"Cian, Cian, Cian," Don said as he grinned in the rearview mirror while they drove him toward the Metropolitan Correctional Center—MCC—run by the Feds. "We’ve missed you."
"I told you I needed some time to tie up loose ends," he answered, shifting to try to get comfortable in the fucking cuffs they’d slapped on him.
"You said seventy-two hours, MacFarlane. It’s been three weeks. You think we’re fucking idiots?"
"You knew I’d never leave Finn in custody."
"Maybe, but we’re tired of waiting. You’ve been stringing us along for years. It’s time to do this."
Cian agreed. If only they knew how strongly he agreed. But his monster of a father hadn’t been willing to leave Lila alone.
He laid his head back against the seat. God, Lila, he thought. I’m so sorry, my love. So horribly sorry.
"You’ll be put in solitary," his least favorite agent, Bruce, said with glee. "And the sooner you start talking, the sooner we can think about releasing Finn."
"Think about it?" he snapped. "We had a deal."
"Really?" Don and Bruce looked at one another, chuckling. "Was that in writing? I don’t seem to recall it."
Rage sizzled in his veins, but his voice was still cold as ice. "Try it. You’ll get nothing from me. I’ll fuck your case so hard you’ll be demoted to janitor. In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, I don’t give a shit about going to prison. I’ll spend the rest of my life there no matter what. But if you don’t release Finn immediately, I’ll take all my secrets with me. You’ll never shut down my organization. All the fancy promotions and news write-ups will vanish like smoke."
"You’ve always been too important for your own good, Cian," Don said, looking at him in the rearview again. But Cian could see it in the other man’s eyes, he knew he’d have to give Cian what he wanted. Don had worked too hard for too long to let this go sideways now.
They pulled into the parking lot of the MCC and Cian’s mind turned over the possibilities. He had men inside the CPD, always had, but they were mostly regular beat cops, guys his father had been paying for years. He needed someone with more pull than that, and someone who had an interest beyond money. Money could only provide so much incentive, and what he was after now would require a hell of a lot of incentive. Owing someone your life might be that sort of incentive.
They marched him into the back of the building, then upstairs to an interrogation room.
"Give us the number of your lawyer and we’ll get him over here," Don said, making sure he followed every protocol to the letter so there would be no cause to toss the case months down the road.
"I want to see someone else first," Cian said, settling back into the hard plastic chair.
Don gave one harsh laugh. "Yeah, not going to happen."
"I have information regarding a case in CPD jurisdiction. I’ll only discuss it with the assigned detective."
Don’s brow furrowed. "CPD."
"Yep."
"The Danny O’Reilly murder."
"Yep."
Don swore under his breath. "MacFarlane, you’re a goddamn nightmare. If I do actually get a promotion off this, it won’t matter because I’m going to have to retire for my own mental health."
Cian shrugged, his foot tapping agitatedly on the floor. By now, Liam would know something had gone wrong. Cian could only pray that he’d go ahead and keep looking for Lila. Liam’s gut said they were close, Cian’s gut said time was short.
"You want to see the little girl, huh?"
"If you’re referring to Detective Watson, then yes."
Don rolled his eyes. "Fucking millennial princess. But fine. I’ll get her, and I’ll call your lawyer while you’re talking to her." He tossed a sticky pad and a pen across the table and Cian wrote down Thomas Maguire’s number.
Now all he could do was hope Keira still felt indebted to Finn. Either that, or she was in love with him. And if she wasn’t? Then Liam was his very last hope.
Chapter 13
Keira had spent most of her day researching known members of organized crime in Chicago. She tamped down the guilt that kept trying to rear its sensible head and scrolled through arrest records, undercover reports, and eyewitness accounts.
Finn’s insights had been good, if you could ignore the ethical and moral issues of taking advice from a mobster. He’d suggested other possible avenues to examine in the case. She’d been reluctantly impressed with Finn’s knowledge of evidence and murder. She didn’t want to think too hard about how he’d acquired the knowledge, but it was substantial, and he’d laid out some compelling reasons it could have been someone other than Cian.
Keira wondered at what point she’d become the kind of cop who would consort with criminals to add to her win column. But if she were truly honest with herself, it wasn’t because she wanted the win so badly. No, what was really driving her was the look on Finn’s face when she talked about arresting his brother. After hearing Cian talk about Finn, watching Liam and Finn together in that hospital room, feeling the unbreakable bond these men had to one another, she was having a hard time with the idea of arresting Cian.
Keira had grown up with an image of her father rather than the real man. She’d modeled her life on his for as long as she could remember, but she was the first to admit that he might as well have been a celebrity she watched on the television. She’d been left with no siblings and a mother who spent much of her time being angry at her husband’s neglect, or in despair at his death. As a child, Keira had latched on to the stories she heard, the myths and legends of her father’s time in the CPD. It had driven her for years now.
But what if that wasn’t enough? What if there was something else worth her effort? What if there was a world out there where people loved you, like Finn and his brothers loved one another? What if simply being the most famous detective in the CPD wasn’t the only goal worth pursuing?’
She gave herself a little shake and resolved to simply focus on this particular task at this particular moment. Hell, maybe all this would jar something loose that the rest of the investigation hadn’t. Maybe she’d find something that pointed to someone other than Cian for real.
The sound of her phone ringing from her desk drawer grabbed her attention.
"This is Watson," she answered.
"Agent Wagner here, Detective."
Her lip curled in distaste. "Yes?"
He chuckled. "It’s apparently your lucky day. I have someone in custody at MCC and he’s asking to speak to you."
Her heart skipped a beat. "To me?"
"Says he has information about a case in CPD’s jurisdiction. The Danny O’Reilly murder."
She paused, her gaze narrowing on the computer screen in front of her. Somehow, she’d thought they’d give her a warning, tell her Cian was about to turn himself in. This was so…unexpected.
"Okay. Who am I meeting with?"
His voice was weary when he answered. "Cian MacFarlane."
* * *
Cian was handcuffed to the table in front of him when she walked into the room. It had taken her twenty minutes to convince the Feds to put them into a room without surveillance.
"For whatever reason, he’s asked for me personally," she’d told Don. "He has something he wants to tell me. He’s not going to do that if he knows you’re standing on the other side of a two-way mirror watching and listening."
Then she’d lied, promising she’d share any relevant information with Don and Bruce. And she would—if it didn’t compromise her plans, or Cian’s regarding Finn, or Cian’s regarding his kidnapped girlfriend. Which probably left not much of anything she’d be willing to share.
She closed the door behind her and walked to the table, holding out her hand. "It’s nice to officially meet you, Mr. MacFarlane," she said.
Cian raised one perfect eyebrow before lifting his cuffed hands as far as he could and doing a modified handshake.
She sat and took out an iPad and stylus from her bag.
"T
hey have this room bugged?" Cian asked quietly.
"No. It’s for lawyers and clients, they’re not permitted surveillance."
He nodded, watching her as she swiped the iPad screen and readied her stylus.
His lips tipped into a smirk. "You going to take notes?"
She watched him for a moment. Quietly she answered, "It might be useful to give the Feds something to show for our meeting.” She paused. “You didn’t turn yourself in. They caught you."
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I made a mistake."
"I bet you don’t do that often."
He chuckled. "I guess you could say that. It feels like my life is one big mistake after another. But no, I don’t make this kind of mistake often."
She really looked at him then, and she saw what all this was costing him. His face was haggard, the circles under his eyes dark and tender looking. His gaze was cloudy, his hair messy, his clothes dirty.
"Your girlfriend?" she asked then.
"Is still out there somewhere," he answered.
"What happens now?" She had no idea who this woman was, but she felt sick thinking about her being held against her will. It was obvious Cian loved her deeply, she had people who cared, people who wanted to bring her home.
"Plans have to be adjusted. Now that they have me, I want Finn released immediately, and as soon as you leave, I’ll have my attorney handle that."
Her heart raced. What would it mean if she could talk to Finn, see him, without Federal agents watching? Would she want to? Would he want to?
"As soon as he’s been released, I’m going to need your help."
"And you think I’ll help you why?"
He sighed. "Because you care about my brother and you’re already knee-deep in this. Did you think I didn’t record our previous conversations?"
Fuck. Of course he had. Keira schooled her expression as if she’d assumed this all along.
"And I can easily claim to have been undercover working to get a confession from you."
Cian smiled. "Detective, I think you’re going to be great at this business someday, but you’re very new, and I’ve been at this a lot longer than you have. Also, I’m not just great at it, I’m the best. There’s footage of you walking in and out of the hospital with my brother disguised as one of Finn’s lawyers. There are recordings of our conversations, there’s a photo of you climbing into the backseat of a car that’s registered to one of my businesses."
She gritted her teeth. She didn’t deserve to be a detective. She’d fallen right into every trap he’d laid.
"What the hell do you want from me now?" she finally snapped.
"As soon as Finn has been released, I want you to come back here to MCC and insist on speaking to me again"
She cocked her head and blinked at him.
"How much questioning can I do in one day?"
He leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "Just one more round. After we’re sure Finn has been released."
"And why do you want that?" Yes, he was better at this than her because she had no idea what he was trying to do—"Oh hell no!" she exclaimed as the pieces fell into place. "I am not going to be the cop who helps you escape. The FBI will have me thrown in jail as an accomplice sooner than you can say Federal offense."
"Sshh," he warned, gesturing toward the door. "You won’t help me. You’ll be my hostage. I just need a couple of hours on the outside, then you can bring me back and be the hero of the day."
"A couple of hours? To rescue your girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"And what if it takes longer than a couple of hours?"
"It won’t." His tone was firm, but she knew he couldn’t actually make that promise.
"That all sounds like a really bad idea."
He shrugged. "It’s the only thing we’ve got at this point."
"I’m not sure when you and I became a 'we'?"
He grinned. "When my brother saved your life."
"I’ve repaid that debt."
He leaned forward then, the chains on his cuffs rattling as he did, his voice low and gritty.
"In my world, a debt like that is never repaid. But that’s between you and Finn. Just remember that I take it very seriously when people aren’t kind to my brothers."
She tried to release her breath slowly. He wasn’t exactly…scary, but she got the sense he rarely had anyone challenge him.
"Right now," he continued, "I need you to do this. It’s not for me. It’s for Lila."
"Okay," she acquiesced, standing. "I have some paperwork to do for the next couple of hours. Then I’m going to go speak with your brother. As soon as he’s released, I’ll start pushing to speak to you again."
"Thank you, Detective. You’ll forgive me if I don’t see you to the door?" His lips tipped up into a wry smile.
She quickly wrote a few things on her iPad to show to the Feds, then shut it and put it back into her bag.
"Good luck, Mr. MacFarlane," she said.
She could have sworn she heard him answer, "I’m going to need it," as she walked away.
Chapter 14
Liam knew something had gone wrong in the first thirty minutes. But even though he knew he ought to move fast and far, he waited in that filthy hotel room, ears straining for the sounds of law enforcement boots on the rickety stairs. The two men he had with him stayed, as well, but after an hour and a half, Jimmy stood, arms crossed, expression stern.
"If it were Cian here and you out there, you’d want him to leave."
"Fuck!" Liam snapped as he stood to one side of the small dingy window and looked down at the street below through the gap in the drapes.
"Boss." Jimmy’s voice was patient but firm.
"Okay, okay," Liam said. "We’ll keep going. There are three more properties, let’s go find Lila so when he’s back we have good news."
The men texted instructions to move out, and Liam took one last look around the room. He flexed a hand in frustration. If someone had hurt his brother, he might not ever make it back to Katya. Because Liam MacFarlane wasn’t the type to let something like that go. He was learning that he couldn’t be there to protect his family all the time, but he sure as hell wouldn’t let someone who’d hurt them go unpunished. And that went for Michael Riley, as well. Because now that Cian had fallen in love with her, Lila Rodriguez was family, too. And Liam would lay down his life for her simply because that’s what Cian would want.
* * *
He’d just come up empty with the first property when he got the call from Cian’s and Finn’s attorney.
"Christ," he murmured as Thomas Maguire explained what was happening. "Does he have a message for me?"
"He said to tell you that he’ll be interrogated by Detective Keira Watson of CPD as soon as the Feds have released Finn. I just had them sign off on the release, but they’re claiming they can’t process it until close of business so he won’t be free until tomorrow morning at eight a.m. I’m trying to move them faster, but honestly, time isn’t on our side, and they enjoy doing things to make your brothers unhappy."
Liam swore under his breath. Fucking Feds. They were the scourge of the earth. But Finn released? His blackened heart swelled two sizes in one breath. Now all he had to figure out was what Cian’s message about being interrogated by Keira meant. Obviously, Cian had gotten her to agree to help in some way, so Liam would be ready. Until then, he needed to get to Finn.
"Can you get a message to Finn for me?" he asked.
"Just give me a location," Maguire said. "I think I already know the message."
Liam decided it was time to wrap up all the loose ends. He needed to go home. "Tell him to go to my mother’s house the moment he’s released."
"I will." Maguire paused. "Good luck, Mr. MacFarlane."
"Thanks," Liam answered. "We’re going to need it."
* * *
Finn knew something was different because they knocked. At eight oh five a.m., he pulled the door open to find the Federal ag
ent who’d originally questioned him standing there next to Keira.
"I’d ask you in, but you’ll do it whether I invite you or not so—" He waved an arm to one side, indicating they should make themselves at home.
"No need," the Fed said, his mouth set in a grim line. "It’s your lucky day. I’m here to take your monitor off. The charges against you have been dropped."
Finn’s heart clenched. "Why?" he asked before he could stop himself.
"Bigger fish to fry, Mr. MacFarlane." The agent turned to Keira. "You want to have your discussion with him before I spring him?"
She seemed to consider it. Meanwhile, Finn’s mind was a swirling mix of fear that Cian or Liam had finally been caught, and thrill at the idea that he might be able to talk to Keira without Feds outside the door.
"I think Mr. MacFarlane will talk to me without being under arrest. Is that right, Mr. MacFarlane?"
Finn’s voice was hoarse when he answered. "Yeah. But I’m going to want to have my attorney on the line while we do that."
The FBI Agent snorted. "Let me take that ankle monitor off and then I can get moving." He looked at Keira. "Good luck with him."
She nodded, and the next thing Finn knew, the monitor had been removed and the Federal agent had vanished into the elevator.
"Just like that?" he asked as he looked at Keira where she stood in his open doorway.
"Just like that." She gazed back at him and he saw something like regret cross her face.
"Do you really need to question me?" he asked then, wondering suddenly if that thing he’d felt between them had been real. Now that he wasn’t confined, they weren’t being watched, would she still let him stand close to her? Reach out and touch her? Maybe even steal a kiss—or more?
"I don’t," she admitted quietly, moving past him and shutting the door behind them. "But your lawyer needs to talk to you." She pulled out her cell phone and swiped the screen to make the call, then handed the phone to Finn.
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