by Kasey Krane
I got on my knees and went through them one by one.
Deeds, contracts, legal documents with signatures and names on them. I didn’t have the time to read every one of them because I knew I needed to take photographs.
One by one, I laid them on the carpet and took pictures on my phone. As clearly and zoomed-in as I could.
Who knew what would end up being important? Maybe the key to cracking the case on the Doherty mafia was right there in my hands.
I could feel a film of sweat forming on my forehead. I was almost dizzy with excitement.
Once I was done, I carefully put all the documents back in the bag and then hung it in the wardrobe.
I looked around the room to make sure everything looked in-place. There wasn’t much in the room anyway, so it wasn’t difficult to check.
The first step of my mission had been accomplished. Technically, I could leave New York right then and return to Las Vegas with no regrets. That would have been the wise thing to do. Colin wouldn’t know what I had done.
But I couldn’t help myself.
I couldn’t leave just yet.
I felt pretty darn proud of myself, despite the danger I had put myself in.
I even went so far as to make myself comfortable in Colin’s kitchen and make a coffee. After that, I looked through my phone until I found my chief’s number.
I had never made a call to his phone directly before. I never had a reason to. I was fully aware of the kind of liberty I took by calling him now, but I was excited. There was pure adrenaline rushing through my veins. I wanted to tell somebody.
“Yes?” He groaned impatiently into the phone when he answered.
“Chief. This is Marley.”
He was silent, and I realized he may not have recognized me by first name.
“Marley Price,” I clarified.
“Why are you calling me?” he asked. I could hear the confusion in his voice.
He had probably not even noticed I was missing from the precinct. Someone else would have fetched him his coffee that day.
“I just wanted to personally let you know that I won’t be in for a few days,” I began.
I was smiling despite the hostility in his voice. I felt like nothing could bring me down. I was on top of the world.
“And why the fuck not?” Chief asked. There was annoyance in his voice now, and I wished I could openly tell him exactly what I was doing—although I knew that wouldn’t be a good idea.
I needed to keep my mission a secret for as long as possible. I needed to first execute my plan before I went around beating my own drum.
“I’m working on something. On a case,” I said hesitantly.
“What are you talking about, Price? What case?”
“I can’t discuss it over the phone, but I’ll come and see you in a few days with all the information I have.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” he growled.
“No, I’m actually trying to build a case against some people you would be interested in.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” he snapped.
The smile disappeared from my face.
What did I have to do to gain some respect from him or anyone in the precinct? How little did he think of me? He didn’t even know me.
“Actually, sir, with all due respect, I know exactly what I’m doing and if you give me a few days, I can prove it to you,” I replied.
“Get your ass to the precinct and explain yourself, Price,” he snapped again.
But this time I ended the call in response. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take the mistrust and humiliation.
Sure, I was a rookie. I am a woman. Maybe I was too young and inexperienced too, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t take down the Dohertys.
I was married to one of them.
Eighteen
Colin
Aldo Baron finally decided to send a message. And like the pussy he really was, he did it when the rest of us were out of town.
At eight in the morning, when my stepmother went out to the garden of our family home to cut some roses from her bush to decorate the house—something which she did every morning, she found her personal bodyguard lying face down near the rose bushes. In a place where Aldo Baron’s intel told him he would be found by her.
She didn’t realize he was dead at first, and she went up to gently nudge him, thinking he may have been drinking or fallen ill.
She was naive like that.
She tried to roll him over and then saw his muddied eyes staring up at her with a gunshot wound in his chest where he’d bled out.
She screamed before falling faint on the grass beside him. Her scream had rung out around the estate and men came to her aid. Our father was informed, and knowing we were going to be on our way back home, he made the decision to not inform us until we got back in town.
So when I arrived at the house, men were standing guard everywhere on the estate. Our stepmother had locked herself in the bedroom and was refusing to come out. Isabelle, our stepsister, had tried coaxing her out and eventually given up and gone home.
Our father paced around the house, barking orders at everyone and losing his mind. The one thing that boiled his blood was anyone in his family being directly affected by what he considered to be ‘business’.
Aldo Baron was ‘business’, and he had just brought it into the home sphere.
Many years ago, our mother had been murdered in our own home. Not in this one because our father burned that house down in his anger. He never wanted us or anyone to step foot in that house again. And now his second wife had found her bodyguard lying dead in the garden.
It was obvious to all of us that he was losing his patience with Aldo. Maybe he had hoped the feud would go away. Maybe he wasn’t fully aware to what extent Aldo was willing to take this.
I knew because I was the one who had helped Aidan take down the Baron men who were about to kill Leah. It had to be done. And if Dad knew the kind of danger Leah was in, he would have done the same.
But now Aldo wanted revenge. His own step daughter was marrying Killian. His men had been gunned down.
Killing our stepmother’s bodyguard was only the beginning of the rest of the show he was going to put on.
And someone needed to fill our father in on it.
“I’ll do it. I’ll explain everything,” Aidan said when we were all in the room together. We said nothing, as he walked out to go search for Dad.
“So this is war,” Dad growled.
He stood behind his large desk in the office with his knuckles planted firmly on it. The rest of us were dotted around the room, standing with our feet apart and hands behind our backs. Like soldiers.
I could see the rage in our father’s eyes.
He’d been relying on us to take care of the Baron business—because he didn’t think it was going to turn into a serious problem. But it had.
“He decided it was war from the moment I refused to hand Reese back to him,” Killian spoke up.
Dad glared at him.
“She is not his property,” Killian reiterated, meeting our father’s eyes.
None of us knew what Dad was going to say. None of us knew how he really felt about Reese and Killian getting married. She was supposed to be our uncle’s bride after all. And now Connor was dead, and it was because of her.
“No, she is not. You have claimed her. You’re going to marry her, which makes her a Doherty. And that motherfucker doesn’t get to touch a hair on her head.” Our father spoke through gritted teeth.
And finally, we knew what he was really mad at—Aldo. Not Killian or Aidan.
I could see Killian breathe a sigh of relief at that.
“So, you’re telling me, it was Reese first and then Leah?” Dad turned to Aidan, who nodded at him.
“And next my wife,” Dad added. “So, he’s targeting the women.”
I breathed in deeply at that. This was why he was the head of the family. This was
the reason why our father was considered to be one of the most respected and also the most feared mafia boss on this side of the country.
He spotted a trend with Aldo Baron which none of us had.
“So the first thing we have to do is amp up security around all the female members of this family. Whether they fucking like it or not,” he continued.
I had to look away.
I thought about Marley. She was at my apartment by herself, and if Dad was right, then she would need security too.
But she wasn't actually a member of the Doherty family. We were married, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like anyone other than my brothers would find out about her. Most of all, I didn’t want to have to explain it to my father.
So I said nothing.
It was just a matter of a few days, right? Once Marley saw what she needed to see in New York, once she had her fun, she’d leave and I wouldn’t have to think about her again.
I caught Brendan looking at me, like he was asking me what was on my mind.
I shook my head silently in response.
Nineteen
Marley
Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed.
Maybe, after I spoke to my boss and now that I’d gathered some information—if not all—I should have left and saved my ass.
In fact, I had no justification for why I stayed at the apartment, waiting for Colin to return like a dutiful wife—other than the possibility that I wanted to see him again.
I pottered around the apartment, I cleaned the kitchen and tidied up the cupboards, made myself a sandwich and put one for him in the fridge. Every time I heard a sound outside, I assumed it was Colin returning to the apartment. I got excited. I went to the window to look.
I knew there was a significant change in me. This was not the way I acted. These were not the things I wanted.
Since when did I get so interested in domestic pursuits? I used to cringe at them and made fun of women who wanted to be housewives and spend their lives in service to their husbands.
Marrying my father was the worst decision of my mother’s life—that was the way I looked at it.
And now I was waiting alone in the apartment of a man I had married accidentally. Instead of running as far away from him as I could, I was cleaning up after him and hoping he would come home soon so I could spend time with him.
I felt a shudder run down my spine at the thought of that.
What was it about Colin that made me act this way?
Just because of how handsome he was? How strong he felt when he held me in his arms? Because of how good the sex was?
This was more than just the case against his family—when it shouldn’t have been.
I came to New York to get information on him, not because I actually wanted to be with him.
I heard a key in the door and then it flung open.
I had been too lost in thought to notice the sounds of him at the door.
He caught me standing in the kitchen, looking lost, with a mug of coffee in my hands.
He had a look of surprise on his face—like he wasn’t expecting me to still be there in his apartment.
How long had he been gone for? A couple of hours? I’d lost track of time.
“I…I thought about going for a walk but I didn’t have a key to this place and I didn’t want to leave the apartment unlocked.”
I was babbling. Colin wasn’t even looking at me. He shut the door, took off his jacket, then walked over to me.
Without a word, he placed his hands around my face, tipping my head back so he could peer into my eyes deeply.
“You have no idea how happy it makes me to come home and see you here,” he said.
Now, why did he have to say that and make me doubt myself and my feelings all over again?
I got the sandwich out of the fridge for him and handed it to him on a plate. Then I grabbed two beers and took them to the kitchen table. I could sense there was something on his mind, he seemed distant, but also genuinely glad I was there. It made my heart flutter to know I was actually wanted by him. Even if it was just for a bit of fun.
He smiled when he took a bite of the sandwich.
“This is good. I wasn’t expecting a sandwich when I got back. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
I felt a gnawing urge to give him a tight hug and a kiss on his cheek. Something a loving wife would do when she saw her husband enjoying a meal she’d prepared.
I wanted to tell myself to keep it in check, to have more control over my thoughts—but it wasn’t that easy.
I was a woman losing control.
“So, did you take care of it?” I asked, focusing on the task in hand.
That was why I stayed back, right? To get more information on the Dohertys.
Colin looked at me with furrowed brows.
“You said you were leaving because you had something to take care of,” I clarified.
He finished the rest of his sandwich before replying.
“It’s not going to be as simple as that, unfortunately. Things are going worse than I expected.”
“What things?”
Colin met my eyes, then took a gulp of his beer. I waited patiently for a better response. What more would I have to do to get him talking?
“I can’t discuss those things with you, Marley. I thought you understood.”
“I do understand, I’m just curious.”
“Curious about what?” He got up with the empty plate and dumped it in the sink.
“Your life here, how you live, what you do, your family…they all seem so nice.”
He turned to me with a chuckle.
“They’re not as nice as you think they are.”
“I thought you guys were close,” I said, trying to sound casual. I hoped my shaky voice didn’t give me away.
“We are close. My family means everything to me, but they’re not nice people. Not what you would consider to be nice people.”
I was so close to him admitting the truth about his family, what they were involved with. I could taste it on my tongue—sweet victory.
Colin returned to the table and placed a hand on top of my head, he leaned in to kiss my forehead and my skin prickled when I got a whiff of his familiar masculine scent.
“But you don’t have to worry about it, Marley, you’re not actually related to them. In a few days, if everything goes well, you’ll never have to think about me or my family again,” he said, smiling.
I smiled too, but I was desperate for more.
“Yeah, fingers crossed, but I don’t want to leave here without knowing anything about you,” I persisted.
Colin’s eyes darkened a little and he stepped back.
“Why the fuck not? I’m a stranger to you and I would like it to stay that way,” he growled.
“Okay, sure, you don’t have to tell me anything,” I snapped, standing up from the chair with a jerk.
I sensed I’d pissed him off by asking too many questions and the way I looked at it, I had two options—I could either apologize profusely and hope he bought it and I was back in his favor soon. Or I reacted the way any other girl would in a relationship with a man. After all, what did I have to lose if we ended up having a big fight and he kicked me out?
Maybe this was the opportunity I needed, then I could return home in peace and in one piece.
“Sit down, Marley,” he growled when I turned away from him, crossing my arms over my breasts.
“You’re not actually my husband, remember? You don’t have any control over me. I don’t have to do what you say.”
I sensed him coming up behind me.
“The only reason why I agreed for you to come here with me was because I thought it would be fun. Fighting with you isn’t fun,” he said in a deep voice.
“I get that I’m a stranger to you, and I don’t really have any purpose or place in your life, and yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have come here with you and disrupted your life…but I’m here now, and I don’t appre
ciate being treated like I mean nothing to anybody.” I tried to be bold and confident, but I was shaking inside.
I knew who I was speaking to. I knew the reputation of his family. He wouldn’t flinch if he shot me in the back right now and ended the fight that way. He had no reason to keep me alive anymore now that he’d fucked me a couple of times already. Maybe that would be the easier way out of our fake marriage.
“Marley, turn around and sit back down in that chair so we can talk to each other like adults.” His voice was so even and smooth, I had no choice but to follow his command. He couldn’t have been that much older than me. Two years, three years maybe? But right then, he sounded like a man who was wiser beyond his years.
He looked deep in my eyes and towered above me with his immense strength threatening to crush me if he wanted to.
“I don’t want to fight with you, do you understand? I don’t have the headspace for that right now. Not tonight.”
I watched as he rubbed a hand over his face in frustration.
Something had happened with his family today—that much I was sure of now.
But asking him about it would be the wrong move. I learned not to push too hard.
“I don’t want to fight either,” I replied. I drank some of the beer and he sat down across from me at the table.
“There is stuff about me that you’re better off not knowing,” he said.
“Why don’t I start by telling you something about myself that I think you’re better off not knowing?” I suggested.
Colin looked at me suspiciously, and I knew he was hesitant about playing this dangerous game.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” he said.
“When I was twelve, I got into the habit of stealing from supermarkets. In fact, I got pretty good at it,” I began. I hadn’t spoken about this openly, and I didn’t think I ever would. Why bring up something nobody knew about? But I thought maybe shedding myself in a poor light would encourage him to do the same.
