Page 40 of The Endless Want

Liam looks away. That alone tells me he heard the truth in it. He lets out a slow, controlled breath. “Fine. Bring Ailish in. She goes under the same protection as Nadia.” A pause. “Nadia has already told me twice today what she thinks of that arrangement.”

It’s not the reaction I expected. “What’s the deal?” I ask.

“You bring Ailish back into the fold,” Liam replies. “No more disappearing. No more rogue missions. No more loyalists acting like the old days. They communicate with me at the very least.” His gaze sharpens. “And in return, I won’t tear apart every hideout you’ve ever built looking for you.”

“And what does that protection actually look like?”

“Declan, you know you shouldn’t mix war and feelings.”

I laugh, wryly. “Is that why Nadia feels like a prisoner?”

His expression deflates and he shakes his head, dismissing the comment for now. “Things are getting worse with the Russians. I want them at home base where Ronan can put men on them.”

“Men on them.” I let it sit there a second. “Nadia has killed more people than Ronan has met. Ailish put a man on the ground in an alley last night with a bottle and her hands, and she did it while concussed. You don’t need to guard them, Liam. You need to stop pretending they aren’t the two best assets you have.”

He’s quiet for a moment. Long enough that I know I’ve landed it, and long enough to know he won’t say so. “Then arm them and keep them close. Ronan coordinates, they report in. That’s the offer.”

I can’t see what else he could do and still keep control of the situation. We both know it’s the best we’re going to get.

“Fine. Deal. I’ll get her out.”

I take the long route back to the meeting point—detours through empty streets, crosswalk loops, every trick I’ve ever used to detect a tail. She can’t know where the safehouse is. Not because I don’t trust her heart, but because she’s too tied to Liam, too entwined with his structure. One mistake and the Russians will track patterns right back to that door.

I park where Liam instructed—an industrial lot outside the docks, quiet enough to hear your own breathing.

When I step out, Mackenzie is already there with her security detail—four of them, armed and alert but trying not to make Ailish feel like she’ll be boxed in. Mackenzie looks exhausted, but resolute. The kind of tired only love and fear can produce.

I get out and go around to let Ailish out. I offer my hand, but she quickly scrambles out to go stand beside Mackenzie. Her hair is still damp from the shower, and one of my shirts hangs past mid-thigh on her. She looks small in a way she rarely allows herself to be.

When her eyes lift to mine, something tightens inside my chest. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t smile, but she doesn’t accuse me, either.

The silence between us is worse.

Mackenzie steps forward to bridge the gap, close enough that only I can hear her. “She hasn’t slept. She hasn’t eaten. And she’s decided the whole thing was a mistake, so whatever you’re about to say to her, say it like you mean it.”

“I’m taking her to Liam.”

Mackenzie’s mouth flattens. “Then say that part carefully too.”

I turn to Ailish. “We’re done here,” I say, sharper than I intend. “Liam wants you working out of the compound. Men on your building, men on your car, men on the hallway outside your door. You keep your flat. You don’t keep your privacy.”

Behind Ailish, Mackenzie closes her eyes.

Her brows pull together. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

She studies me—torn, angry, hurt, confused. “So that night meant nothing? And now I’m being handed off like cargo?”

My jaw locks. “I’m not discussing that night.”

“You’re not discussing anything,” she fires back.

“I’ve done what I can,” I say. “You’re safe now.”

She laughs once, short and humorless. “Safe. Mackenzie’s people picked me up nine blocks from the river, so I have a decent idea where you had me. I know you spoke to Liam before you spoke to me.” She tips her head. “What I don’t know is why every decision about my life got made in a room I wasn’t in.”

“There wasn’t time.”