Chapter 15

It has only been a day since the memorial, and Nessa has just been cleared to start walking around. She is taking it slow, but her mental health is starting to improve now that she has gained a bit of mobility.

I am in my office when Alexi comes in, his three piece suit looking pressed to perfection.

“Hello, Son.”

“Father,” he says with a nod. “Kai informed us of something, and I think we should discuss it.”

As much as I hated the kid for stepping in front of me and Nessa, I appreciate him more for staying with her. People do not stand up to someone like me easily. I could see the wariness on his face and the concern for his life, but I never would have harmed him. I am hoping that he trusted that he was safe, allowing him the courage to speak to me the way he did.

At the end of the day, he was looking out for Nessa, and I will always respect that.

“What is it?” I gesture from him to the chair in front of me. He sits, his posture rigid, leading me to believe this is more serious than I realized.

“You know I am not one to draw out news, so please prepare yourself for what I am about to say.”

I lift a brow at him, waiting expectantly.

He sighs as if his patience with me has already worn out, and I smile inwardly. I do not like to upset my son, but sometimes joking with him reminds me that neither of us are truly the men we show to other people. Some days I wonder if I raised my son to be too serious, and I hope that I am no longer a point of contention for him like I used to be.

When I nod for him to continue, he swallows, setting my nerves on edge.

“Ronan O’Brien is the man who shot Nessa.”

Just like that, all the air rushes from my lungs. We were watching the wrong guy.

I can feel my pulse quicken, hear the blood rushing in my ears. My hands shake as they sit in front of me until all of it becomes too much.

“Fuck!” I roar, slamming my fist down on the desk. Alexi must have predicted my reaction because he does not so much as flinch.

“There are also other camps with more kids. Lev is working on tracking them down based on what Kai has told us thus far.”

My mouth falls open in shock. We have been chasing this camp for months, only to find out there are more? We told these children that we got the bad guy, that this was all over, that they are safe . Now, this fucker has made liars out of us because I have a horrible feeling this will only get worse.

“You need to tell Nessa.”

That has my eyes widening, gaping at him in horror. Nessa is barely holding on. This could destroy all the progress she has made, not to mention adding to her feelings of failure. Before I can say as much, Alexi stands and looks down at me.

“You need to tell her because there are only two of you who can bring her the comfort she needs right now.”

With that, he walks out. He is not a cold man, despite what people initially think, but he knows I process best alone. Yet, this time, I am not sure I want to be alone.

Without a second thought, I lift my phone to my ear, calling the only other person I need to talk to about this.

“What do you need, Old Man?” His teasing lilt makes me pause, not wanting to change the obvious good mood he is in, which is rare for all of us these days. But I know that I need to.

“My office, now.”

Hearing the seriousness of my tone, he gauges the situation quickly and his voice turns somber.

“Let me see if Kai will sit with her.”

“Is she asleep?”

“Yes, but I don’t want her waking up alone.”

Well, obviously . “I will text Kai. Get here now.”

Hanging up, I send a text to Kai, marking it as urgent.

Boris: I need you to sit with Nessa. Cillian and I have something important to discuss. She is sleeping.

He reads it in less than a second before responding.

Kai: On my way

Boris: I will have some Twizzlers delivered to the room for you and hot tea for Nessa.

Kai: What if I wanted tea too?

This kid acts just like Cillian sometimes, only affirming my nickname for Cillian.

Boris: Do you want tea too?

Kai: Nah, I’m good. Thanks for asking though. I’m with Nessa now. Cillian ran out of the room like his pants were on fire. Let me know if there is anything I can help with.

The image of Cillian with his pants on fire brings a smile to my face despite the situation.

Boris: You are already helping by being there for her. Let me know if the two of you need anything.

Kai: *thumbs up emoji*

I set my phone down on the desk as Cillian walks, or rather stumbles, through the door.

“What is it?”

“Ronan shot Nessa.” Just like my son, I am not one to beat around the bush.

Cillian’s brows furrow as he all but falls into the chair in front of me. His fingers massage his temples as he processes the information. Shock and horror are written on his face as he starts mumbling that he should have killed him over and over again.

I can see his panic beginning to rise as he pulls at the length of his hair. I do not know how to handle emotions well, so I go with giving the facts so that we can find a way to keep moving.

“Kai told Alexi, who just told me. He also told me it was up to us to tell Nessa.”

“What?” Cillian asks, shaking his head. “Why can’t he do it?” Tilting his head back he holds up his hand. “Nevermind, dumb question. She should hear it from us.”

I nod in agreement. As much as I wish I was not the one to upset her further, it will be best received by those who care for her most. Which my son understands well after everything he and Evie have been through.

“Feck, this has been a shite week.” Cillian says, his accent thickening in his anger. I would chuckle if the situation were not so infuriating.

“Should we tell her now?”

“Might as well get the shite storm over with. What could possibly be next?”

I brace myself for his reaction as I tell him the rest.

“I was also informed there are more training camps full of kids.”

Cillian looks up at the ceiling, appearing to have a conversation with himself in his head. Then, he stands up so abruptly that he knocks the chair down behind him and starts to pace.

“Yeah, okay, this sounds about right. So basically we thought we had just taken one giant step ahead, only to find out that we are actually a mile behind them.”

He kicks the chair on the ground, sending it hurtling to the wall with a crash. I allow him the time to work through his feelings the way he needs.

I do not know what to say to alleviate his anger because he is not wrong. This is a huge setback, and the look on Alexi’s face said it all. We are nowhere near done.

Thankfully, we can work here and maintain all of our other organizations and businesses, but we will need to plan a trip back to Russia soon. Our ground soldiers cannot go long without seeing us, or it creates instability.

Cillian makes an annoyed sound as he gets to his feet.

“Let’s feckin’ get this over with.”

I stand and follow even though I do not like this at all.

I am happy to see Nessa is awake when we step inside, but Kai immediately knows something is wrong.

“Are you sure?” he questions, looking between us and Nessa. “Don’t upset her.”

Nessa looks at us warily. We quickly relay what Alexi told me, taking the time to be gentle but direct, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate being handled with kid gloves.

Her face is full of shock as she stares at us in silent horror. She opens her mouth to say something but begins to hyperventilate until Kai reaches out and hands her a Twizzler. She looks at it skeptically, but he shrugs.

“They help me feel better.”

Taking the red candy in her hand, she bites into it.

“This is disgusting,” she says, looking like she wants to throw it across the room. “How do you eat these every day?”

He chuckles, taking the piece back from her and biting into it without a care. “I think it’s delicious.”

I am thankful he was able to lighten the mood a bit, but suddenly Nessa’s eyes shoot up to ours, realizing something.

“I told Gray that we thought it was my father. He tried to warn me. Green did too. They knew. Oh my gods, they feckin’ knew and I didn’t listen.”

Her hands ball into fists, clenching the sheets so tightly, I can hear the seams ripping.

“We need to come up with a plan,” she says before trying to get out of bed and wincing. I rush to her side, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and pushing her back.

“No, Lisichka .” I sit beside her, clasping her clammy hand in mine. “Alexi and Lev are already on it. You need to focus on resting and healing. When we can make a move, we will.”

She shakes her head. “This all feels so wrong. We’ve been trying to get ahead of them for so damn long, but it feels like no matter what we do, it’s worthless in the end.”

“It’s not,” Kai says from his chair beside the bed. We all turn to look at him. “It’s not worthless. You saved us, and I can promise you that not one of us will ever forget it. You changed the lives of forty-six kids. Saved four pairs of parents from wondering what happened to their children for the rest of their lives. That isn’t something small or meaningless.”

Nessa’s eyes soften as she gazes at him. It seems that sometimes he is the only one able to say the right thing to her.

“You’re right,” she says. “Nothing about that is small.” With a heavy sigh, she relaxes against the headboard.

“So, what do we do now?”

My hand reaches for her hair, stroking it. “We try to heal. And when it is time to move, we destroy the ones that thought they could torment our family.”

Her face presses into me as I fold myself into the bed with her, enveloping her in my arms. One way or another, we are going to get through this.

Together .