his face serious. There’s not even a hint of a smile, making him appear older. In my almost twenty-three years of life, I’ve never met a somber Cain Murray.

“What’s going on?” I ask when my father has yet to say anything.