Chapter 37

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

DECLAN

Quinn is about to open the door when I stop her and pull her back against my chest. Sliding my hand up her body, I lightly wrap my fingers around her throat and angle her face toward mine. "Plan our wedding, mochéadsearc. I don't care what is happening; what the threats are. I'm not going to letthe Bratva keep us apart."

We've already lost over a decade of a life we could have had together. Losing more time seems frivolous. I want to finally do right by her and give her the life that she's always wanted. The one she's always deserved. The one I threw away trying to protect her when, ironically, not being mine nearly costher life.

"Good." She leans back into my chest and smirks. "The Catholic girl in me would really like to be married before you knock me up."

From the tone of her voice, I can tell that she is only partially joking.

"Is that the same good little Catholic girl that just thanked me for filling her tight little cunt as I fucked her from behind so hard that she had to muffle her screams?" I tease. "Or are you referring to the good little Catholic girl that had her hands tied to the headboard with her bound ankles on my shoulders this morning?"

"You know what I mean!" she huffs exasperatedly.

I continue to toy withher,"You're right. You screamed God's name so much this morning; he probably counted it as your penance and already forgave you for your sins."

"You are absolutely fucking incorrigible." She shakes her head and pulls the door open.

"You love it," I quip. "There is one thing that I am deadly serious about, though. I am marrying you by this weekend."

"Wewill never be able tosecure the church on such short notice," Quinn argues as we make our way back downstairs.

"You let me worry about that," I request as we rejoin everyone, finding them all gathered around the large kitchen island. "I'll send Finn to talk to FatherO'Flahertyand make it happen."

"That man hates me," Finn interjects himself into our conversation.

"He's a priest!" Liam exclaims. "His entire life is builton the premise of helping people atone for their sins and fucking forgiveness. He doesn't hate anyone."

"Well, I think then he maybe holds a grudge over the number of times I've caused him to drop his bible in the confessional." Finn shrugs.

"Sure." Tristan condescendingly pats him on the back. "I'm sure that's what it is. It probably has nothing to do with when you were fifteen, and you fingered MissyO'Harrahto completion in the middle of Sunday mass."

"Maybe don't send Finn." Quinn rolls her eyes at Finn as she laughs.

"You make a few girls comeinchurch, and this is the…" Finn sighs.

"A few ?" I scoff. "This is like the strippers all over again. I want to know. But I also don't want to."

"It's the tartan skirts," Finn shares without waiting for me to ask. "And after Missy, I didn't exactly have a shortage of options."

I merely shake my head.

I knew I didn't want to know.

"I'll go," Liam volunteers, then points at Tristan and Conor. "And I'll take whichever one of you two FatherO'Flahertyhasn't caught with your fingers or cock inside of a member of his congregation."

"Take Tristan," Conor flatly insists.

"For fuck's sake!" I exclaim. "You too?"

"In my defense, it was the courtyard behind the church." Conor loses his ability to maintain his straight face and snickers. "Because those fucking plaid skirts."

"And you're worried about mam rolling over in her grave because of me?" I look at Quinn.

"She smacked the shit out of us both," Finn shares as he laughs. "And she would've smacked the shit out of you, too."

This fucking family.

"Tris. Liam. Can you please take care of the church?" I ask when the laughter and jokes finally subside. They both nod and collectively gather their things to take care of this favor for me. "Conor and Finn can help me and Rory with some security deficits around here before it gets dark."

"And me?" Quinn chimes in.

"You, mochéadsearc,you get to have Layla help you pull together your dream wedding," I respond, pulling out my wallet and retrieving a credit card for her. "Use my office. Let me know anything the two of you can't do from there, and we'll take care of it."

The girls disappear to my office with Fiona while I head outside with Conor, Finn, and Rory to look for even the slightest infrastructure weakness we would exploit if needed to get on the property. We walk the perimeter.

"This is a great property from a security standpoint," Rory acknowledges. "The waterfront completely removes a fast access point,andthe yard is vast enough that we should see anyone coming that makes it past the perimeter."

"Not should." My tone is gruff. "I want the men positioned so they can take out anyone who makes itmore than twofeet past the fence."

"Understood."

Trying to find Akim's son has gone about as well as figuring out where thePakhan has been hiding out all these months. Both of them are like ghosts. Invisible. Each of them make rare appearances when they have a reason to reach out. There isn't too much more we can really do.

Except wait.

Sitting here waiting for someone to come and take Quinn from me is torturous. The only other time in my life I've felt this helpless was when I had to watch Sarah die.