Illicit Temptation (Astoria Royals #3)

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Trace

I stare down at Shea, passed out from the drugged water. It was almost too easy. I check her pulse and her breathing. She and I will be getting out of here in a few hours and then home to Astoria where I will resign my position as her bodyguard and fight Kieran for permission to stay married to her.

Tell him, she can’t have children and that Scava specifically wants an heir. I love her. If she wants a child, we’ll figure out how to have one. If she doesn’t, I’m okay with that, too.

I chuckle to myself, thinking of how Mum and Dad will start their pressure campaign on Rhys to marry and have a family. He’s moved into his own luxury apartment, although from his messages it sounds like he’s having issues with a female neighbor who hates him and is setting his mail on fire.

I grabbed everything Shea brought with her. She hadn’t even unpacked any of her toiletries. In the past hour, I’ve located a backroad that leads to the very outskirts of Waterford. There I can pick up weapons from a man I trust and head further south to a safehouse until either Faolan Malone is dead or I can get Shea out of the country. Malone won’t leave the safe confines of Dunbar and start gunning down people in the middle of Waterford. His army is made up of vicious men, criminals wanted by Irish authorities, and hitmen waiting to strike down snitches.

Taking Shea out of the equation will buy time for the O’Rourkes standing shoulder to shoulder with Bratva reinforcements, to deal with Malone. Put enough fear in him to never even breathe Shea’s name again.

Needing a stiff drink, I take the evidence of my transgression, the now empty carafe, and head downstairs. I’m not two feet near the kitchen when alarms blare out in the distance.

Darragh and Lachlan burst out of the hospice room.

“What in fuck’s sake is that siren, Lachlan?” I ask, pulling my gun.

“Dunbar. Escaped prisoners.” Lachlan digs into a bag of weapons he’s put together on a table near the door. “I’ll never forget it. There was a siege last time I was here.”

A bang on the front door has Lachlan whipping around with a shotgun in his hand and me pointing my Sig Sauer.

“Who the fuck is that?” Lachlan yells.

“It’s me!” a male voice shouts.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Lachlan yanks open the door.

“Cormac! Are those sirens for you?” Darragh yells at his brother.

“Aye,” Cormac says, pushing into the house. “I broke out. I’m good at that, remember that shite rehab you tried to lock me up in, Dar? And I brought men to help us. I heard about Malone’s plan to marry Shea. He bragged about it to me when he got back there. He also told me he was having Kieran’s plane impounded.”

“Malone will come here to find you. Your sister is here. Your mother lay dying,” Lachlan barks, still pointing the gun at his brother.

Cormac rolls up his sleeves. “Then it’s good you have another doctor. I heard the nurses were called back. These guys will guard the compound.”

I look over his shoulder and gasp at the two dozen men in prison jumpsuits standing outside. “Are they armed?” I ask.

“They are now. Malone had weapons stored in an underground bunker. It had a shite lock. We broke into it.” Cormac points to the field outside. “They can sleep in the bunkhouse tonight. Da had it stocked for Malone’s scourges. They can all wait in those trees. Gun down the motherfucker when shows up here tomorrow.”

“Kill a prison warden in front of thirty guys we don’t know?” Darragh says.

Lachlan shakes his head. “My plan is the same. I’m going to talk to him tomorrow. Cormac, you help Darragh with Ma. Those men out there will back us up until Griffin sends more guys. We’re sticking to my plan.” He looks at me. “Quinlan, you’re still Shea’s bodyguard. That means you give your life to protect her.”

“She’s my wife, of course I will.”

“What?” Cormac barks.

“That weekend in Vegas, three and a half years ago. We got married.”

Cormac looks from Lachlan to me. “You’re not going to kill him?”

“Not today,” Lachlan says, his voice gruff.

Darragh looks wrecked. “Ma’s waking up. But she’s weak.”

Cormac tosses down a duffle bag. “I also grabbed these meds from the infirmary.”

“Malone’s accusations were true?” I cry out. “You were stealing meds?”

“To fucking survive, yes.” He barks at me like I’m nobody. “I told you, that place isn’t what it was. It’s all criminals now. Sponsors don’t dare drop off their...” His eyes bore into Lachlan’s. “Their troubled youth.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Cormac,” Lachlan says, lowering the gun, then takes a few minutes to bring his brother up to speed including the killing of their father.

At that disclosure, Cormac’s eyes fly to Darragh, whose nod satisfies Cormac that it was justified. It shows the absolute trust they still have in each other. Must come from being identical twins .

While Lachlan looks ready to explode, I take this diversion as a sign to execute my plan. I’m getting Shea out of here. Malone won’t kill Lachlan ORourke if she’s not here. Like Darragh pointed out, there would be too many witnesses. But if she’s here, he can overpower us to take her. That’s what he wants.

Falon Malone is gonna have to learn to live with disappointment.