Page 5 of It Was Always You

Last I heard, she was working her sweet ass off as a bartender, finally single.

“Cora?” I call out, pausing beside the sofa. Noticing the cut on her forehead, I quickly add, “What happened? Are you okay? Do I need to kick some ass?” I try to lighten the mood with a joke as I sit beside her.

“What are you doing here?” Fuck, her smile could light up the world. Having it aimed at me after not seeing her since we left school nearly five years ago feels like Christmas came early. So much has changed, but my feelings haven’t, and I doubt they ever will. Not that I want them to.

“That’s why I called you up here,” Jonathan says, tilting his head for me to join him in his office. With one last look of shared confusion, I reluctantly leave Cora to join him.

“I’ve had the Finlay brothers watching over her for the last few months after Angus made it clear at the last Table meeting he wouldn’t listen to reason. I need you to work with the brothers to find out who attacked her tonight. By any means necessary. I also need you to spread the word that she’s my daughter and is to be treated as such. If anyone so much as looks at her the wrong way, I’ll be dealing with them. Personally.”

“Daughter?” The man has been like an uncle to me; he’s been there for every holiday since I was born, and yet I never heard so much as a whisper that he had a child out there.

“If you think your privileged position gives you the right to that story before her, then you’re sorely mistaken. Yes, daughter. Now get to work.” With that, he leaves me standing there, my jaw nearly hitting the floor, my mind racing with a million thoughts. As much as I want to chase after him and demand answers, I don’t for two reasons. First, I know better than to challenge him directly. Second, someone needs to track down and deal with the bastard who dared hurt my Cora. Immediately.

I crack my knuckles before walking over to the computer in his office. I need to call one of the Finlay brothers to get information to make this a tad easier.

“What’s up, Owen?” Aidan picks up on the second ring. That, coupled with the casualness of his tone, makes me grind my teeth.

“What’s up? You punks let Cora get attacked while on guard duty. Mind explaining that to me? Or how about you give me a rundown of what happened and where, so I can find the fucker who did this.”

“Take a breath, Owen. She’s fine. Barely a bump or two, and she was on her own with her attacker for a few seconds before Cole, the speedy fucker that he is, got from the car down the alley. It was in Shaftesbury Avenue, near O’Neill’s. The closest shop was a cafe named Olivias. Also, Liam is suspicious that someone’s been tailing us tail her, but we haven’t been able to get a clean visual on any plates.” When Jonathan finds out, he’s going to lose his shit.

“What kind of bodyguards are you shitheads if someone else is following her and you don’t even know!” I yell, before hanging up on him.

I try to remind myself that Jonathan vetted them. That they are our most trusted, high-ranking soldiers. Cole, at eighteen, is our youngest member, but even he passed everything Jonathan’s thrown at him with flying colours, and I helped train the fucker.

They are perfectly capable of this job, they have to be, there is no way he’d risk her safety. But seeing she was so close to being seriously hurt makes me want to murder dead things.

Several deep breaths later, I re-focus on the screen and load up the CCTV footage from the cafe and a few other businesses on or near Shaftesbury Avenue to see what went down, but unfortunately, her attacker was smart enough to wear all black.

Unfortunately for him, I follow his path on the cameras as he runs away, and two streets away, he makes a crucial mistake. As he pulls off his balaclava, his hoodie and shirt lift just enough for me to catch a glimpse of something crucial when I zoom in. On his right side, just above his hip, is a blurry but still identifiable Celtic cross tattoo. The exact design that I’ve only ever seen on the Clan.

It’s a rite of passage for them, similar to how all Four Points members get a four-leaf clover tattooed on them once they’re initiated. If the Scottish wanted a war, then they’re fucking getting one.

If not from Jonathan, then from me.

Because there is no world where someone touches my Cora and lives to tell the tale.

Fuck that bullshit.

Chapter 4

After Owen and Jonathan head into the other room it’s all I can do to pick my jaw up from the floor.

Gone is the boyish softness to his features and lanky limbs that never seemed to fit him quite right back then, instead they’ve been replaced with a stubble covered jaw sharp enough to cut yourself on and muscles that struggle to be contained under his shirt.

And don’t even get me started on the grey joggers he’s wearing. Honestly, I’m convinced men know exactly the power grey joggers have and that’s the exact reason they wield them against us.

So yeah…let’s not talk about the state of my panties after seeing him.

Shaking myself out of it, I take advantage of the freedom to explore. Assessing my surroundings, I make my way over to a bookcase littered with different trinkets and look at the different awards for restaurant of the year and framed newspaper clippings. I’m about to walk away when a framed photo half hidden behind one of the awards catches my attention.

At first glance, there’s nothing special about it. It’s a beautiful black and white shot of a younger Jonathan smiling at the woman pressed to his side in front of the beach. The longer I look, the more I see the resemblance—the woman, gazing up at him with hearts in her eyes and her hand protectively on her stomach, looks like Mum.

“That was the day we found out we were having a little girl.”

I jump back, an apology halfway out before I realise what he just said. “You have a child?”

He takes me by the elbow and leads me back to the sofa before continuing, “Helen and I met when she was an intern at one of my offices, and as much as I should have stayed away, I couldn’t. Not that she would have let me if I tried. Starting a family so young wasn’t in either of our plans, but from the moment she suspected she was pregnant, she was all in. And so was I.”

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