19. Kieran

19

KIERAN

" P aisley? Paisley! Paisley!" I shout.

Bash, Grady, and Chloe all leap to their feet. Chloe runs to me, her face twisted with fear.

"What's wrong? Kieran, what happened?"

I shake my head and listen as a man screams at Paisley before a crashing sound carries over the line. My blood runs cold.

"Call Patrick," I order. "We need to go. We need to get to her office."

Without question, Bash and Grady follow me toward the front door while Bash yells to Chloe to stay inside the house.

The three of us run to my SUV while Grady calls Patrick and Bash calls Declan. My tires squeal as I accelerate through the property. Whoever is hurting my girl is dead. If her feisty ass doesn't kill him first. And she just might.

My phone connects to Bluetooth, but all we hear is shuffling and yelling, then the man howling in pain. Good. Whatever's happening to him is nothing compared to what I'm going to do.

"Get inside the building!" Grady shouts into his phone. "What? She's out? Is she okay?"

He quickly puts the phone on speaker so I can hear Patrick and Paisley yelling.

"She's bleeding," Patrick says.

"I'm fine! I'm fine. It's just a scratch," Paisley cries, her voice shaken and strained.

A scratch. I don't give a fuck if it's a sliver, my girl is hurt. Turmoil and rage explode inside me, and I punch the steering wheel several times as I race through the city streets at a dangerously high speed.

"We're five minutes out. Don't fucking leave her until we get there. Who did this to her?" I demand.

Patrick repeats my question to her, but all she does is let out a sob. It kills me. Why the fuck wasn't I escorting her to work myself? I should have been posted right outside her office door at all times.

Bash reaches over and pats my shoulder. "This isn't on you, so quit thinking that. It's not on Patrick either."

Gripping the wheel, I glare at my best friend. Deep down, I know he's right, but goddammit, she's mine. It's my job to keep her safe. I failed, and we're barely out of the gate in our relationship. What kind of man does that make me for her? Not a fucking good one if you ask me.

"We'll talk about it when you're not feeling so murderous," Bash says, holding his hands up.

"She said it was her boss. A guy named Chuck. She thinks she might have killed him with a stapler," Patrick says.

I squint, his words not making sense until suddenly they do, and the three of us chuckle at the same time.

"A stapler?" I ask, the amusement I'm feeling over that little detail tamping down some of my rage.

"That's what she said," Patrick answers.

Grady grins at me in the rearview mirror. "That's our girl."

"Motherfucker, that's my girl. Call her our girl again, and I'll put a bullet in your head," I snap, my heart beating erratically.

I turn the corner and come to a screeching halt. Patrick stands next to his SUV with the back door open. He has his gun in one hand as he scans the building.

As soon as I park, we jump from the truck, and I run for Paisley while Bash, Grady, and Patrick take off toward the entrance of the building.

"Paisley," I say roughly as I approach. "Baby."

She sobs and leaps into my arms. "He attacked me! My boss," she cries.

Stroking her hair, I take several deep breaths in and out. She has a bruise on her cheek, and Patrick said she was bleeding.

"Where are you bleeding? Where are you hurt? I'm taking you to the hospital," I say as I try to put her back into the SUV.

"No. I don't need to go to the hospital." She clings to me, her arms braced around my neck.

"Where are you bleeding, baby?"

"My back. I hit the corner of my desk and scraped it when he pushed me. Patrick said it won't need stitches."

Yeah, well, Patrick isn't her Daddy, so I'll make that call. Fuck. I know this isn't Patrick's fault, but I'm so pissed right now. Mostly at myself.

"Turn around and let me see." I set her on her feet and keepa hand on her, bracing myself for what I might see.

"Daddy, I'm fine," she whines.

"Paisley Mae, turn around and let me see," I scold quietly.

She lets out a dramatic sigh and turns. My lips twitch as she does. Even injured, my girl is sassy.

Her blouse is still damp with blood. When I lift the hem, I let out a string of curse words in Gaelic. That motherfucker is going to suffer.

Patrick was right, she doesn't need stitches. It's a bad scrape. Over six inches long. A dark bruise is already forming around it. She's going to be sore for a while.

"Baby."

I don't remember the last time I cried, but I could right now. A piece of my heart has been hurt and I feel it down to my soul.

"I'm okay, Daddy," she whispers. "Is he dead? Am I going to go to prison? I won't last in prison."

Pressing my lips together to keep from laughing, I drop her shirt and turn her around. "First of all, you would run that fucking prison. Second, no, baby. You're not going anywhere but home with me. Come on."

She looks toward the office building, her dark brown eyes wide with worry. "What about the guys? I don't want them to get arrested."

As gently as I can, I lift her into my arms and carry her to my SUV. She winces when I set her down in the passenger seat, and I let out a fresh set of death threats in Gaelic.

"Nobody is going to prison or getting arrested. The only thing you need to worry about is listening to Daddy and letting me take care of you."

When I reach across and buckle her seatbelt, she grabs my face in both hands. I freeze and look at her, hating the fear in her eyes. She should never experience that. My girl should never be scared.

"Kieran," she says softly. "I'm okay, Daddy."

Blowing out a deep exhale, I shake my head. "No. You're not okay. You're fucking hurt because I wasn't here to protect you. Some asshole thought it was okay to put his hands on you because I didn't make sure you were totally safe."

In spectacular Paisley fashion, she narrows her gaze. "Do you honestly think I would have let you or any other of your guys follow me around inside my office building? This is not your fault. It's his."

I stare at her for several seconds, trying to hold myself together. "I can't lose you, baby. I just got you."

She slides her hands behind my head and pulls me in to kiss her. "You'll never lose me, Daddy. I love you."

My heart squeezes, and I close my eyes to keep any tears from falling. "I'm hard to love, Paisley."

"No, Daddy. You're actually really easy to love. The wrong people just make it seem like it's hard."

God, I don't know what I did to deserve this woman, but it had to have been something good. Really fucking good.

"I love you too, baby. So damn much. I'm going to marry you and make you mine forever."

The corners of her lips curl up, and a glint of mischief shimmers in her eyes. "You're supposed to ask, not tell. And also, you didn't say please."

I laugh and tap her on the nose. "Brat. Let's go home. I'm going to have our on-call doctor meet us there."

"I don't need a doctor."

"You don't have a choice, Little girl. And if you want to argue about it, I can start keeping tallies now of how many spankings you'll be owed once you're healed."

The look of death she shoots me is adorably vicious, but she doesn't argue. Instead, as soon as I get into the driver's seat, she reaches across and grabs my hand like it's her anchor. It's a small thing, but it's exactly the reassurance I need right now.

" H ey, John, it's Kieran Roche."

"Uh, hey, Kieran. What can I do for you?"

John knows if I'm calling him on his personal cell after working hours, something's wrong. I can hear the tremble in his voice.

"There was a situation at the firm tonight. I'm going to need to do a few things there overnight, so give everyone the day off tomorrow."

The older man is silent for only a quick breath. "Of course. Is everything okay? Paisley?"

I glance over to the counter. My girl is sitting with our on-call doctor. "She'll heal. Chuck will not, and he will no longer be reporting for work after today. Nor will his son Adam."

"Right. Right. Whatever you need, Kieran. You know I trust you."

It's one of the reasons I work with John. He knows who I am and what I do. It's also helpful that when someone started stalking his daughter in college, we took care of it for him.

"I'll be hacking into your security system to delete all footage of what happened. And Paisley will not be at work until at least Monday."

"Fuck," John says quietly. "Kieran, this is my fault. I was going to fire Chuck on Friday. My HR department was making sure we had absolutely everything we needed so he wouldn't receive a pension from us."

I grind my jaw together and glance at my girl again. "Don't blame yourself, John. Chuck is at fault. Not you. Not me.

Not her guard."

"Well, whatever you need, you know I'll help however I can."

"Thanks, man. I gotta take care of Paisley, but I'll send you some details about their launch party this weekend if you want to come to support them."

"I'd love that. Bye, Kieran."

Paisley is exhausted. She's barely holding herself up by leaning on Chloe's shoulder.

"I need to take your shirt off so I can take a look at your injuries," Dr. Brady says.

"The fuck you will!" I roar so loudly that both girls startle. "You can lift the back of her shirt to look at her, but you're not getting my girl topless."

Grady and Bash stroll in, and Grady slaps me on the back.

"Dude, chill. Brady isn't trying to get her topless. He's trying to treat her injuries," Grady says. "Sorry, Doc. Kieran's a bit psycho when it comes to his girl. Although now that I think of it, he's just fucking psycho."

I glare at both men. "She's not taking her shirt off."

Paisley reaches for me, her fingers gliding over the back of my hand. "Daddy."

It's that one simple word that turns me into her gentle beast. Brady must think he's safe since my focus is on her, and he lifts the back of her shirt, getting Grady's help to hold it.

"I love you," she whispers.

"I love you too."

When she lets out a hiss, I straighten and step toward the doctor. "What the fuck are you doing? You're hurting her!" I shout.

Grady steps between us, pressing his hands to my chest to keep me back, his jaw tight. The normally chill guy I know is gone. He looks like he's ready to murder me. "Dude. You need to fucking chill. He's cleaning the wound. He isn't intentionally causing her pain. Now, quit fucking scaring Paisley with all your yelling."

I look at my girl and wince. She needs me, and I'm being an asshole to the people trying to help her. Nodding, I meet Grady's gaze. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Grady blinks several times and looks around in confusion. "I must have misheard you. Can you repeat that? There's no way you said what I think you just said. Paisley's making you soft, eh? Teaching you some manners?"

My lips twitch. "Fuck off." Then I turn back to Paisley and pull her face against my chest while I stroke her hair and let the doctor finish his job.

" W hat are you going to do to Chuck?"

At times like this, I'm going to regret giving Paisley a no-lying rule. The last thing I want to do is bring her into the dark side of my world. I want her to live in blissful ignorance where everything is sunshine and rainbows. I won't lie to her, though. I've been on the receiving end of dishonesty before, and I won't be that kind of partner.

"You shouldn't ask me those questions."

She's tucked into bed, propped against a dozen pillows with a movie playing in the background. It was a fight to get her to rest. She didn't give in until I actually found a pad of paper and wrote Paisley's Spanking Tallies on it. The look of pure shock on her face when I put a mark on there was the best thing ever. If she thinks I'm going to take it easy on her just because she's hurt, she has another thing coming. Grady is wrong. I'm not getting soft.

"You said there would be no secrets between us."

I turn to look at her, my elbows resting on my knees as I sit on the edge of the bed. She doesn't shrink away from me like most would. "There won't be. But you know what I do for a living. You know I'm a dangerous man. The specifics aren't something you need to know."

Several seconds of silence pass between us before she sighs. "You can't just go around killing anyone who wrongs me, Kieran."

Turning, I reach out to grab her chin and lean in closer. "That's where you're wrong, Little one. I will kill everyone who wrongs you. Every last one of them. You are mine to protect, mine to take care of, and mine to avenge."

She studies my face. I expect her to argue with me. To tell me I'm a terrible person. To tell me all the awful things I already know about myself.

"All I ask," she says, her voice strangled with emotion, "is that you don't kill my brother. Please, Daddy. For me."

My chest grows so tight that I start rubbing it. Her brother was top on the list of people to find and end, but the thing I'm learning is that I'll do anything for Paisley. No matter how badly I want to see him dead.

"I promise, baby. I'll spare your brother's life. Anything for you."

She crawls out from under the layers of blankets and wiggles her way onto my lap. I handle her gently as she nuzzles into me.

"Anything?" she whispers.

"Yes, Little one. Anything."

"I want you to love me forever."

I clear my throat, my eyes suddenly burning. "Forever, Paisley. You and me. The only end is death."

Throughout my years in the mafia, I've made dozens of vows, but that one is the one I mean the most.

G rady, Ronan, and Patrick join me when I head to the warehousewhere Chuck and Adam are being held. It took a while for Paisley to get comfortable enough to sleep, but once I put a heating pad under her back, she dozed off.

I hate leaving her, but she's at Bash and Chloe's, so at least I know she's being watched over. If she wakes up, Bash knows to call me immediately, and I'll race back there. I'll let Chucky-boy and his dipshit offspring rot in their cells if I have to. Paisley comes first. Always.

Patrick keeps step beside me while Grady and Ronan follow, deep in a conversation about one of our clients falling behind on loan payments.

"Kieran, I have to apologize for not helping Paisley today. I feel awful. I should have sensed something was off since she told me this morning she'd be off work at her regular time. She's been working long hours lately, so I didn't think anything of it," Patrick says.

Glancing over at him, I consider his words. He's grown up in this life, and he's been loyal to us. He's taken bullets for Cali and Scarlet, and I know he would do the same for Paisley if it came down to it. This isn't on him. As much as I want to blame someone, including myself, Bash and Grady were right. It's only on the man who's going to die tonight.

"No need to apologize, Patrick. There was no reason to think someone at her work would do this. Going forward, though, no more keeping your distance. She's going to have a fit about it, but I'll deal with that."

He quirks an eyebrow, obviously amused by that statement. I'm sure he knows just as well as I do that me dealing with it will mean reddening my girl's ass until she agrees.

"Come on. Let's get this shit over with so I can get home to my baby girl."