Page 77 of Devious Truth

“Kieran works for Declan. Not directly, he’s like a low level something. I’m not sure what they call it. Anyway, he worked at the shop with Derek. He did a lot of the management stuff, I guess? Derek wasn’t sure exactly what he did, only that Kieran was there a lot and worked in the offices. I hadn’t seen him since right after Derek’s funeral. When I saw him at Obsidian, it spooked me.”

“Why?” He moves his glass to the side table and leans forward, pressing his elbows into his thighs. “What made you afraid of him?”

“After the funeral, Declan came to our apartment. He started asking me stuff about Derek, if he brought things home from the shop that he found inside the cars he worked on. I said no, because Derek hadn’t. He wouldn’t steal, and especially not from them.”

“Was he looking for something specific?”

“An emerald ring. He said it was important to his family. Some heirloom. The emerald had been part of a ceremonial torc used by a chieftain’s wife. He said an ancestor had stolen the emerald from the piece during the rebellion and smuggled it out of Ireland to keep the British from getting their hands on it.”

Ivan’s mouth parts, the very tip of his tongue touching his top lip. “This ring is from before Ireland was under British rule?”

“I think technically King Henry had already declared himself the king of Ireland at this point. I wasn’t really listening to the history lesson while the head of the Irish mob was sitting in my living room.”

“Yet you have no trouble giving attitude to one of the most powerful men in the Bratva.” He tilts his head.

“It’s different with you.”

“How?” His slides his foot further between my legs until the toe of his shoe touches me. If it was his bare skin, he’d know how wet I am.

“You won’t kill me.”

He lifts his foot, pressing against my sex.

“How do you know that?”

“Because you like me.” I blurt out, unable to be coy while he continues to put pressure on my clit.

“Ah, she finally gets it.” He grins, full of arrogance and pride. “But we’ve passed the ‘like’ stage. Go on; what happened then?”

He flattens his foot to the ground again, which allows me to think more clearly.

“Anyway, I guess the ring was in a car Declan had sent in for detail. The ring disappeared, and he’s trying to find it. I told him Derek didn’t bring anything home. He never did.”

“Did he believe you?”

“No. The next day I came home to find my apartment ransacked. Everything torn up and gone through. A week later my car was stolen. It was found a few days later stripped down to the frame. Kieran showed up at my work so many times trying to get me to tell him where Derek put the ring that I lost my job.”

His jaw tightens.

“You’re getting angry.”

He cups my face. “Not at you, baby. You’re doing good. You were so brave to go through all that on your own. Keep going, what then?”

“I couldn’t find another job. The O’Briens had a lot of control. I was already in a lot of debt because of the funeral expenses and the hospital bills. Then I found out Derek had been trying to buy a house. He was going to surprise me. The loan officer got a holdof me when he hadn’t heard from Derek in a few weeks. Derek had already put seven thousand dollars in escrow for the house. I was able to pull out of the purchase but lost the money. It had been everything in our savings.”

“So all the debt you had, it was from living off credit cards while trying to put your life back together?”

I nod a little, embarrassed by how irresponsible I’d been. “Yeah.”

“And Declan made it so you couldn’t find work.”

“Yes. So, I left town and moved here. But Kieran showed up at Obsidian, and he recognized me.” I brace myself because we’re coming to the part that makes him angry at me.

“He told you if you set him up with a poker game, he’d keep it to himself that he found you,” he supplies for me.

“You knew?”

“Alexander found out about Derek working for an O’Brien garage. I remembered the bruise on your arm, and Darren told me about you helping a guest get into a game with Santucci brothers.”

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