Keegan

by Savannah Rylan

  “Who are you? What do you want from me?” I hissed, struggling to get free again. I could sense the man’s presence in the room as he slowly stepped towards me. I knew it was a man, and I knew my life was hanging by a thread…dependent on this man’s whims and fancies.

  Then I heard a light bulb switch on. It filled the room with a dim orange glow…enough for me to see the man’s face.

  It was Connor Gallagher.

  I’d never seen him before, but I recognized him immediately.

  I could hear my father’s voice in my head now. I was six, and he was playing with me in our backyard. I had a million questions for him, about what he did for a living. He didn’t say much, but he told me that he was involved in some things which he was trying to get out of. As a six year old, I understood very little of what he was saying.

  But he did say something that day which stood out. Even now, I could hear him saying it— “if you ever see this man, Fallon, I want you to run.”

  I’d stared at him, confused. Then he’d described him to me. A big man with a scar running down the front of his face, all the way over his lips and down his neck. Dad told me this man was called Connor Gallagher, and that he was evil. I’d promised him that day that if I ever saw him, I’d run.

  But I couldn’t keep that promise.

  He was standing in front of me now, and I had nowhere to go.

  I struggled, instinctually, even though I knew that those ties were not going to give way.

  For a few moments, Connor just stood there, smirking at me.

  “You’ve grown up, sweet Fallon,” he said.

  He was implying that he knew me when I was a kid, that he’d seen me when I was a little girl. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry—but I knew that showing any signs of weakness in front of him; would be a mistake.

  “What do you want from me? Why am I here?” I screeched instead.

  His laugh came out of nowhere. He laughed with his head thrown back, with his shoulders quaking. Like I’d just told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

  “You really think that’s going to work on me? Playing this role of the innocent lamb?” he asked, stepping closer to me.

  A chill ran down my spine. I was afraid he was going to touch me.

  “I want to know what I’m doing here. Why you have me tied up here!” I screamed.

  He stopped laughing finally and drew in a deep breath.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you, little girl. You have just given me the best leverage I can use against the Murphy family,” he answered.

  I glared at him. I could feel the sweat dripping down my temples, dampening my eyelashes.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have nothing to do with the Murphy family. My father worked for him but you killed him! Since then, I haven’t had any connection with them!”

  Connor was nodding his head lightly, listening to me…but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he didn’t believe a word of what I said.

  He smacked his lips before he spoke again.

  “Nice try, little girl, but I know exactly what your relationship with the Murphy family is,” he continued.

  I shook my head, desperate to make him see reason; but he was smiling again. He had me exactly where he wanted me.

  “I had Keegan Murphy followed. You see, my son Braden, was very enthusiastic about Keegan getting out of jail. None of my sons were big fans of their brother getting beaten up and being put in the hospital. Braden was more than willing to find Keegan the moment he stepped out of prison, and making sure that fucker never walked again.”

  I gulped. My throat had gone dry. I knew exactly where he was going with this.

  “Whatever your son has told you is a lie. I have nothing to do with Keegan Murphy!” I still tried. I had some fight left in me.

  “That’s not going to work on me, Fallon. My son saw Keegan go to the diner, where you work. Keegan very neatly led us to the girl we’ve been trying to find for ten years. Two birds. One stone,” Connor continued.

  The smirk never left his face. He was having fun watching me squirm and sob.

  I shook my head.

  I couldn’t believe how this had happened so quickly. Keegan had led them straight to me.

  “What do you want from me?” I squealed and Connor shrugged his shoulders.

  “It’s very simple, little girl. I wanted to kill you. You see, we know you saw the murder. Braden was there. He knew you were in the cupboard. But my stupid son is soft. He didn’t want to kill a kid. But you’re not a kid anymore.”

  I couldn’t hold back the tears. I was crying because I knew that my end was near. They were going to kill me. They were going to kill me before Keegan had a chance to find me.

  “Braden is an idiot. He should have killed you right then. Made sure he left no witnesses. We’ve been trying to find you since then. Finish the job.”

  “So, you’re going to kill me. You killed my father and now you’re going to kill me too!” I spat at him.

  Connor drew in a deep breath and shook his head.

  “Not yet, little girl. If I kill you now, then I lose the leverage I have on the Murphys. Braden saw you and Keegan together. We know what is going on between the two of you. That boy will do anything to get you back, and that is exactly the kind of foolishness we need.”

  “No, please, just leave him alone. Kill me if you have to!” I was crying now. I had given up. I knew there was no escape from this. They were going to kill me anyway. They were going to kill Keegan too. I just wanted it to end.

  All my life, I had death and danger hanging over me like a dark shadow. I just wanted it to be over. I’d had enough.

  13

  Keegan

  I had no doubt who was responsible for Fallon’s disappearance. The Gallaghers had taken her. And I had a haunting suspicion about who had led them to her—me. For the one month that she’d been in Chicago, nothing had happened to her. And on the very day that I was out of prison, that I went and looked for her—she was kidnapped.

  I drove my car back to the family home, where most of them had already gone to bed. Thankfully, mam and dad were asleep so I didn’t have to answer a barrage of questions.

  Eamon and Callum were still out in the porch, drinking, when I went up to them.

  “Brother? What are you doing back here? Come join us for another pint,” Eamon said.

  I was struggling with the idea of telling them what was going on. But that would require a lot of explaining. I’d have to tell them the whole story with Fallon, and I just didn’t have the time for it. Besides, whatever was going to happen tonight with the Gallaghers; I wanted to do it alone. I didn’t want my family to be involved in the mess—especially since that was exactly what Connor Gallagher wanted.

  “I can’t stay. I’m looking for information on Finn Gallagher,” I said, standing over them. Eamon and Callum exchanged looks. The mention of the Gallagher name was like an explosion in this house.

  “What do you want with that scumbag, little brother?” Callum asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

  “I just need to find him,” I said.

  “You need to find a Gallagher boy?” Eamon reiterated and I knew alarm bells were going off in their heads.

  “Do you know where he is?” I asked.

  “You need to tell us what is going on before you get yourself back in prison again,” Eamon said, and he stood up.

  “You don’t need to get your panties in a bunch. I just have some unfinished business with him. It’s nothing,” I said.

  Callum stood up too.

  “Nobody has any unfinished business with that fucker. He barely knows up from down most of the time!” he said with a smirk.

  “Exactly, so nothing’s going to happen. I just need to talk to him. Just trust me!” I argued.

  Eamon and Callum were glaring at me and I could see they were worried. I’d just got out of prison for beating up a Gallagher, and now I was looking for another one. I knew what the
y were thinking.

  “Mam is not going to like this. Neither is dad,” Eamon remarked.

  “Look, if you’re not going to tell me where he is; I’m just going to go ask someone else. I will find him!”

  Callum sighed deeply.

  “He’s probably going to be at Paddy’s Pub. That’s where he spends most of his time, if he’s not out burgling old ladies,” he said.

  “Okay, thanks,” I called out to them, I was already backing away.

  “Keegan, c’mon, if you need our help with something—just say it!” Eamon said and I waved a hand in the air.

  “It’s nothing. I’ll be fine!”

  I was out of the house and in my car within minutes, headed to Paddy’s Pub. I knew that if I could just find Finn Gallagher, he would lead me to Fallon. He was the weak link in that family and I knew exactly how to break him.

  Finn Gallagher had a drug problem. Something we all knew about. He was the youngest son in the Gallagher family, and because of his addiction—he was left out of the business.

  Finn was the only one who was never involved in any of the violence or the criminal activity that the Gallaghers carried out. Because they knew he would be shit at it. We rarely saw him too, because he was always lying somewhere in a ditch; doped out of his head till one of his brothers found him and picked him up.

  But he had to know something.

  No matter how useless he was, I knew that he would have some clue. At least he’d be able to give me some information on where to begin looking for Fallon. And the last person the Gallaghers would be expecting me to go to; was him.

  I walked into Paddy’s Pub. It was an old dingy Irish dive bar, which was frequented mostly by junkies like Finn or old drunks. The women in there were addicts too, trying to sell their bodies for one quick hit of a crack pipe.

  I couldn’t see Finn when I first walked in, the place was too dark. I walked up to the counter and thankfully nobody seemed to recognize me. Eventually, I caught sight of him.

  He was sitting slumped in one corner, with his arm around the waist of a malnourished skinny older woman, bouncing her up and down on his lap.

  Just looking at him made me sick. Looking at any of the Gallaghers made me sick, and the thought that Fallon was now in the custody of their family—made my blood boil.

  I stormed up to him and Finn looked up at me, blinking because he didn’t recognize me at first.

  “Hey handsome,” the woman hissed, standing up, but I pushed her away.

  “Finn Gallagher, we need to talk,” I growled at him. He looked surprised. I guessed not many people in the world came looking for him. He stroked his greasy blond hair and gave me a toothy smile. I saw the ragged state of his teeth through years of drug abuse.

  “Keegan Murphy! Look what the cat dragged in,” he remarked and a laugh escaped his dry chapped lips.

  “You one of the Murphy brothers?” the woman asked. The pushing didn’t seem to have had an effect on her.

  “Scram before I drag you away,” I snapped at her. She only rolled her eyes at that and lazily stepped away from us. I turned to Finn again.

  “Where have they taken her?” I growled.

  “Taken who? I don’t know what you’re talking about, man,” Finn said and there was a smirk on his face. It could have been because he was high out of his head.

  I grabbed him by the collar, pulling him up.

  “Fallon. Fallon Donovan. Where have they taken her?” I raged.

  “The kid? She’s gone man. Nobody knows where she is!” Finn was beginning to shudder now and I pushed him to the wall. Nobody in the pub batted an eyelid. Either they didn’t notice because they were so high themselves. Or they didn’t care.

  “She’s not a kid anymore, you asshole. And I know your brothers took her. Where is she?”

  I knocked his head against the wall, and he struggled in my grip. He wasn’t going to get free. Both of us knew that.

  “I don’t know anything. They don’t tell me anything!”

  “Where could they have taken her? Where could they be holding her?” I continued to bark and he shook his head. He looked like he was about to cry.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know anything!”

  I didn’t have time to waste on this shit. I needed information now.

  With one hand, I kept him pinned to the wall and I punched his face with the other. Finn’s head bounced back and I could see the blood running down his nose.

  “My brothers are going to kill you for this! They’re going to find you and slaughter you!” he spat.

  I punched his gut this time and he howled in pain.

  “Tell me all the places they could have taken her. Where are they holding her?”

  I could sense some movement behind us now. People were beginning to take notice, but none of them had tried to break us apart yet. Nobody in there wanted to get involved in anything going on between the Murphys and the Gallaghers.

  “I have no idea. You’ve got the wrong guy!” he howled, slumping in my hold.

  I rammed my fist into his gut again, knocking his wind out. He coughed and spat, still wriggling in my grasp but I kept him pinned to the wall. The blood was gushing down his nose, dribbling into his mouth now.

  “You better start talking now, Gallagher, or you’re fucking dead!”

  “Okay okay! There is this warehouse. They might have taken her there. I don’t know. I heard my brothers talking about it last night.”

  I released my grip on him and he toppled forward.

  “What kind of warehouse? Where is this place?” I asked, cracking my knuckles.

  Finn was keeled over, trying to catch his breath now.

  “Up by the Seer Lake farmhouses. It’s abandoned now. They used to store the weapons there before but they don’t use it anymore. If they were talking about it last night, they must have been planning something with it.”

  I reached for him again and he winced and shifted away from me in fear. I squeezed his shoulder.

  “Thanks, Finn. You’re a fucking star,” I told him.

  Then I was gone. If Finn was telling the truth, that was exactly where the Gallaghers were holding Fallon.

  14

  Fallon

  Connor Gallagher was gone, and I was in the dark, by myself again. The binds they had used to tie my hands to the bed posts were tight and digging into my wrists. I was all cried out by now, I couldn’t cry anymore. All I could do was hope for all this to be over soon.

  I didn’t want to be used as leverage. I wanted them to just kill me and be done with it. It was my fault they were going to use me to get to the Murphys. I had put all their lives at risk. I never should have come back to Chicago. I should have stayed away from here and out of Keegan’s life.

  I hoped he didn’t come looking for me. I hoped he didn’t find me.

  I’d stopped struggling against the ropes and ties some time ago. I wasn’t going anywhere. Even if I managed to somehow get myself free of the binds that tied me to the bed—then what? Where was I going to go from there? I was sure that the Gallaghers were outside the door. They were keeping an eye on me.

  If I managed to escape, they were going to hunt me down like a wild animal. And then what? Kill me anyway? Or worse, teach me a lesson?

  I’d seen the way Connor Gallagher had looked at me. At my legs and breasts and the spot between my thighs when my dress rode up. I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to take me, or set his sons on me. I would die of sickness if they touched me like that. I couldn’t stand the thought.

  But even then, despite everything that was happening; I couldn’t cry.

  I tried to press my eyes close and think of Keegan. Of how peaceful and beautiful it was to finally be with him. It almost seemed worth it…to come back to Chicago. To finally get my chance with him after all these years. Even if it was for one night.

  I hoped that he would be safe. My fate was sealed, but I hoped he might have a long and contented life. But I knew Keegan. I knew how badl
y he wanted to protect me. If something happened to me tonight, and if he couldn’t save me—it would haunt him for the rest of his life. He would never be able to let it go.

  So either way, Keegan and I were going to be bound forever and I wished things were different. I wished my father had never died. That we’d never come to America and he’d never worked for the Murphys. That way, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t have known a love like Keegan’s, but that was a price I was willing to pay for his safety.

  I heard gunshots.

  I struggled in the bed, trying to get free again. I had no idea where those gunshots had come from. They could have been outside. There was more fire and a ringing sound in my ears.

  I screamed from fright.

  I was fearful that it was Keegan. That he was outside trying to get to me. That he’d found me somehow! More gunshots and I could hear men’s voices outside. I could sense something was happening. I screamed more, till the back of my throat felt chaffed.

  I hoped Keegan would be able to hear me. Suddenly, the spirit of life was revived in me and I wanted to survive. I wanted to be rescued.

  “Keegan!” I screamed his name as loud as I could.

  Then the door was opening. Someone was coming in.

  I recognized him straight away. It was the guy I’d seen in my father’s office. The younger one. This had to be Braden, the son Connor was talking about being soft. The one who had looked directly at me in the cupboard and then looked away.

  I wriggled and pulled as he stormed towards me.

  “Stay quiet you bitch!” he growled and loomed over me. His eyes roamed all over my body. I knew he was thinking the same thing his father had—that I was a piece of meat available to him for the taking.

  “Keegan!” I screamed his name again, and this time, Braden slapped me across the face.

  “There’s nothing your boyfriend can do, so just fucking shut up!” he growled. He stretched himself over me and I thrashed my head from side to side. I could smell him, feel the weight of him pressing down on the bed.