1. Chapter One

1

Chapter One

Clara

*Six Months Later*

C lara!!!!" Startled, my spine straightens, and my heart rate shoots through the roof. I was running through emails and making appointments for my boss when his deep baritone voice scared me.

"Yes, Mr. O'Brien?" Kellum O'Brien's dad is the owner of O'Brien Accounting Firm. Kellum is the lead accountant, but his dad lives on the other side of the country so he also runs the business. He's about six foot and some change and looks like he was a linebacker in his past life. He towers over my five foot eight curvy frame and his sandy blonde hair and crystal blue eyes do nothing to calm the nerves I have around him. He can't be older than early thirties, but that's just a guess since we don't talk about anything other than business.

I go to work, do my job, clock out, go pick up my son, and try to be the best parent I can be, then get up the next morning and repeat. He's large, imposing, and demanding, but when he catches the sheer terror in my eyes from the volume of his voice he has the decency to look away from me and gruff out a "Sorry." Heat rises to my cheeks.

"No, it's okay really. I was just finishing up before heading out. Is there something you need help with before I go?"

Mr. O'Brien looks back at me and tries to smile, but it looks awkward on his otherwise serious, albeit handsome, face. "Yeah, actually could you clear out my schedule for tomorrow after lunch? I have a very important meeting with Mr. Rowan Byrne that will take up my evening."

Nodding before he even finishes his sentence, "Of course, I'll handle that for you right now."

Mr. O'Brien does that man chin lift thing, "Thanks Clara, I'll see you tomorrow." He turns on his heels and heads straight for the door. As quickly and efficiently as I can I move around tomorrow's schedule. I'm already pushing it on time to get to Rhett. A few more clicks and I'm grabbing my bag and racing out the door.

* * *

Running up the front steps of Olivia's house I stop at the storm door to catch my breath before making my way inside. Rhett hops up from cleaning up his crayons and coloring book from the kitchen table. He looks right at me, a huge smile takes over his entire face as he runs and jumps straight into my arms hugging my neck. Hugging him back until he wiggles to be put down, I reluctantly set him on his feet. He lifts his hands and starts signing, "I missed you so much! I played with my friends, and my turtles. I even shared!" I give him the biggest smile and sign back., "That's so good Little Bear. Let's get ready to go home. Tell Ms.Olivia and the kids bye." Rhett runs off to say his goodbyes to Olivia's kids.

"I'm so sorry, Liv. I got held up." Olivia Wilson has been our sitter since we landed here six months ago. She's a few years older than my twenty-seven. Her natural blonde hair is pulled up into a straight ponytail, and her dark blue eyes are shaded by the brim of a forest green "Soccer Mom" hat. She's about my height but a lot slimmer. I never got my pre-baby body back after Rhett, but Olivia seems to be one of God's favorites who snapped right back every time.

She waves me off, "Oh, it's fine. We love having him here! He's so sweet and fits in perfectly with my kids. I do have to have the kids at practice in like twenty minutes though."

"Of course, we'll get out of your way. Oh, I was also going to let you know I'm going to talk to my boss about pushing my hours up so I'd work eight to four. That way even on days I'm working over, you still have plenty of time to get the kids ready and out the house." I know her kids are in every activity known to man and they usually have to be out of the house by five twenty. Even so she never complains. She's never made me feel bad about running late, or like Rhett is anything less than an extension of their family.

Rhett loves them all, well except for her husband Cooper. That's not personal though. He doesn't like men, full stop. Honestly you can't blame him after what we've been through with his sperm donor. Olivia's voice derails my thoughts, " That'd be cool. If not, don't stress about it. We'll make it work." Rhett runs back into the room and I take his hand to lead him to the car.

"I'll keep you updated. Have a good practice, I'll see you guys in the morning." A perfectly synced "Byeeeee" from everyone calls out to us as we make our way down the porch.

I get Rhett buckled and slide into the front seat of the two thousand and six Toyota Corolla we had to get once we sold the Escape. We were half way from Arizona to New Jersey when it dawned on me that my car might be getting tracked. I peek in the rear view mirror to see my Little Bear playing with his action figures he keeps in the car to entertain himself. Hitting the interior lights on then off to get his attention, he looks up at me with his always inquisitive bright hazel eyes. " Ready to go home and have dinner?" Rhett tilts his hands left to right as the sign equivalent of clapping his hands. I smile a genuine smile for the first time all day and respond, " Let's go." Putting my car in drive we head home to our little two bedroom apartment so I can make what I'm sure will be spaghetti for the third time this week. I'm so over spaghetti, but I'm even more over fighting with a stubborn four year old about dinner.

After an uneventful evening, and an eventful night with a little boy taking up my entire queen size bed, I find myself about five minutes early for work. I'm running through the elevator doors to get to my desk, and trying to catch Mr. O'Brien before his first meeting. Realizing I'm about to look completely disheveled I slow my pace at about twenty feet away to catch my breath. Forcing my fakest smile at the man sitting in the waiting area, disappointment washes over me. I'm starting to realize I'll have to save this conversation for right around lunch, but not before Mr. Byrne arrives for whatever meeting calls for an entire evening.

Sitting at my desk my fingers massage my temples, I can already feel a headache coming on. Rhett wouldn't settle down to sleep. When I finally did get him down he was only asleep for a few hours. He started screaming from a nightmare not long after. I'd love to be able to say this is new or sporadic, but it isn't. These have been going on since we escaped the grasps of Preston's poison. My nightmares come just as often, so we usually both end up in my bed before it hits one in the morning. He needs comfort while I need reassurance that he's safe. Pulling out two ibuprofen and taking them quickly, I settle in for the morning appointments.

By the time ten past noon hits I'm about out of patience and on the edge of my seat waiting for Mr. O'Brien's last meeting to finish. It should have been over ten minutes ago, but who's counting? I'm fidgeting for another five or so minutes before huffing out a sigh and giving up. Guess I'll just make sure I'm back a little early from lunch. Locking up my computer and grabbing my current read, as well as my clearance lunch box with my leftover dinner from last night, I make my way to the break room. Finding my favorite little table in the back corner to settle in to eat. My fingers flip the pages to my bookmark, I'm ready to find out if the guy saves the girl in time. I'm sure it'd be nice to have a man like that. But we don't need a man to save us, I already did that myself.

* * *

Rowan

Walking off the elevator and into OAF my eyes scan the lobby. Nolan, my head security, is five steps behind me. As usual he's also scanning, but you can never be too careful. Life is calm enough right now, but that could change at any moment. When you're the head of the Irish Mob, or the Captain of the BOCG ‘Byrne Organized Crime Group' when in polite company, you have to constantly stay ready. Making my way to Kellum's office my eyes make one more quick scan - we're alone.

Everyone else must be out to lunch. I bet he's not expecting me yet, but I'm always early and don't need a secretary to tell me my best friend will "see me now". He'll see me whenever the hell I want to barge into his office. That's the perks of being best friends with someone since Kindergarten. When he told me yesterday he'd "clear his afternoon for me" I could barely hold back my annoyance. Well, excuse me for interrupting your incredibly busy day, dick face.

Barging into Kellum's office with Nolan trailing behind me and making sure to shut the door, a huge smile breaks out on my best friend's face when he sees me. He quickly contains it and he feigns shock, "No way. THE Rowan Byrne in the flesh! No, it can't possibly be the hot shot Captain coming to see us small guys?"

I roll my eyes and shoot him a glare with no malice behind it, "Shut up, Kel. If you miss me, just say that."

Now it's his turn to roll his eyes but he grins as he shoots back, "Yeah, I miss you alright, about as much as my ex wife. "

I scoff, "Yeah right, I'm definitely higher up than the stripper you drunkenly married. You didn't even know her name until you were filling out the annulment papers eight hours later!"

Kellum laughs, "Yeah, but she didn't call me last minute demanding to hang out either."

Pulling him into a bro hug I smack his back and smile, "We both know you were having withdrawals, and I needed to get away from my brothers before I take them all out myself."

He barks out a laugh, "All five? Damn what are they doing now?"

I'm about to start with how Sully and Flynn, the youngest of my five brothers at seventeen and seniors in high school, won't go to school unless I or one of the others personally escort them daily. They think they don't need school when they're just going to end up working for us anyways. What they don't realize is that they have to graduate college before I'll let them dip a single toe in this side of business.

Honestly, even that's not set in stone. I'd love nothing more than for the twins to decide they want nothing to do with this life. It's already swallowed up the rest of us, they still have time to decide another route. Everyday Declan and I talk about how we hope they take the out we've given them. As I open my mouth the office door swings open drawing all our eyes and subsequently Nolan's gun.

In the doorway stands the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. She's about five foot eight inches with the most mouth-watering curves I've ever laid eyes on. Her black pencil skirt and light pink blouse cling to her skin in a teetering on appropriate-for-the-workplace kind of way. My heart rate continues to pick up as I rake my eyes over her.

Her light pink heels make her legs look impossibly long. Her deep brown eyes lock on mine as her brown hair falls down her back in soft waves. That is until she notices Nolan. Her focus shifts from me to the barrel of his pistol, and I feel a pang in my chest, wanting her eyes back on mine. They bug out as tears instantly form on her long lashes. What the fuck? Why am I noticing the length of her eyelashes, and why does my chest tighten seeing the fear written all over her face? Who is this chick?

She starts trembling like a baby deer learning to walk. I'm able to see the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she immediately stammers, "My name is Clara Sanders, I'm twenty-seven years old, I have a little boy who is four. He'll miss me, I'm a single mom. If you kill me you'll leave him with no one. Oh my God, no, no no no you can't do that. He's been through enough, please don't do this to him."

Nolan looks to me and gives me a ‘what the fuck is happening' look. I put both hands up hoping to placate her, "Nolan put the damn gun away. NOW!" Nolan quickly holsters his gun, but Clara starts shaking so badly I can hear her teeth chattering.

I chance a look over to Kellum for some sort of help on who this is but instead he looks as confused as I do. He lowers his voice into what I think is supposed to be comforting but sounds all wrong coming from him, "Clara, did you need something? This is Mr. Byrne and his security Mr. O'Connor." Clara whips her eyes to me, they are wild and I can see the panic swirling. Her face is a ghostly shade, she looks like she may pass out.

Nolan murmurs, "Sorry about that."

She either doesn't hear him or doesn't want to acknowledge him. Regardless, she doesn't respond. I still have her beautiful brown orbs. Deciding to use my most calming voice - the one I used on my brothers when we were younger. Not patronizing, just calming, "Hey, I'm Rowan. That's Nolan. You just startled us, that's all. Everything's okay. I'm sorry we scared you." She opens her mouth to speak then shuts it again.