* * *
Kieran has yet to verbalize what are his unforgivable sins. Two pleasing lips open up to tell me the worst part of him, and I plant a finger over his mouth.
“Oh, the two of you!” Kiera’s hands raise in defeat, and she dramatically drops the puzzle piece in her fingers. This was how I wanted to spend my last day with my two favorite people on the planet. Sex before breakfast with Kieran. Horsing around with Kiera. Puzzles with the two of them.
“Kier wants to slip away . . .” I’m insinuatinghappy time,although, ever since last night when I begged him to love my body, he’s tried to come clean. All the toxicity between us dissolved, and we’re pulled down into an undercurrent of love. I can’t tell him about Arika yet. So, I won’t call the kettle black by condemning him over his occupation.
Tapping a finger to my mouth, I pore over the brush-stroked pieces, deciphering which edge fits where. We’re sitting on the thick fur carpet around a coffee table. The flourishing scenery of Monet’sThe Artist’s Garden at Givernybegins to take form. Kieran reaches over and grabs a handful of similarly colored lilac pieces I strategically placed in front of me.
“Hey,cabrón!” Although radiating cheerfulness, I huff.
“I’m winning.” His teeth rake over his bottom lip, and my eyes zip to the wall clock. I salivate over Kieran as my lady parts summersault at his ambitious demeanor.
“Since when,” Kiera begins, sliding a cerulean piece into place, “has this been about winning?”
“I don’t know?” I match her bewilderment, adding, “I thought it was a collaborative task. Kier, remind me, did we discussteamworkthis morning?”
He breathes out a laugh. I look toward the antique clock again and notice Kieran’s eyes on me.
“You have plans, lass?” A bit of his usual irritated snarl accompanies his tone, but I’m not irked this time.
I brush Kieran’s cheek. “I—”
“Ma’am, we must be going now.” The henchman Kiera almost bludgeoned over a week ago stands at the spacious entrance of the sitting room. He’s clutching the crossbody purse I hadn’t seen since Kieran abducted me.My purse.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Kieran’s no longer seated on the ground next to me. His sister blinks a few times as we gradually come to stand.
“Kier.” I slowly find my voice, and the sound is foreign, echoing in my ears. “I’m going home for a while. You and Kiera—”
“No,” Kieran hisses, obsidian eyes slicing my heart.
Instead of pursuing my weaknesses or bringing me pain, he wraps me in the tightest embrace. Remorse weakens my knees. He whispers harshly in my ear. “Why thefeckwould you do this, Ava? Why? I’ve made youhappy,eun beag.”
“You have,” I croak. How do I tell him the ghosts who condemn him are the same ones condemning me?
They’re not our departed family members. But demons sent to plague us, pain our conscious. He holds his parents’ death like a knife to his own chest, same as I do with Arika.
Kieran won’t let me fight Adnan alone, but my ex-husband’s death has my name on it. Nobody else’s. So, I suck in a shaky breath and whisper back, “Kieran, I know you’re a drug dealer.”Dammit, puta, you promised not to hold it against him.I suck it up and continue speaking to him, which echoes in my ears. The last day I have with them becomes a million times worse because the power of the tongue can break one’s resolve. I know as much because it broke me first.
42
Kieran
Three months later
Boston
Every time I pull in oxygen, my lungs won’t fully follow through. My little bird filched her wings. Stole ‘em right back beneath my nose.
A couple of times, I’ve gotten it into my mind to ask Kiera if she recalled the lassie. Had Ava been a figment of my imagination? Had I just awoken one day and decided to man up and give my sister her God-given right to the clan? I can still hear Ava’s joking about taking in Kiera during one of our fights. “I’m a nobody. You won’t have to worry about her safety while she’s visiting with a nobody like me. Kiera and I will fly under the radar.”
The worst mistake of my life was granting Ava freedom. The thought of Ava somewhere out there torments me. She’s so bloody accustomed to taking care of herself that she’s impossible to find.
Someone calls my name from behind. “Ki—”
“I heard you. Those incompetentmotherfeckerscouldn’t find her. Keep searching!”I stare down the henchman commissioned to find my little bird.Oh, youfeckingnumpty. You let her walk out.Now,you’re prone to tantrums?
The guy nods, does an about-face, and exits my sight. The air carries a voice. Loud. Raunchy, yet feminine.