I gritted my teeth. “He’s the best O’Donnelly out there,” I told him.
“Course he is. He hasn’t been tainted by us yet,” Brennan rumbled, and his words had me flinching inside.
Because they were true.
And in his eyes, I knew he was being candid and earnest, and it killed me.
For a second, my heart pounded, and the sensation of being trapped was so all-consuming that I wasn’t sure what to do.
I’d done the right thing. I’d helped someone in need, but I should have stayed out of it, and now my boy was going to pay the price for that.
Suddenly feeling like I had a melon lodged in my throat, I stared at him and I saw sympathy etched in his features.
Sympathy.
I closed my eyes, clenching them tightly because I couldn’t cope with that look.
“Don’t even think about running,” he warned me, but it wasn’t really a warning, it was more of a gentle reminder.
My mouth tightened. “You think I don’t know the drill?”
“You forgot it once upon a time,” he rasped, making me flinch.
“Because I had sense.”
“No, you’d have had sense to stay gone,” he told me, and again, his honesty hit me square in the gut. “You always were good people though, Aela. I’ll have your back if ever the time comes where you need it.”
I gaped at him, unable to believe he handed me that offer.
Everyone knew it was the O’Donnellys against the world. Against the universe. And truth was, they needed to be so tight-knit. They were the head of the Five Points, the one and only Irish Mob family in the tristate area because, long ago, Aidan O’Donnelly Sr. had taken over every other piece of the puzzle and consolidated it, establishing himself as king of the hill a long time before I was born.
As a result, they were the most powerful family on the East Coast. The billionaires and one-percenters thought they were powerful, but that was nothing compared to the clout the O’Donnellys had.
I’d been born revering them like they were the second coming of Jesus though.
The O’Donnellys, for all they were headed by a psychopath, were good leaders. Everyone respected them, loved them even. It was rare to get a traitor in the midst, and not only because Aidan would cut you like a motherfucker either, but because they earned it.
They treated the commoners like they treated the lieutenants—sure, the pay was less, but the respect wasn’t. And for people who did the running, who were the most likely to be tossed in jail or prison for the crap they did for the family, respect meant everything.
Feeling tired, I got to my feet because I didn’t want to be dealing with any of this now. I just... I didn’t even know what I was doing here.
I should have been running far and wide across the Atlantic, but there was no stone I knew the family would leave unturned now that I was in the picture.
Now that Seamus was in the picture.
My jaw clenched and I started to walk toward the door, toward Brennan.
When his hand reached out to grab my arm, and he turned me to face him, I looked up at him and muttered, “I’ll probably need your help in the upcoming weeks. You might regret offering me the olive branch.”
He shrugged. “You think I’m frightened of Dec,laoch?” His lips twitched, and he revealed the slightest of smiles that, along with his Gaelic endearment, would melt any woman’s heart.
Just not mine.
Mine belonged to the bastard on the bed.
The bastard who’d almostdiedon the bed. Twice.
When I’d learned he’d been shot, I’d been unable to stay away. For years, I’d pushed distance between us, uncaring what he did or what happened to him, just living with survival instincts in mind.