Chapter 35

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

DECLAN

As much as I don't want to leave Quinn and Fiona right now,I know they willbe safe with Tristan, Conor, and Finn. Liam came with me because, unlike me, he understands all this tech shit.

"They haven't just been watching, though. They've been looping the feed," Rory informs us both.

"Looping the what?" I ask, clearly the only one who doesn't understand what Rory is saying.

"They record clips from the feed, such as empty elevators or people sleeping, then basically play it back through our monitors," Liam educates me.

"Right," Rory confirms. "Then, while we're watching the recording of a vacant stairwell or Miss Fiona sleeping, they're able to move about the building and your apartment freely because we can't see them."

"How long?" I demand, trying to stow my anger.

Rory hesitates before answering. "About two andhalfmonths."

"Two and a half fucking months!" I seethe.

"We're still kind of guessing here, Declan," Rory admits. "We've been tracing it back, and so far, that's the furthest back we've found discrepancies in the timestamps on the recorded footage."

"How?" I snarl.

I pace through the living room of my abandoned apartment as I continue to listen to Rory. "We haven't figured that out yet. There is no evidence of a hack, not a single security breach."

"Not a single security breach?" I scoff his words back at him before yelling. "Someone has been watching my family for months. A man has been creeping around my house and watching my daughter sleep. And you're going to tell me that there hasn't been a fucking security breach?"

Liam interrupts me to ask Rory, "And you're relatively sure that it's only been two andahalfmonths?"

"The best we can be for now," Rory responds with uncertainty in his tone.

Abruptly turninghisattention back to me, Liam asks,"When did Quinn move in?"

"You aren't fucking suggesting?—"

"No, absolutely not," Liam cuts me off before I can finish, shaking his head. "I'm suggesting that maybe this has absolutely nothing to do with you or our war with the Bratva. And that maybe it has everything to do with Quinn."

I continue to pace anxiously along windows overlooking the terrace, waiting for Liam to get to his point. "For fuck's sake, just spit it out then."

"It's Quinn," Liam exclaims. "Theymight be threateningall three of you, but they're watching Quinn."

Quinn…

They're planning. Plotting. Learning my weaknesses and our schedules. Patiently watching as they wait for the opportune moment. The moment they can take her.

She's what they want.

"They want their vengeance?—"

"On us both," I interrupt Liam. "Killing her, or whatever they plan to do with her, isn't just about the lone man she killed in the bar. They knew from the moment Tris and I killed the other two from that night. I practically took out a billboard in Times Square, letting them know she was important to me. They'll destroy her because they know what it'll do to me."

"Bringing her on as your nanny likely has kept her safe," Rory imparts. "We had guys watching her, but the security at her place was nothingcompared tohere. Moving her made her harder to get to."

"He's right," Liam agrees. "Even having access to the security footage, it took them the entire time she's been here to actually make a play for her."

"And," Rory grows more excitable, "she had to have been the initial target. The fixation on Miss Fiona started after. About the same time you killed Akim."

"But why now?" I ask rhetorically. "Why make a move now?"

"They'vemanaged to sneaka single man in and out of here for weeks without us knowing. But it was only ever just a single man, and he was never brazen enough to make contact," Rory shares.

"Managing to avertthe security feed is one thing. Dragging a screaming woman and child pastnumerousarmed guards unnoticed is another," Liam imparts.

"So, what changed?" I ask them both.

The three of usponder for a moment, with Rory being the first of us to break the silence, "They eitherfound a way to get Quinn and Fiona out of here?—"

I cut him off, "Or they wanted us to go somewhere else."

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I send a quick group text to my brothers.

Be on alert.

The Bratva might have the upper hand, and it might not be today, but they ARE coming for Quinn and Fiona.

TRISTAN

Quinn and Fiona are safe here with us

FINN

You know we'll keep them safe

CONOR

Like they're our own

We're heading back now.

You better.

I know they will. It's no longer just about the five of us. All of themwould lay downtheir life to protect Quinn and Fiona, just like I would for Layla.

Rud ar bith do mo theaghlach.