Page 90 of The Chief
I gave my friend a tired smile. “That sounds pretty accurate.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to go home soon?” Orla asked from beside me. “To see Mam and hear what she has to say?”
“We can call her, but I don’t think it’d be safe for us to leave anytime soon.”
My sister’s face fell, and her shoulders slumped. “What about school? I only have two more exams to go before I graduate.”
“We’ll figure out a way, Orla. I promise. For now, we’re staying here.”
“It won’t be so bad, Orla,” Mila announced, finally shutting the fridge doors and dumping everything needed to make pancakes onto the counter. “We can hang out. It’ll keep your mind off things.”
“Are you staying, then?” Fallon asked Mila. “It’d be nice to have more women around to tame the savages.” She flicked a playful glance at Orin, who narrowed his eyes.
“I’d rather be here than there,” Mila replied absently, rifling through the cupboards in search of a bowl.
“Won’t your father miss you?” Orla asked.
It took Mila a few beats to answer. “My father won’t, no. He was the one who sold me.”
Something tugged at me to ask her more questions, but then Keir appeared. He stood at my back, his warmth surrounding me, but my smile wavered when I realized it was because he wanted to be close to Fallon.
“Once you’re done here, Jynx, Finnan wants to see you.” His lips brushed against the shell of my ear, making me shiver.
“Am I in trouble?”
“Not exactly, but he needs to hear your side of the story.”
I turned to face him, feeling the need to see his reaction when I asked, “Will you come with me?”
“Of course.”
Thirty minutes later, and with Orla’s help, Fallon had removed the splinters from my palms and slathered them in an antibacterial cream before bandaging them up, leaving my fingers free. I felt like a mummy as I followed Keir into Finnan’s office on the second floor. The Clan Boss studied me before gesturing to one of the seats in front of his desk. Keir took the other.
“What has Keir told you?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “Only that you wanted to see me.”
“He told me you were involved in the demise of Owen O’Mahony. Is that true?”
My gaze shot to Keir before it returned to Finnan. “Yes.”
“You cut off his dick.”
Lifting my chin, I gazed right at him. “That’s right.”
“You going to tell me why?”
Drawing in a deep breath, I replied, “Because he was obsessed with me.”
Smirking, Finnan said to Keir, “Does this mean she’ll cut your dick off too?”
“Fuck you,” he muttered, and I braced for Finnan’s wrath. He didn’t seem like a leader who would take that kind of insubordination.
“Why was Owen obsessed with you?”
I looked over at Keir, who murmured, “Finnan might be a fickle bastard, but you can trust him.”
Nibbling on my bottom lip, I considered my options. If Finnan knew the truth, he might be able to understand both mine and Owen’s motivations better.
