Page 65 of Catch Him
Chapter 16
The three ofthem were just finishing up dinner when the doorbell rang. As Declan knew nobody without approved security got through the gate, it was a pretty good guess who was at the door.
“I’ll get it,” he told them both. “Relax and enjoy your wine.”
He made his way through the house to the front door, which had already been opened by one of his security men inside.
Jillian was brushing off beads of raindrops from her coat, which made Declan realize how little he’d been paying attention to his surroundings. Apparently it was pouring outside.
“Did you do it?” he asked her.
“Hello to you to, friend. What a lovely welcome.”
“Cut the act Jill. If the task was successfully done, then I know you’re only here to satisfy your curiosity, and it’s not the best time. I’ve barely just gotten her to forgive me, I don’t need my ex stirring up trouble.”
“This is your ex?” Sinead folded her arms across her chest. Apparently, she too was curious about the visitor and followed him out of the kitchen. Swell. “I thought she was like a drug addict or something.”
Jillian punched him in the shoulder hard enough to make it hurt.
“You told her I was a drug addict?”
“No, only that you’re addicted. Which you are. Your drug just happens to be danger, but it’s still as deadly.”
Jillian patted his wounded shoulder. “Poor Dec. I told you. You can’t save everyone.”
She turned her attention to Sinead.
“The temp at the Tricorp office.” Sinead looked like she swallowed something disgusting. Yes, Declan thought, exactly what he didn’t need right now.
Jillian shrugged as if to say guilty as charged. “For the record,” she offered, “I told him the letter was a really bad idea.”
“Yeah, I’m probably not going to like you,” Sinead said. “Beautiful ex-girlfriend and all that. Just keeping it real.”
Jillian laughed. “Oh but I am going to love you. Mr. BrokenHearted here has been moping around for weeks. Now, I can see he’s already back to himself. Which is good because what you suspected was going to happen is in fact happening. Flynn is already in flight on his way back.”
“What’s happening?” Mary asked as she too had come to see who the visitor was. “Hi, Jillian.”
“Hi, Mary,” she said tightly.
“Jillian, why do you sound like that?” Mary asked.
She was no fool, Declan knew. She’d been around all of them too long not to be able to tell when the situation was dire.
He sighed and decided there was no hiding it. “Garrett, and most likely his father as well, are on the way here.”
Mary gasped, then turned to Sinead, clearly hurt by the betrayal. “How could you?”
Sinead blinked and shook her head. “No, no, no. I didn’t do this. I didn’t tell him where you were. I swear it.”
Mary closed her eyes. “You were so angry at Dec. I could feel it. I could even possibly understand it. I know what that kind of betrayal feels like.”
Sinead shook her head and looked at Declan. “No. I promise you I didn’t tell him where I was. Where you were. I lost the only tail I had back in San Francisco. I didn’t even tell my dad where I was.”
“Mary, Sinead wasn’t responsible,” Declan said calmly.
“How can you know that for sure?” she said, clearly upset. “You don’t know what it’s like to be deceived. I do. I know how angry it makes you feel. I know it because I was that angry. That’s how this all started, remember? By being so angry I told them who you were and what you were going to do to them.”
Declan walked over to his sister and gripped her shoulders firmly until she took a breath and looked at him.
