Page 86 of Her Irish Treasures
I looked from man to man, the cold dread in my stomach worsening. We all knew the truth.
Though I would give my last breath to spare her any pain.
Doran gave her a gentle push toward the bathroom. “Why don’t you get dressed, love? The lads and I’ll have a chat and see what we come up with.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and spared each of us a hard look despite the growing pink in her cheeks. “Don’t you dare try and sneak off to leave me behind.”
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Doran replied.
She didn’t notice that his voice cracked like a thousand-pound granite boulder reducing itself into rubble.
25
Swiping tears away, I called Vivi as I pulled on my clothes.
“I hear there’s some bullshit about to go down,” she said. “How soon are you heading back into the city?”
“I don’t know. I think the guys are going to try to pull some bullshit of their own.”
Her tone sharpened and though I couldn’t see her, I felt her intensity radiating through the phone screen. “Yeah? Let me guess. Spare you any danger, send you away, blah blah blah.”
I sniffed and nodded. “Something like that. They think they’re headed to a trap, so naturally they’re trying to protect me.”
I gave her the five-minute rundown, though not as good as Keane’s story. I kept hopping around too much. “Do you remember me painting something that would have been on display in Crown Center? Probably soon after I entered the institute. It had a glowing doorway and a young girl standing in front of it.”
“You painted a lot back then but I don’t remember a door specifically. You usually painted forests and creatures.”
I scraped my hair back into a sleek ponytail. “What happened to all of those old canvases? Maybe there’s other clues in them that I’m missing.”
“You took them all when you moved out.”
I blew out a sigh and slammed my hairbrush down on the counter a bit too hard. “I guess they’re all destroyed then.”
“Well you certainly didn’t have much of anything when you moved back in with me.”
“What did I tell you that night?”
“Not much. You were too upset and I didn’t want to push you too hard. You’d already been through so much.”
“What, though? Had I told you?”
“You didn’t have to say a word.” Vivi’s voice hardened. “I could see it on your face. You looked positively ill. Pale, drawn, exhausted. Huge dark circles under your eyes. You slept for a solid twenty-four hours. When you finally came out of your room, you seemed so much better that I didn’t fight you when you insisted you didn’t need to go to the doctor.”
“That’s how bad I looked?”
“Yeah. I was afraid you’d been assaulted.” She paused, her voice catching. “Repeatedly. You wouldn’t say anything, and I didn’t want to trigger you. But you weren’t right those first few days. Then you seemed to come out of a dark cloud. I was thrilled—though I was worried about your memory. I assumed you’d blocked most of it so you could heal in your own time.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever remember exactly what happened. I probably don’t want to remember now.” I gave myself a shake and stared at my image in the mirror. “I’m stronger now.”
“Oh honey. You were strong then too or you’d never have survived as long as you did.”
My throat squeezed around a giant lump. “I didn’t feel strong.”
“You were,” she replied firmly. “And you are. You’re the baddest bitch I know. Now what are you going to do about these blockheads who think they’re going to send you away for your own damned good? Hold on a sec.”
I heard a man’s voice though I couldn’t make out what he said.
“Hammer said we’re headed your way. I guess the plan is for you and me to be shipped off together somewhere.”
