Page 49 of The Apprentice
Fionn was talking to Annabelle?
I hadn’t heard from her since Eoin’s funeral, and while Sloan had told me he was giving her and the other boys a fair amount of money to live off monthly, I had always believed it wouldn’t be enough for her. When Eoin was working, she’d always wantedmore. A bigger house. A nicer car. New jewelry. Vacations inEurope. Eoin joked that she’d bleed him dry when it came to money.
“Of course I care about Deer and Bellamy. They’re my brothers. But why do they need that kind of stuff? A car for Bellamy? Isn’t he living on campus?” He heaved a sigh. “I know. It’s just—” He paused and listened, and his shoulders tensed. “That isn’t fair. I’m taking care of business, all right? Don’t do this.”
My stomach squirmed with a fiery anger I didn’t know I was capable of. I’d walked this Earth as a numb man for a long time, and rage was an emotion I’d forgotten how to feel. Until Fionn. It was easier and safer to live in this world as nothing more than a robot, a loyal servant to Sloan. Yet, the fury that thrummed in my chest like a drum was a welcome sensation as I realized what was happening.
Annabelle was manipulating Fionn for money.
Annabelle was making Fionn feel guilty.
Annabelle was using her son for her own gain.
No, this wasn’t going to happen on my watch.
I shot forward and ripped the phone out of his hand. He gasped but didn’t have time to react before I turned my back and slotted the phone against my ear.
“Annabelle?” I asked gruffly.
The sound of surprise she made was enough confirmation.
“It’s Daire.” Though, I suspected she already knew my voice. “If you ever call Fionn for money again, I won’t hesitate to tell Sloan, and we both know how that’ll go. This manipulation will stop now, or so help me God, I will make you regret it. Am I clear?”
She exhaled loudly. “Yes.”
I ended the call just as Fionn launched himself at me. I caught him around the waist and lifted him like he weighed nothing, shifting him back toward the wall of the hospital. Hestruggled and bashed a fist against my chest, which stung but wasn’t pain that would make me drop him. I’d been shot in the past and tortured in all kinds of ways, and worst of all, I was treated like a backup to my brother by my parents. A punch didn’t hold a drop of the agony I’d been through.
“What did you do?” Fionn raged when I finally set him back on the ground. “Fuck. That was my mom!”
No, she wasn’t. She’d stopped being anything to him the moment she’d given him to Sloan, but I understood Fionn. He wanted to hold on to the idea of her. Hope was where men went to die in these situations.
“I know who it was.” I raised my arm, keeping the phone out of his reach. “And I know what she wanted. Your mother hasn’t changed since the first day I met her, and she got her claws into your father. She wanted money. She always wants money.”
His cheeks flooded a deep red and he winced. “So?She’s my mom.”
“And you’re herson,” I hissed, surprising him into taking a step back with wide eyes. “It’s her job to protect you, to help you, not the other way around. How long have you been giving her cash?”
He shook his head and glanced away. “It doesn’t matter.”
I grasped his chin in a tight hold and wrenched his head around so he was forced to look at me. “How. Long?”
“It’s not for her, it’s for Deer and Bell.”
“Bullshit, boy.” The words came out so savagely that Fionn sucked in a deep breath and took a step back, his body flush to the wall of the hospital. The expression in his stare wasn’t fear, but something more animalistic—a deep-rooted desire that made my cock stir. “Diarmuid and Bellamy can take care of themselves. They’re not teenagers anymore.”
“Bell’s twenty-two and a half. He’s still basically a teen.” He shrugged and the bratty tone made my spine stiffen. The urge tograb him and bend him over my knee for a spanking made my fingers twitch.
No, Fionn wasn’t mine to punish. Sex was sex, punishment was different. Spanking came with trust and intimacy that I wasn’t allowed to give him in that way.
“He’s an adult, boy.” My teeth ground together. “Your brothers don’t need you to take care of them anymore.”
“I’m the man of the house.”
I slammed my hand against the wall near his head, and he tilted his chin up, meeting my hard gaze with his own. We were so close our noses brushed, and Fionn’s breath tickled my lips.
“You’re not in their house. Your mother gave you to Sloan because you were grieving, and she couldn’t handle it. She should’ve supported you and grieved with you, but instead she was too busy spending the money Eoin put away foryouand your education. Sloan became your guardian.” I lowered my voice when he shuddered. My stare dipped to his lips, wet from his tongue, and fire burned in my belly. I wasso closeto him—I could smell my spicy cologne he’d used this morning—yet I was so far because kissing him in public was off-limits. I didn’t deserve that right after everything I’d put him through. Fionn was too precious. “Your brothers got to go to college. You didn’t.”
“I could’ve,” he argued, eyes narrowing. He pressed a hand to my chest, but he didn’t push me away, just kept it there as though wanting to feel my heartbeat. “Sloan gave me a choice. He might be a hard man, but he was never outright cruel. He let me choose what I wanted to do with my life, and I decided to be his apprentice. I don’t regret my choice.”
