Shattered Hearts (Irish Kings #1)

34. Riley

Chapter 34

Riley

Our escape is terrifying.

“Go! Go!” Cian roars at me. With Finn’s good arm over my shoulder, I sprint on ahead as he, Darren, and Rory whip around to exchange gunfire with the fast-approaching De Luca soldiers. Adrenaline and terror clash inside me. I force my muscles to pump faster through my legs as we burst through the only available exit into the deep night.

James and Big Rob lay nearby, perforated with bullet holes, never to be seen again. The sight of our fallen comrades steals what little breath I have left, straining my lungs even further. A block of ice forms in my gut.

Sprinting as hard as I can, I tighten my grip on Finn’s side. He’s beginning to go slack against me. Those pills I gave him are about sixty seconds from knocking him out cold, I estimate, which means we’re in even deeper shit. Because Finn’s body is like, over two hundred pounds of pure muscle.

If he passes out, I won’t be able to support his weight. I’ll fall.

We’ll fall .

“Come on!” A rough voice cries.

Directly ahead, Jon calls from our armored car. He disappears from the driver’s seat and throws the backdoor open for us, his arms outstretched and ready to help me with Finn. Wild hope and relief sprout inside me when I see that guy’s mangled, tattooed face. We might actually make it! The chilly April night air whips at our bodies as we half jog, half hobble the rest of the way.

Behind us, Darren and Rory shout to each other, hauling ass toward our caravan. Their footsteps pound the pavement, and they catch up to us easily. I dive into the darkness of the backseat first, followed by Darren, who helps Jon position Finn inside, his heavy, now-unconscious head dropping into my lap.

Cian’s a fast blur, moving around the truck and flying into the driver’s seat.

I don’t breathe as Rory returns oncoming gunfire with several rounds of his own before slamming the door shut behind us. Cian floors the gas pedal, and our caravan lurches forward with a force that slams my back against the wall I’m seated against. Finn’s body rocks to one side.

“Fucking hell, that was close.” Darren pants in the back.

“Rob and Tony?” The question in Jon’s low voice makes me squeeze my eyes shut. Who’s going to tell him?

Darren says nothing. Neither does Rory.

“James?” Jon’s voice drops an octave. “ Dec ?”

“They’re gone.” Cian slams his giant palm against the wheel. “Those parasites got them. Big Rob, Tony, James, and…your brother.”

Pent-up tears spill down my cheeks, the droplets landing on Finn’s sweat and grime-caked forehead.

Of the ten people who arrived in our caravan, only six of us returned.

And then Cian reminds me of exactly how bad things are.

“And there’s a chance they have Harper.” He growls in outrage, the seams of the leather on the steering wheel squeezing and popping between Cian’s giant fists.

If Enzo was telling the truth, those horrible people who dismembered Finn’s wife and bludgeoned his arm into this bloody, broken mess, have my one and only sister in their clutches.

Everything dims. Sweat, blood, grime, gravel, and night all swirl together as Cian whips our armored truck away from the safe house grounds. Our enemies pursue us, showering the vehicle’s backside with bullets in waves.

For a while, there’s no sound but flying bullets, crunching tires, my quiet sobs, and the heavy, angry silence of the backseat where Jon sits with the news that his brother and comrades are dead.

The terror inside me doesn’t subside. For several horrible minutes, I wonder if the gunfire will ever stop, if the De Lucas are going to follow us all the way back to the estate, if they’re going to keep coming after us for the rest of our lives. If this darkest night of my life will ever end.

Soon enough, though, the gunfire ceases, like a storm breaking open to a clear, dark sky. Cian distances us from the safe house with the speed of a charging train, and the quiet after the fury is deafening.

Darren and Rory speak fast and low under their breath, and in a few moments, they split up. Darren climbs over Finn and me to get into the passenger seat, and Rory dials the Gallagher Medical Unit to prepare them for us and report casualties.

All the panic and exhaustion of the last week collapse on me at once. Whatever dam I’d built inside me to hold back the full force of my emotions is demolished. Tears flow until my eyes swell and burn, and my throat tightens and dries into sandpaper.

Every few minutes, Cian smashes the steering wheel with his fist, a steady stream of curses in English and Gaelic trailing from his mouth.

When I close my eyes, I see my sister’s face twisted in terror, her body bound, bruised, and writhing in pain.

Despair devours me with every passing moment.

I try to open my eyes, but the sight of Finn’s broken, unconscious body in front of me offers zero comfort. Seeing all the damage Enzo De Luca did to Finn only multiplies my grief and fear.

The dark night enclosing us gentles overhead, periwinkle smudging the horizon as we drive back to the city.

Instead of veering left toward the garage, Cian pulls the van into the circle. A medical team waits with a stretcher to receive Finn at the mouth of the estate gardens.

Darren and Rory climb out of the van first and jog toward the main entrance of the mansion to report to Shane.

While the medical personnel gently extract a still-unconscious Finn from the back of the van and strap him onto the stretcher, Cian removes himself from the driver’s seat. I’m the last to get out of the van, my legs achy and asleep from sitting cross-legged beneath Finn for well over an hour.

When I stumble out of the van, a big hand steadies me before I fall onto the cobblestones. Cian motions to Jon to take the caravan back to the garage, and Jon does as he’s told. He nods to us, his already gruesome face twisted with grief.

When he’s gone, Cian and I are the only two left.

I don’t know what to do with myself or where to go. Right now, I don’t know which way is up.

I just know the love of my life is broken and unconscious, and my sister might be in the hands of that sick bastard.

Nausea bubbles up in my throat.

Cian still grips my arm, his gaze heavy when he turns to me. “I’ll find Harper and bring her back alive. I swear.”

My face stings. Tears pool in my eyes, which shouldn’t be possible since all the water in my body came out of me on the drive here.

I swipe my free hand over my face. “Do you think he really has her?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out. Rory and I have already been searching, but now finding Harper is top priority.”

Even though I don’t trust anything right now, the promise in his voice convinces me to trust him.

I want to believe everything will be okay in the end, but this is the mafia, not some fairy tail.

Happily ever after and the mafia don’t go together.

“I can’t bear it.” My voice shakes. “Thinking about…what could be happening to her.”

Cian balls his fists, muscles standing against his jaw.

“Go with Finn.” Fiery determination percolates in his green eyes, as though he’s already forming a plan. “I have work to do.”

On trembling legs, I jog after the medical team wheeling Finn between the hedgerows that lead to the garden maze.

The Gallagher Medical Unit is a subterranean health clinic located beneath the estate’s garden grounds. The space is lit by ivy-covered skylights in the ceiling. The clinic is outfitted with easy-to-wash linoleum floors, sturdy wooden furniture with beige cushions, and that pungent, astringent smell of healthcare facilities everywhere.

Like a ghost, I trail behind the medical team, two doctors and two nurses, as they push Finn’s stretcher toward an operating room. Because this isn’t a real hospital, they don’t force me to wait outside. They draw a curtain around the left side of the operating table and have me sit beyond it.

I can’t see what the doctors do, but I can hold Finn’s left hand in mine while they work. The operating room soundtrack—calm, professional voices, squeaky rubber footsteps, clanking metal carts and the ding of metal tools against it, lights and switches clicking on and off—becomes white noise as the exhaustion of the last two weeks bowls over me.

At the end of the surgeries, the nurses put Finn’s casts on and dress him while I wait outside the operating area. I sink into one of the beige leather seating groups and fall asleep in seconds.

When the black-haired nurse comes to wake me, the world outside the medical unit windows has brightened, midday sunlight slanting in from above.

“Mr. Gallagher’s beginning to wake up.”

I blink at her and rub my swollen face. As I follow her down the hallway, my head pulses from dehydration.

We’re approaching the door to Finn’s room when the nurse suddenly stops on a dime with a frightened little squeak. Dazed, I walk right into the back of her before I discover why.

Someone clears their throat.

Shocked, I flinch at the sight of Shane Gallagher himself looming over us in the hallway beside Finn’s room.

He flicks his fingers. “Leave us, Esme.’

Esme, the nurse, demonstrates her intelligence by fleeing. Take me with you! I want to say, my fingers itching to grab a corner of her scrubs and hold her back.

Seconds tick by as Shane studies me, his expression giving nothing away. I try my best not to squirm.

“Do you know why no one stopped you from moving out and starting a new life after things went south with the Sullivans’ son?”

Yes. I’ve always wondered why… how I managed to exit the Gallaghers with so few repercussions.

I nod, afraid my vocal cords will fail me.

“It’s because I allowed it.” Shane’s mouth tightens. “Unlike the Italians and Russians, the Kings don’t sell their daughters off to animals.”

My mouth falls open. If Shane were the type of person to apologize, I get the sense he’d say sorry right now. “Sir?”

“Women should be protected, not harmed.” He lowers himself into a chair the way a king takes his throne. “Tell me everything you know about this Red Hill business, without leaving out a single detail.”

I start rambling to him about everything I’ve experienced the past four months.

Charlene at the shelter the day of Finn and Harper’s wedding announcement, what my father said, everything I suspected. I tell him about Troy attacking me again and Finn coming to my rescue.

By the end, I’m a little dizzy from being on the spot like this, anxiety buzzing beneath my skin.

Shane strokes his chin. “According to my nephew, if you hadn’t gone on that rescue op last night, there may not have been anyone left to save. I owe you my gratitude, for helping save my son.”

My jaw drops all the way to my toes.

Rory? Rory told him that I…?

“Tell me why you did it.”

“D-did what?” I stammer.

“Why you forced your way into Finn’s rescue operation.” Shane’s eyes narrow. “Why you’ve spent the night here.”

My heart leaps into my mouth.

Palms sweating, pulse throbbing in my ears, I swallow hard. Shane can see the panic on my face, but he’s not a man to be kept waiting.

“I…” my throat thickens, “love Finn. I’ve loved him since I was in high school.”

Meanwhile, Shane stares at me with such intensity I can almost feel his fingers picking through my memories.

The last thing I’d ever expect him to say comes out of his mouth.

“Do you love him enough to rejoin the family?” Conviction darkens his irises. “Though I owe you my gratitude, I can’t allow Finn to make the same mistake twice. So long as I breathe, my son will never marry an outsider again.”

I blink. Is Shane suggesting I could marry Finn for real if I rejoined the Gallaghers?

Without warning, he rises from his perch and walks toward Finn’s door. The lines in his handsome face seem deeper than before, and his posture lacks its usual military bearing. “If you want to leave the family again, I won’t stop you. All I ask is that you take some time to consider. I think you might be exactly what Finn needs, Riley Brennan. Now, I suggest you go shower and eat something before visiting my son.”

With that mic drop, Shane disappears into Finn’s room and shuts the door behind him, leaving me spiraling through the chaos his words unleashed.

So long as I’m out of the Gallaghers and Finn’s in, we can’t be together.

I knew it all along, but hearing Shane say so makes it real. His words crack the ceiling of my world, sending my skies falling.

If I’m not prepared to swear my fealty and rejoin the Kings, I have to let Finn go.

I have to choose.

Give up my freedom, my friends, my work? The faces of the people I know and cherish flash in my mind. My colleagues…all the women I’ve met and helped give a fresh start at the shelter… The life I built for myself after leaving this dark world means a lot to me.

But so does Finn.

Believing I lost him, that I’d never see him again, touch him, kiss him, hold him…that was a torment time could never erase.

My life or my love.

When I break it down into the simplest terms, there’s no choice at all.

Eventually, I regain enough of my wits to take a shower and change my clothes. I need some time to recompose myself before I go see Finn.

I hurry through the gardens toward the mansion. Once inside, I climb the stairs up to the third floor while worrying about Finn and Harper.

In the shower, steam lubricates my stiff muscles. I sit on the floor and hold myself tight, afraid I’ll unravel all at once if I let myself go.

Two weeks. That’s how long Finn and I have been fixtures in each other’s lives. If we were two normal people dating, fourteen days would be nothing.

We haven’t talked about our future. I have no idea if he returns my feelings or not. If he even wants me to become his real wife.

My heart also yearns for Harper. We haven’t been close in years, but I would give anything to curl up in bed with my sister and hide away from my complicated life for a little while.

An hour later, when I return to the medical unit freshly washed, fed, and caffeinated, Shane’s gone and Finn’s awake. Weary brown eyes dominate his pale face under the fluorescent lights.

Three separate casts engulf his right arm.

Despite his monstrous appearance—cuts and bruises on his face, his otherwise naked upper body half-mummified by bandages—he pats the space beside him with his good hand to invite me onto the bed.

I climb up and lie on my side, resting my head on his shoulder. “Enzo says he has Harper.”

He settles his left hand on my thigh and caresses me, calm and steady. “We’ll get her back.”

The determination in Cian’s eyes flashes through my mind and floats away.

A question forms on my tongue. One that’s bubbled inside me ever since we learned that Finn deliberately played into the De Lucas’ hands.

“Why’d you do it?”

For a moment, Finn’s quiet, and I’m afraid he may not answer. “They wouldn’t stop coming after you unless I faced them head-on.”

Like a sparkler, a bright blaze of anger ignites in my chest. I ease myself from the bed and start pacing.

“How could you do that to me? To all of us?” Emotion clogs my throat. “How could you sacrifice yourself like that?”

Furious tears spring to my eyes. I’m so sick of crying, I want to scream. That there is any kind of moisture left in my entire body defies the laws of human anatomy.

Finn smiles at me, knowing and warm, which only vexes me further. “Come here, angel .”

Just those three little words throw sand on the fire in my belly.

I want to stay angry at him, but it’s hard to stay mad when Finn was willing to sacrifice everything to keep me safe.

Shane’s ultimatum glares at me in the back of my mind.

Tearing my gaze from his, I waltz over to the door and peer out into the hallway. Empty.

I engage the lock.

When I return to his bedside and peel off my clothes, I can practically feel Finn’s gulp in my own throat. My eyelids droop low, arousal spiking inside me like a sugar rush.

This time is different. For three very serious reasons.

One, even if I haven’t told him yet, I’m in love with Finn.

Two, in his current state, he can’t manhandle me the way he usually does in the bedroom. He can barely sit up on his own.

And three, for the first time ever in the whole course of our brief relationship, all the power belongs to me. I can do whatever I want with this ridiculously handsome enforcer.

Lust spreads like wildfire through Finn’s hungry eyes.

I climb back on the bed, careful not to jostle him.

The intensity on Finn’s face spells anger and frustration. How have I infuriated him this time?

The thought traps a giggle in my throat. When did antagonizing him get so fun?

After planting my knees on either side of his waist, the fingers of his good hand dig into my right thigh. My palms press into the mattress above his shoulders while I suspend my face just above his.

“I’ve never played doctor before.”

The fire in his eyes burns hotter. “Shut up and bring those lips down here.”

Anger over his harebrained actions still simmers beneath the surface, so I ignore his command. “Apologize first.”

When he doesn’t reply, I settle into his lap. Finn shudders. His eyes droop to half-mast, and I know why. His erection is sandwiched between us and holy sausage . That thing is hard enough to set off a metal detector.

Heat pools between my legs. I want him inside me so badly, I’m close to whimpering, but I refuse to let myself react.

Not when he owes me an apology. I’m prepared to tease and torture it out of him.

“Don’t you realize how worried we all were? Me .” I swivel my naked hips against the thin material of his trousers. His fingers tighten on my thigh. “Your dad. Cian. Rory. Darren?—”

Finn growls, fury blazing in his eyes. “Don’t you ever say another man’s name while naked in my presence again.”

Something smug curves my lips. “Or what? You’ll punish me again?”

I rock my hips forward, tracing the length of his shaft with my hot, wet heat. The sensation shoots a jolt of pleasure throughout my body.

I moan. Until this moment, I didn’t realize the extent of my hunger for him.

He removes his hand from my thigh and cups my bare breast, rolling my nipple and forcing a surprised squeak out of me.

“I’m sorry I worried you.”

Gravel laces his words. Coarse and sharp against my skin. Underneath the gritty irritation in his voice, raw sincerity shines through. Like he pulled the words straight from the basement of his heart.

Emotion wells inside me with the ferocity of a tidal wave, but Finn pinches my nipple hard enough to push the sentimental tide right back out to sea. The sharp sensation has me squirming. I listen, enraptured, as he starts to growl at me in Gaelic.

Low, guttural, curling, filthy Gaelic.

Forget sexy. Gaelic on that tongue of his is orgasmic.

I can’t even remember my name by the time he hooks me with that hazy, hooded gaze of his, as though my naked body gets him high.

His rough voice is barely above a jagged whisper. Ravenous and full of need. “Now, take out my cock and fuck me.”

Butterflies take flight from the pit of my stomach. “I don’t want to hurt you. I could give you a blow?—”

“ Now , Riley. Like I’m the last man alive . ”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice.

I unzip his pants and reach inside. He’s gone commando, so nothing stops my hand from circling his warm, rigid flesh. I pull him out, my body buzzing with anticipation.

“That’s it.” Finn continues to pluck at my nipples with his uninjured hand.

With the recovery room door locked, my clothes on the floor, my bare breast in Finn’s rough palm, and my legs straddled over him, I brace myself against the bed railing instead of his chest. I stifle a gasp as I ease myself onto his dick.

My eyes roll back in my head.

As far as I’m concerned, Finn’s cock is a great wonder of the world. Right up there with the Pyramids. I’m ridiculously grateful nothing happened to it while he was tortured across enemy lines.

I’m grateful for everything. That, given time, the doctors expect his right arm to make a complete recovery. That we aren’t at a real hospital where a game of Fuck the Patient would have been impossible.

Our safety. Our connection.

That I don’t know the pain of a world without Finn in it.

Finn’s gaze devours my body as I ride his cock slow and steady. He wraps his palm around my right hip, squeezing me as I propel myself up and down. Every time he grouses in Gaelic, I melt a little inside.

Through the hazy heat of our bodies, I give him a stern look. “Stay still.”

Finn continues to flex his hips beneath me, like he’s itching to fuck me hard and deep. Meanwhile, the heart monitor behind his bed pings like an alarm going off. If he doesn’t calm down, his excited vital signs will alert the medical staff.

His breathing becomes ragged. “More.”

Because Finn can’t take what he wants the way he usually does, he’s forced to convey his desires with words. This golden opportunity to torture him is a far more constructive use for my anger.

I get the rhythm right, eliciting moans from both of us.

He’s close. I can tell. His abs start to twitch, signaling his forthcoming eruption. I’m right there, too, pleasure coiling tightly inside me as I approach the edge of orgasm.

“There’s something I need to tell you.” I slow my pace. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while, but, well, I was afraid…”

“Just say it, Riley.”

My heart beats so fast and so loud, I’m almost certain he can hear it too. “I love you. I know you may not love me back, and that’s okay. But I almost lost you, and the thought of never having the chance to tell you?—”

With surprising speed, he grips the back of my head and pulls my mouth to his. His lips claim mine like a starving man’s.

He trails his tongue along the bend between my shoulder and neck, up my jaw, and back to my mouth. “I love you too, angel. More than anyone or anything.”

The words are barely out of his mouth when he comes hard. With three circles of his thumb, I tumble off the cliff behind him, my insides spasming as he gives me all of him, every last drop.