“And now it will take your wife and your child, if you don’t see—”
“I won’t force her to live a life on the run!”
Connor sighs. “I told you, Liam. You won’t be on the run. Leave Boston in the appropriate amount of time, stay out of this city, Chicago, and Manhattan, and you and your family can do whatever you wish. You’ll be entirely free. There will be no danger, no running, no one chasing you.”
Liam shakes his head angrily. “Where would we start over, Connor? Who would I be, and what would I do? How could I be a father that my child could be proud of? I lived my whole life without purpose or direction until you left and our father died, and Ifounda purpose. I took up the McGregor legacy and made sure our family would live on. I stood in foryou, brother, using all the things you taught me when we were children. And foryears, I dreamed of you coming back one day and seeing me there at the head of the table and being proud of me. I dreamed that you might hear about it somewhere, wherever you were, if you were still alive. All I wanted was for you to beproud.” His voice breaks ever so slightly, and I’m not sure if Connor hears it, but I do. “Instead, you want me gone, if not dead. You want to take back something that you abandoned and never planned to come back for—for what? Your pride?Yourchild? Your wife? Because let me tell you—”
“Be careful what you say about Saoirse, brother,” Connor growls. It would almost make my heart skip to hear it, if I thought he meant it because he cared about me and not just because his pride won’t allow him to let his brother speak poorly of me without him reacting.
“She doesn’t love you,” Liam says flatly. “She never will. She wanted me—or maybe she didn’t want me, and she only wanted to marry me to get close to Niall. But she—”
“What did I just fucking say?” Connor’s expression blackens, and he stalks two steps closer to Liam, his hands fisting. “I don’t give a fuck where we are. My wife and I have an agreement. An arrangement. And I know that if there’s one thing Saoirsewilldo, it’s keep her promises. Something you are wholly unfamiliar with, Liam.”
“Didn’t you once swear to uphold the McGregor seat, at all costs, as our father’s heir?” Liam’s mouth twists. “Seems that we’re both familiar with broken vows, brother.” He laughs bitterly. “But when it comes to running away, that’s your specialty. You couldn’t even face me yourself today to tell me you’re taking the estate back. You sent your wife to bargain with mine.”
“Saoirse insisted on going herself,” Connor snaps. “I was going to move forward with having you thrown out bodily—”
“So there it is. This has nothing to do with family, or me, or anything except that perhaps you exhausted the power and riches you could squeeze out of London, and now you’ve come to take back what you left behind. This is about money and the estate—”
“It’s about your fucking life!” Connor’s voice rises, an angry snarl. “Why won’t you fucking believe me, brother, when I say this is and has always been about keeping you alive? Graham and Saoirse came to me and said that if I didn’t come back and reclaim the seat, the Kings would have you killed in order to pass it on to a different son. They would not stand for you having a Russian bride or a half-Russian heir.Thatis why I came back, and the end of it. I wanted to see you safe, and the only way to do that was to reclaim my old birthright and send you away.”
“It’s true,” I blurt out, stepping forward when I still see the disbelief on Liam’s face. “You know the Kings wanted you dead. You know they only stalled in the first place to set someone
else in your seat because we said we could find Connor. He didn’twantto come back. He only agreed because my father and I convinced him that it was the only way to save your life.”
“And how has that turned out for you, Saoirse?” Liam asks archly, and I flush.
“I’m not going to talk to you about my marriage.”
I don’t know where Connor finds it in him to soften his voice, but he does, somehow. “Liam, your wife needs to be stable. She’ll lose the child—or—” he sucks in a breath. “Do you want to see a repeat of what happened to our mother?”
There’s a heavy silence between them both. “Of course, I don’t,” Liam says quietly. “But being moved to a new place, even my penthouse, isn’t going to help stabilize her. It might only make things worse. And I’ll know who to blame then, brother.”
“All I’ve wanted is to see you and your family safe since I’ve returned,” Connor says harshly. “But as the eldest brother, and to set up my return to the head of the table, my family should be in residence at the estate. If things weren’t as they are between us—”
“Then we would both live there. The estate is big enough for us both. It’s meant to house the entire McGregor clan. It’s only because of our feud that you didn’t move back in as soon as you returned.” Liam lets out a breath. “There’s our solution, brother.”
Connor raises an eyebrow. “You don’t mean—”
“I do,” Liam confirms. “You say I have nothing to fear from you personally, that you only want me, Ana, and our child safe. That you’re here to keep me safe from the Kings, not from yourself. In which case, there should be no issue with Ana and I taking up residence on another floor of the main house, and you and Saoirse can take over the master chamber.” He shrugs. “Unless you’re not telling the truth, and there’s some other reason why you want me off of the property altogether.”
It’s actually impressive how quickly Liam managed to back Connor into that particular corner. I’d almost be impressed under other circumstances.
“The estate is huge,” Connor says finally. “We ought to be able to keep from stepping on one another’s toes. This changes nothing,” he adds. “I will still be taking steps to reinstate myself as leader of the Kings, and in order for that to happen, Liam, you and your family will need to leave Boston. But Iamwilling to share the space for now and wait until Anastasia is stabilized to make further moves.”
Liam opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, the clicking of heels down the hallway makes all three of us turn just in time to see Sofia striding hurriedly in Liam’s direction. Her worried and anxious expression changes instantly when she sees Connor and me, hardening as she glares at us.
“The two of you have no business being here,” she hisses. “You’re only making things worse.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say something in response, but I let it go. I know Saoirse is upset that her best friend is in danger, and I can only imagine what state I’d be in if it was Maggie.
“We won’t be staying long,” Connor says stiffly. “Just making some arrangements.”
“What kind of arrangements?” Sofia looks sharply at Liam. “You can’t be thinking of leaving now. The doctor says that Ana is stable, she’s not in danger, but she’s lost a lot of blood and is on bed rest for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of her pregnancy, for the sake of the baby. The babyisin danger; right now, it's fine, but she could miscarry at any slight shock or physical harm or illness. You can’t leave—”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Liam reassures her as Sofia’s voice starts to take on a slightly frantic note. “Other than to a different suite of rooms in the estate house. We’ll be sharing the property with Connor and Saoirse for now.”
Sofia’s mouth almost drops open. “You can’t—” she whirls towards Connor. “This is your doing—and yours, you manipulative snake.” Her eyes narrow at me. “You’re going to get as close to them as you can so that you can destroy them for your own selfish ends. Ana doesn’t deserve this—”