He held the device to his ear and heard Maguire’s voice. "Detective Watson, I assume you’re with my client?"
"Actually, this is your client," Finn answered.
"Have you been released?"
"Apparently. They removed the monitor and told me they have bigger fish to fry."
"Great. I have a message for you from your brother," Maguire continued.
Finn knew better than to ask which brother. It didn’t even matter. Whether it was Liam or Cian, he’d do anything they asked. He knew he owed one of them for what had just happened. He owed them his freedom, and he was very scared it might have come at the cost of one of theirs.
"Go see your mom," Maguire instructed. "I’m sure she’d welcome a visit from you."
Finn swallowed hard. There was so much rushing at him all at once, he didn’t know how he’d ever process it all. Then he did what MacFarlane men were trained to do, he packed it away and focused.
"Okay. I’ll leave right away."
"You might be followed," Maguire warned. "But it doesn’t matter. It’s the most logical thing you’d do at a time like this. You’ve had almost no contact with your family for weeks. Of course you’d want to see your mother, let her know you’re all right."
"I agree, but it’s not just about me." He selected his words carefully.
"Everything else is under control, Finn. Just go see your mom."
They disconnected the call and he handed the phone back to Keira. "I have to go," he said regretfully.
Her gaze roamed over his face and he saw it again, the regret. "I do, too. I have an interrogation to conduct."
"He traded himself for me, didn’t he?" Finn murmured, taking a step closer to her.
"This has been a long time coming, Finn. He’s had things that were in motion long before you were arrested."
Finn’s hand clenched at his side as his gut tightened. Damn Cian. Why? Why did he have to be so honorable? So protective?
"He shouldn’t have."
"But he did," she said softly, reaching out to touch his fist where it was balled at his side. "It was his choice, and he seems at peace with it."
"What about Lila?" Finn let his hand uncurl and wrapped his fingers around Keira’s. He took a step closer, only a whisper of space between them now.
"It’s still in the works, but he thinks another couple of hours and she’ll be safe, as well."
Finn let his gaze roam over her beautiful face—the big, wide eyes, the soft curved lips, uncontrollable curls. "I’m not sure how he’s endured this. I know people probably think a guy like Cian couldn’t understand real love, but it’s not true. He genuinely loves her. This must be tearing him in two."
He hardly knew how his free hand had gotten tangled in her hair, but he used the leverage to pull her that last inch until her soft, warm chest was pressed to his harder one.
"I can imagine loving someone that much," he whispered. "So much you’d do anything to protect them, even give up your own life."
Her breath rushed out in a burst as his lips lowered to hers. And then he was floating, adrift in a sea of need and sorrow and regret. His tongue stroked hers and she moaned softly.
He felt the curve of her waist, the dip of the underside of her breast through soft cotton. He heard her phone clatter to the floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with her whole being.
And he tasted her—all mint and heat and something so feminine it nearly brought tears to his eyes. For all the love he had for his brothers, all the happiness he felt when they were together, it was masculine energy, the bond of men in a men’s world, doing men’s work. My God, how he yearned for what Keira offered. Softness, warmth, that steely strength that didn’t need to be paraded about. The gentle touch of small hands, the sunshine of female laughter.
Finn was starved, and in a burst, all the tension of the last few weeks, the fears and panic, the desolation and despair, all of it boiled over. He needed to be inside her like his very life depended on it.
"Tell me to stop," he growled as he pulled her jacket off her shoulders and reached for the hem of her t-shirt.
"I need to go interrogate your brother," she said, gasping as his fingers fumbled with the hooks on her bra strap.
"I need to go to my mother’s house," he replied, grunting when she yanked his track pants down his legs.
"We’ll go fast," she whispered, biting down on his earlobe just hard enough to sting.
"I need you," he murmured as he slipped a hand down the front of her black jeans and felt slick heat. "Jesus, I need you."
She caught his face between her palms and looked him in the eyes. "There’s no tomorrow, Finn," she told him sadly. "There’s this and nothing else."
"I know."
"No do-overs, either." She gave him a warm smile with just a hint of sadness in it. "Make sure to do a good job."
He laughed then, the sorrow set aside for just a moment. "You have high expectations—Go fast, but do it right, because no second chances."
"I have faith in you," she replied, her hand wrapping around his erection.
And that meant more to Finn than anything else she’d ever said. Because most of the world would never have faith in Finnegan MacFarlane, but if Keira did, the rest didn’t matter.
Chapter 15
"Thank God you’re okay," Liam said as he stepped from the darkened corner of their father’s office. "I was starting to worry."
"Sorry," Finn replied. "I had to have a discussion with Detective Watson before I left the apartment." He still couldn’t get used to the blond hair on Liam’s head. He wondered what their mother had thought of it.
One side of Liam’s lips tipped up. "Exactly what kind of discussion did you have with the Detective? Your hair’s wet like you just showered."
Finn ignored his older brother’s heckling. "She’s interrogating Cian as we speak, so what’s going on?"
Liam looked concerned. "I wish I knew, but it’s pretty clear he’s convinced your girlfriend to help him out somehow."
Finn slumped down into a stiff leather armchair. His father made damn sure no one ever got comfortable in his office.
Liam leaned his ass back against the desk and crossed thick arms over a broad chest. "Cian and I were given a list of properties that Pop owned that were hidden. He kept them to himself. We thought Riley might have Lila at one of them. I’ve visited all but one. If she’s not at this last one, it’s hopeless. We’re going to have to give up. You and I are on a plane out of here in the next twelve hours."
"Already?" Finn’s heart tightened. Liam had told him this was what Cian had planned, but he wasn’t ready. No matter what he’d said to Keira, he wanted more. He wanted to know her, to find out what her favorite foods were, how she liked to spend her time, what movies she watched, if her skin always tasted like lemons or only when she was sprawled across his bed with nothing between them.
"I can’t stay," Liam told him. "You know that."
"Of course. You shouldn’t be here in the first place. But I’ve been released now. Someone needs to stay here and help Cian. I can keep looking for Lila. And I’ve almost convinced Keira to look at someone else for Danny’s murder."
Liam’s gaze softened. "You know that’s not what’s going to put him away."
Finn looked away. He couldn’t let Liam see him like this. He was normally so rational, so tempered and steady. This emotion wasn’t like him at all.
"Are we going to leave him here? All alone. Locked up for life?"
Liam cleared his throat. "I think I’ve figured it out." He paused, and Finn saw something he’d never seen in his entire life. His brother’s eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "It happened when Pop and I got arrested…That’s when he started making deals with the Feds."
Finn’s breath caught in his throat. "But that was—"
"Years ago, yeah. But that’s why they dropped the charges and released us. We all knew something had gone down, but it was so much easier to think Pop ha
d arranged something. We didn’t question it because we didn’t want to know."
Liam was right. The whole organization had been at sixes and sevens, but Cian had never lost his cool, never given up, and after they’d been locked up for months while trial dates were set and the noose was tightened, both Liam and Robbie had been released as if it had never happened.
"He’s been making deals this whole time," Finn murmured.
"I think so." Liam strode to the window, looking out at the well-lit drive circle in front of the house. "And I think it’s been his plan to get us all out the whole time. I think it’s been his plan to sacrifice himself for us."
"Fuck." Finn’s heart ached and stumbled.
"Yeah. Fuck."
They were both silent for long heartbeats as the truth sunk in. The sacrifices, the utter selflessness, the tragedy of a man like Cian, lost to a life like this.
"It’s too late," Finn finally said. "There’s nothing we can do, is there?"
Liam turned to face him and shook his big shaggy head. "No. It’s too late for us to help him. There’s only one person who can save him now, which is why we have to find her."
"I need to see Ma first," he said. "To say goodbye."
Liam nodded. "And I have an errand to run while you do that. I’ll be back in an hour."
Finn stood and nodded. "You promise? There’s a lot of ways to get stopped out there."
Liam gave his younger brother that grin that made Finn’s heart feel like it was wrapped in the strongest steel. Like no one and nothing could ever hurt him because Liam was on duty.
"No one’s going to stop me. I’m your big brother. I’ll always be here for you."
Then he knelt in front of the waist-high safe built into the shelves on one side of the office and spun the dial. When the door swung open, he pulled out guns, handing two to Finn, before standing. "I’ll see you in sixty minutes."
* * *
The hospital room was dimly lit as Liam slid in through the door. With Cian in custody and Finn out of the mix, there wasn’t any extra security or Federal eyes on the building. Getting in and out with the help of his father’s guards was the work of a few moments.
He walked to the bedside and looked down at Robbie. He was already much smaller than he had been in life. His skin withered and sallow, his once powerful arms and shoulders atrophied.
Liam pulled up the nearby chair and sat on the back of it, his booted feet in the seat so he could look down at his father.
"This is where it ends, old man," he said softly, watching the blinking lights of the monitors and listening to the intermittent hiss of the ventilator.
"You know, I don’t think there was ever any doubt that I’m the most like you. Even before Uncle Dylan died, I knew it. Deep inside, I knew that if any of us could step into your shoes, it would be me. Sure, Cian ran the organization after you got sick, but he didn’t run it like you. He didn’t lead by fear and intimidation. He led by respect and example. He did your job so much better than you ever could…I would have done it just like you."
Outside, several floors below Robbie’s hospital room window, Liam heard a car rev, then a honking horn. A hospital was like a prison for death. A place to keep it confined where it wouldn’t interrupt the activities of life. He understood why it was necessary. Why most people couldn’t handle looking death in the face every day. But it had never bothered him. Not since that night he’d faced his own when he was sixteen years old. No, since then, he’d known death was just the flip side of life. Nothing more. Nothing less. Two sides of the same coin.
"Yeah, Pop. I thought becoming you was my destiny. My whole life I knew I’d end up just like you. When I was little, I wanted it, like all little boys want to be like their dads. But after Uncle Dylan? I was resigned to it."
His voice turned cold. "And it made me sick." He leaned forward, one meaty hand resting on the rail of Robbie’s bed. "You made me sick. And I lived with the knowledge that I was turning into you bit by evil bit every day for years. You thought I was someone to be proud of, and I thought I was someone to be revolted by."
He sat back, releasing a long slow breath. "But then I met Katya. And for the first time, someone didn’t see you. She didn’t see someone scary and cruel. She saw a hero." He jabbed a finger into his big muscled chest. "I was her hero. Me."
The ventilator exhaled, and Robbie’s face twisted slightly as he slumbered in that purgatory that medical science had left him in.
"My mother is a good woman, but you were so far gone not even she could save you. I’m the lucky one, Pop. Katya saved me. Love saved me."
He paused, climbing off the chair and scooting it out of the way.
"I just wanted you to hear that. To know none of your sons turned out like you. Not even me. We’re all better men than you ever were. And it’s not because of you, it’s in spite of you."
Then he leaned down and whispered in the old man’s ear. "If this is what sends me straight to hell, then it’s worth it to have another chance to make you pay for what you did to our family."
His left hand snaked out and pressed the switch on top of the ventilator. The humming stopped, the whooshing air ceased. Liam tugged the mouthpiece from Robbie’s lips, and yanked the other wires and tubes free. He watched as Robbie’s chest stayed concave. No movement. No breath.
Then Liam MacFarlane kissed his father’s cheek. "See you around, old man," he said, and walked out of the room.
* * *
Finn knocked softly on the door to his mother’s room.
"Ma?" he called out.
"Finn! Come in!"
He opened the door and found her sitting in one of the two floral wingback chairs by the window.
"Oh Finn," she said, her eyes welling with tears.
He walked over and bent to kiss her cheek, smelling the familiar floral perfume she’d worn his whole life. It was indelibly mixed with the idea of home for him.
Sitting on the opposite armchair, he reached out and took her hands in his. "I’m okay, Ma. My wound is healing, the charges have been dropped. It’s all going to be fine."
"But Cian," she whispered, tears rolling down her face. "They’ll lock him up for life."
Finn swallowed the hard lump of guilt that tried to crawl up his throat.
"I know. But it’s early days. We’ll do everything we can to figure this out."
She looked at him with sad eyes. "But you can’t stay, can you?"
He rubbed her hands gently, before falling to his knees in front of her. He knew he was his mother’s favorite. She loved all her boys, but Finn was the one who’d needed her most. The one who didn’t quite fit in, and with a mother’s uncanny sixth sense, she had known he needed someplace where he would be accepted unconditionally. She was always that place.
"You know Liam will end up in the cell next to Cian’s if he doesn’t leave the country," he told her.
She nodded sadly, wiping at a stray tear.
"And as long as I’m here, the people who want to hurt Cian or Liam or the family can use me to do it. It’s safer for them and for you if I’m hard to find."
"Where will you go?" she whispered.
"Out of the country." He paused. "Ma, there won’t be anyone left to run the organization. There’s going to be a power struggle, a war for what’s left of the Devils. If I know Cian, he’s already gotten a group of men to commit to protecting you. Men who won’t be in the organization anymore. Their only job will be to take care of you."
"Okay." She nodded resolutely.
"Listen to me carefully now."
Her gaze snapped to his. Because as sad as Angela was, she was still the woman who’d raised four strong sons. She was soft, but never weak. And no foolish woman would have ever been able to survive over thirty years with Robbie MacFarlane.
"Even though I can’t stay in Chicago, the cops aren’t after me, there aren’t any warrants out on me. Eventually, I can settle somewhere here in the States, and I can send for you. Do you want
me to do that?"
She gripped his hands tightly, her thin bones squeezing his larger ones. "Only if you know you can be safe. I’ll be okay, Finn. I don’t want any of you taking risks for me."
He nodded. "I know. I won’t, but I also won’t leave you here all alone, Ma. It might take awhile. As much as a few years, but I’ll send for you. I’ll set us up someplace safe so I can take care of you. Until then, you stick close to church and let the men who are loyal to Cian handle things for you.”
Then he stood and pulled her up with him. He gazed down at her soft green eyes. The eyes that were so much like his own.
"You’re the best mother a kid could have had, you know that?" he said fondly.
Tears tracked down her faintly lined cheeks. "I’m sorry I loved the wrong man," she said.
"No, Ma. Never be sorry for loving someone." He thought about the things he felt for Keira. If he’d had the time, perhaps he, too, could have loved the wrong person. "It’s his problem that he couldn’t love anyone back."
"He didn’t know how," she said sadly.
"That’s okay," Finn told her, bringing her to his chest for a warm embrace. "You taught us to, and that’s all that matters."
Then he turned and walked away, knowing that no matter what he might have said, it may have been the last time he saw the one woman who’d ever loved him.
Chapter 16
Keira didn’t have the evidence to convict Cian—yet. But she’d told her boss that he’d committed to confessing and that she needed to interrogate him as soon as possible. Like this morning. First thing.
"And what does he want in return?" Commander O’Connor had asked. He was no fool. He knew no mobster was going to confess to murder out of the goodness of his heart, even if he was looking at life in prison for all sorts of other crimes.
"A promise that we won’t go after his brother Finn again," she’d said. After all, she couldn’t tell her superior that what Cian was really getting was her assistance smuggling in wanted men to hospitals and helping prime suspects escape Federal custody.
Touch of Dark: Dublin Devils 3 Page 12
