Page 73 of The Chief
“Whendid you take a nap?” I bit out.
The woman glanced over at the mantel clock and shrugged. “Maybe an hour ago?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Molly was unaccounted for and had been gone for an hour. Stalking through the door, I went in search of her, checking the kitchen, the living room, and any other room that didn’t have a locked door.
“Can I help you find something?” Gael asked from behind me.
I spun to face the Sionnach Boss, finding him in the library doorway, a tumbler of whiskey in his hand.
“Have you seen Molly?”
He arched a brow, the move pulling at his scar. “Why would I have seen her?”
“She’s not in the suite.”
“And you think she’s somewhere else in the house?”
“I don’t know where else she could be,” I admitted, swallowing my pride. “What about Owen? Is he around? Maybe he’s seen her?” My stomach twisted into a knot at the thoughtof Owen having anything to do with Molly, his earlier comments still nagging at the back of my mind.
“Owen left with Rían a couple of hours ago.”
“Where did he go?”
Gael looked me over, suspicion in his blue eyes. “He said he had some clan business to take care of.”
“Clan business,” I muttered. “Did he say where?”
Gael shook his head, taking a sip of whiskey. “I don’t see what business it would be of yours.”
It wasn’t. “Just want to know where she is.”
The Clan Boss’s gaze locked unwaveringly on my face. Hyper-focused. “My wife got me this twisted up too.”
“I’mnottwisted up over a piece of arse.”
Pushing off the wall, he wandered into the room, finally turning his attention away from me and to the book-lined shelves around the perimeter. “Did you know this room used to be my smoking room?”
“No,” I replied, my jaw clenched. I was pissed off he wasn’t answering my questions. Not that he had to answer them, but I’d hoped he would.
“My wife loved to read. Mostly fluffy romance shit where the hero had a perfect body, a twelve-inch dick, and was emotionally available. I was under no illusions that this life was not a hard one, and my Taggy craved the escape. I built her this room so she would have somewhere to disappear to when my life encroached.”
He pulled out one paperback that was battered around the edges, the spine cracked. He stared at the cover fondly. “This was one of her favorites. She said she liked the anti-hero in it.” A small, nostalgic smile played on his lips. “Told me he reminded her of me.”
“Gael.” I didn’t miss the desperation in my voice and I hated the weakness I was showing, but finding Molly was more important than my pride.
He replaced the book and sighed. “I don’t know where my son is.”
The admission looked like it hurt him.
If the Clan Boss didn’t know where his own son was, then what hope did I have of finding out?
“I take it this isn’t the first time she’s disappeared?” Gael asked.
“No,” I replied. “It’s not.” Pulling out my phone, I logged into the tracking app I’d installed onto Molly’s phone after I took her back to Oranmore. She had her phone on her, the beacon letting me know she was north of the compound.
“Does Naul Village mean anything to you?” I asked Gael.
“It’s up near the border.”
