36. Ronan

Chapter 36

Ronan

E very part of me aches. I have cuts and bruises all over, a couple of which needed stitches. The family doctor’s been busy tending to the wounded, and the uncles have been dealing with the fallout from the attack.

Too many dead friends. Too many fallen cousins. Gregory’s dead and so are the majority of the Righteous Servants; their motorcycle club is in tatters as groups of my soldiers hunt down their remaining members and murder them. Three more are already in the ground and I suspect the remainder will die slowly over the next few months.

“The heat’s bad,” Uncle Brian says from the couch. “Cops are swarming all over the place. They picked up a few of the boys for questioning, but they all know the story.”

“Armed robbery gone bad.” I snort and glance at Uncle Joseph. “You think that’ll fly?”

Uncle Joseph shrugs with one shoulder. His right arm is splinted, and his left leg is bandaged. There’s a nasty cut down his right cheek, but overall, he’s not in terrible shape everything considered.

“We could reach out to the Quinns and see if they might do us a favor.” He says it with a wry smile, since we all know that would never happen. I’m sure our rival Irish crime organization is extremely happy about what went down today.

“We’ll have to lie low for a while. Cops are going to be up our ass until we give them something.” I nod at Uncle Eddie. “Call some of the boys we have out hunting the bikers. Tell them to grab a couple alive.”

“You’re thinking we’ll give them over to the cops?” He doesn’t seem to like the idea.

“Once they’re behind bars, we’ll put some commissary money in a friendly inmate’s account and make sure those biker fucks don’t live long.”

Uncle Eddie brightens at the idea. “I like it. Very devious.”

“My father would be proud, I’m sure.” I lean back in my chair and feel every wound and aching muscle.

There’s more business to discuss. A fair number of the cousins are missing, and nobody’s been able to get a hold of Cormac for a few hours now, but I figure they’ll show up once they hear about what happened. There’s going to be a long recovery process, and there are a lot of grieving family members to handle moving forward. My work is only just beginning.

Niall appears in the doorway. “Ronan, you have a visitor. She says it’s important.”

Valentina’s waiting behind him. She seems uncomfortable and doesn’t make eye contact with any of the uncles. For their part, the three older crime lords don’t seem particularly bothered by her appearance.

“Mind if we have the room?” I ask them.

“I could use a damn drink.” Uncle Eddie gets up and follows Uncle Brian out.

Uncle Joseph needs some help from Niall. As the older, injured man passes Valentina, he pauses and extends his good hand. “You saved us today,” he says to her.

She seems startled, but she takes his palm and shakes. “I just did the right thing.”

“Either way, I know you risked your own life coming in person today, and for that I’m grateful. I won’t ever hear a bad word spoken about you, not in my presence, not so long as I’m alive. Thank you.”

Then he’s gone, limping away with Niall’s help. Valentina watches them for a second before closing the door.

“How about that,” I say, honestly a little surprised. I figured the uncles would be happier with her after she stuck her neck out for them, but I didn’t expect that level of gratitude.

“He’s still in shock. It’ll wear off.” She hesitates, standing in front of the desk. I want her to come around and climb into my lap, but she doesn’t move. “I just wish I could’ve gotten there sooner.”

“I still can’t believe it was Marco who warned you.”

“I almost didn’t take his call,” she admits, rubbing her hands together. Something’s wrong, I can almost taste it. “I meant to tell you, but things got so messed up, but—” She laughs a little and runs a hand through her thick, dark hair. “It almost seems silly now.”

“What’s wrong, love?”

“Cormac was at your house. He saw me as I was trying to leave. I planned on getting a hotel and I had my bag with me, and I guess he put it all together, and—” She sucks in a breath, calming herself. “He figured out that I was living with you.”

I let the revelation sink in and feel nothing. If she had told me this earlier today, before the attack, I might have some trepidation. There might be a little worry in my gut. But now, I don’t give a shit. I see what’s important so clearly, it’s absurd.

“Come here,” I say, moving back slightly.

“Ronan, I can’t. Cormac’s going to use me against you. He’s going to rip the family in half because he wants to be the boss.”

“I know, love. Come here.”

“You don’t need me. Nobody needs me. I’m just a liability, I’m just?—”

“Enough.” She blinks at me in surprise. I get to my feet and walk toward her. “I’m tired of you talking about yourself that way.”

“It’s true, isn’t it? If I hadn’t been around, half of this wouldn’t be happening.”

“You have been nothing but an improvement to my life,” I say softly, and she bites her lower lip as I brush my fingers across her cheek. I pull her into me, one hand on her hips, the other cradling the back of her head. “Don’t you understand that? Before you, I was floundering. The family was everything, but the family gave me nothing in return. I felt empty and overworked, and I was starting to question what it was all for, but then you came along.”

“And made your life harder,” she whispers.

I tighten my grip in her hair. “Stop saying that about yourself. You made my life better . You helped me find my purpose again. You made me understand that the people in my life are all that really matter. Power and control, domination of my organization, that’s all ancillary to protecting the people that need protecting and helping the ones that need help.”

She buries her face in my chest. “How?” she asks through tears. “Why are you doing this? I’m a liability.”

“You’re smart, strong, and brave. I don’t know where we’d be right now without your help. I need you, love, so much more than you realize. You have to stop trying to run away.”

“I’m not running. I’m not?—”

“You are.” I lean down and kiss her cheek. I kiss the corner of her mouth. “You’re so afraid that what happened with your father will happen again here, but how can you possibly know? You’re not the real reason any of this is happening. You’re just one girl. You’re just an excuse. The faults in my family have been there for a long time, and they would’ve shown themselves now whether you showed up or not.”

She lets out a soft whimper when I kiss her. I doubt any of this is fully sinking in, and she’ll still have some insecurities to work out, but it’s incredible how clear my mind feels right now.

Valentina is mine. I’m better when she’s in my life—better as a man, as a boss, as a friend and a cousin and a nephew. That’s exactly what I want from a partner, and maybe she’s not ready to take that big step, and that’s fine, but she’s not going anywhere.

My phone rings. It interrupts the kiss, which annoys me, but things are too fluid right now to ignore it. I give her one more kiss before picking up my cell from the desk and answering it. “Yeah, it’s Ronan.”

“Uh, Mr. Hayes? This is, uh, Louis down at the warehouse? I just thought you should know that something strange happened.”

I glance at Valentina. Louis is the family-connected manager that watches over our less-than-legal product, and if he’s calling me directly, that means something very bad happened. “Tell me.”

“Well, a man named Cormac showed up and said he’s a member of your organization, and that he needed to take some of that, uh, higher-quality sticks out for testing. I didn’t have confirmation from anyone else, but he wasn’t exactly taking no for an answer.”

My body goes cold all over. I lean forward on one fist, staring at the desktop. Fucking Cormac, that traitorous piece of shit . “When did this happen?”

“Five minutes at most. As soon as they were gone, I called.”

“Thank you, Louis, you did well. Keep up business as usual for now. I’ll be in touch.”

I hang up before he says anything else and slam my phone down.

“What’s wrong?” Valentina asks.

“Cormac. He stole the product.” I stare at her, vibrating with rage. “He’s starting a fucking civil war.”