by K. L. Donn
Leaving the security office, he went back down to see his precious boy before checking in on Case. Then he was looking for his woman, and he would bring her back kicking and screaming if need be.
“Hey, bud,” he greeted a sleepy Jax who was playing with the nurse.
“Where’s Pincess, Daddy?” He sounded upset. Dom didn’t blame him, he was, too.
“I’m not sure, bud,” He wouldn’t lie to the boy.
“She weft us, didn’t she?”
“Deedee wouldn’t leave you for anything, Jaxson,” he told him vehemently, wanting to make sure his son held no doubt about what she felt for him. With everything in him, Dom knew she loved his son wholeheartedly.
“Did the bad men take her?”
There was a time in every parent’s life when they dreaded certain questions from their children—Is Santa real? Why didn’t the tooth fairy leave me money?—but not once did he expect to have that question thrown at him. Mostly because he didn’t know the answer. He’d seen the security footage of course, saw her get in a cab, but that was it. He had no other answers.
“I don’t know, kiddo.”
“But you’ll bing her home?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Bing her home, Daddy.” He made it seem so easy when it was anything but.
Leaving Jaxson with Angela and Larry was hard, but he had to see how Case was before he could go looking for Dee.
Arriving at his friend’s room, he heard a groan of pain followed by feminine laughter as he pushed the door open. “Wooo, more than I need to see.” Dom laughed finding the nurse changing out his piss bag.
“Shut up,” Case snapped, sounding just like himself.
“Obviously didn’t gain any respect for your friends with your latest attempt at death, huh?”
“You get shot and tell me how you feel, asshole.”
“I’ll pass. How you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been fucking shot. How the hell do you think?”
“He wasn’t this grouchy when he lost his leg,” Dom fake-whispered to the nurse as she left the room laughing.
“How’s the kid?” Case asked seriously once she was gone.
“He’ll be alright. Bumps and bruises.”
“And Dee? She nailed her head hard. Fucking woman’s got balls of steel man. She’s a fucking keeper.”
“Oh yeah?” He was curious about what happened and why Case thought so.
“Hell yeah! She knew those douchebags were coming as soon as I did. Watched them like a hawk as they hit us, jumped over the seat and threw herself on Jax so he wasn’t hurt when they started firing. Hell, if she hadn’t yelled at me to get down when she did, I’d be missing half my brain right about now.”
“Fuck.” He was at loss for words at what she’d done. He had no idea.
“Where is she? Getting her damn fool head examined?” Case laughed at his own joke.
“She’s gone man.”
His friend sobered up right quick with that. “What the fuck you mean she’s gone? No fucking way she’d leave us.” When Case started to get up from the bed, Dom had to force him back down with a hand in the middle of his chest, mindful of his wounds.
“I’m going to find her.” He vowed.
“Fucking better. The brat makes you smile. Never seen you as happy as you are with her.”
*****
As soon as she departed the plane in Ireland, Deidre could feel something was off. It was in the air like a bad smell. That moment where you could tell something was about to happen only you weren’t sure what. Panic threatened to consume her.
Never should have left. That voice was back. Her eyes were glued to the terminal she’d just vacated, watching everyone who departed behind her. When no one stood out, she made her way through customs before leaving to find a pay phone.
Coming across one a little walk away, she stood there staring at it…Who was she going to call? Her mam might want her dead, her da probably did, and Dominic was a little over five thousand kilometers away. Once again, she was well and truly alone.
“Excuse me, miss?” A voice from behind startled her.
Turning, she saw an older man with graying hair and a concerned face. “Yes?”
“Are you alright?”
“Fine, thank you.” When she began walking away, two more men appeared at his sides.
Fear hit her fast and furious. Quickly followed by anger. “What the actual fuck? Move, please,” she blurted out without thinking.
Amusement shown on the old man’s face. His men, not so much.
“We’ve been sent to collect you,” the older gentleman stated.
“Riiight...” Her tone conveyed her disbelief. “By whom, exactly?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“Then I’m not at liberty to leave.” Folding her arms, she dared him to make a move. They were in one of the busiest airports in the country. No way they’d risk taking her here.
When his henchmen went to reach for her, she held her hands up saying, “Do it and I will scream louder than a banshee on fire.”
“You will leave with us,” right henchman demanded.
“You will leave with my foot in your nuts,” she countered. Her adrenaline kept her bravado looking real.
Left henchman began laughing at her threat. “Yours could have the same fate.”
“Please, Ms. O’Connor, we only want to take you home.” The old man tried pleading.
“Care to tell me who you are and who sent you then? Oh and proof.”
“I cannot.”
“Then we’re at odds. I might have been sheltered my whole life, but buddy, I ain’t some dumb twat that’s gonna leave because you ask me nicely.”
“In America for only a few weeks, and I see your language has deteriorated,” he scolded.
“Look, I don’t know who the fuck you are or where you want to take me, but buddy, I’m fucking done with your cryptic old ass. Leave me alone or I scream.”
He gave her a look that told her she’d won this round, but he’d be back for more and might not be quite as nice about it. Why the fuck did you leave, Deidre? That damn voice again.
Fourteen
Ireland. The damn girl had to cross the fucking ocean for whatever she thought she was doing? He was pissed, scared, and understanding all at once. She’d left on her own, and at first, Dom couldn’t comprehend why. He’d studied the look on her face as she watched him and Jax with the doctors for hours on the flight, and the meaning behind the look in her eyes clicked...Cold, hard fear.
She thought everything that had occurred was her fault. She was terrified of hurting his son. He could understand that and even respect it, but she was his, and she wasn’t getting away from him that easily. If he’d thought there were any real danger to Jaxson, he would have sent him away.
Despite what had happened with Raine that day—which he still thought Brooke was responsible for—he never considered the danger was so close. They’d all learned that lesson the hard way. Now everyone was paying the price.
His immediate worry was for Deedee, though. She left in a fragile state of mind with nothing but the clothes on her back and the cash he’d given her weeks ago that she’d refused to touch until she thought it was safest to leave them.
How wrong she was.
He was never going to let her go. Even when he thought he was confused about them making things work, he still wasn’t sure he could have done it. His parents had always talked about that instant connection two people would have. How once he met the right girl, he’d know she was it for him. He’d always thought it was bullshit of course, but they were right.
It didn’t matter that he’d met her eight years ago when she was a kid; he didn’t have the sensual awareness for her that he did now. But he’d always felt a kinship with her. Like he was meant to be in her life for a reason. Turns out he was. If it wasn’t for him, she’d have been sold.
Now she was his, and he had to find her again.
*****
After the odd encounter at the airport, Deidre hesitated to go anywhere isolated. She needed people around her after that. The look the old man had given her still puzzled her. There was a familiarity in his eyes that she couldn’t place. Yet, he insinuated he would force her to go with him, so she was confused.
Tempted to hop on a flight back to Baltimore and beg forgiveness from Dominic, she just couldn’t do it until she understood why a man who had protected her mam for years tried to kill her. He’d always been loyal to her mother and not her father, which was what had her so perplexed. Brock’s hatred for her da ran blood deep.
He was so angry at the way she had been treated after that horrid night when she was six that he’d even encouraged her mom to run. If she thought hard enough, she might even suspect they’d been having an affair. But that couldn’t be, could it?
Her mam might hate her da now, but her loyalty was as imbedded in her as her love for Dee. Some days, she felt as if she knew how she would act or what she would do in certain situations, but then other times, she felt like she had no idea who the other woman was.
It’d been years since she’d spent any decent amount of time with her, so how could she possibly know what the other woman was like now? How could she be sure she was even alive. They hadn’t actually spoken in over a year. Hadn’t seen each other face to face since Dee was shipped off to Switzerland.
What if her dad had done what he threatened to do and killed her? What if all this time she’d been planning her flight, only to be conversing with him or one of his men and they always knew where she was?
The thought left her cold.
If her father knew that she planned on leaving him, running so he couldn’t find her, he’d have gone ballistic. Disobedience from anyone would not be tolerated, most especially from his daughter.
“Got yourself in a real pickle this time, Dee,” she mumbled to herself, earning a glare from some highfalutin woman passing her by in the street.
When she left the airport on foot, she hadn’t had a destination in mind other than to stay in populated areas. Stopping after walking a considerable distance, she looked up to see what used to be her old school. Her father’s old mansion not far from where she stood.
Dare she go back to hell? Or keep walking?
I need you, Dominic.
*****
Finally landing, Dominic quickly gathered his carry-on. Disembarking the plane, he went through the process of customs before managing to leave the airport. Contemplating his options, he figured his best chance of finding Deedee was checking her father’s old mansion. It was all she knew in Dublin, other than her old school.
Quickly hailing a cab, he gave the driver the address he remembered by heart with the hope that he would find his woman there. He watched as the city flew by in a whirlwind of smoky haze and fast cars. Nothing stuck out except his overwhelming fear that if her didn’t reach Deedee soon, something terrible was going to happen to her.
Once he reached the mansion she used to live in, he asked the driver to wait before getting out. Taking a fortifying breath and walking up to the iron gates, he pushed them open with a loud groan as he went in search of his love.
The place had always given him the creeps. It looked more like a prison than a home. The brick walls were three stories high with towers on both sides of them, and the windows were covered in bars preventing entry or escape.
The lawn and gardens looked unkempt like they hadn’t been taken care of in months. He dreaded what the inside would look like. Walking to the double front door, he glimpse behind the shrubs and up at the windows to see if anything was out of place. Not seeing a problem, he finally opened them slowly so as not to alert his presence to anyone that might be inside. As he walked through the door, he was assaulted with dust everywhere. The stagnant smell made it hard to breathe.
Footsteps leading up the stairs had him quietly following their path. Rounding a corner, he listened for any noise but all was silent. Walking tentatively along the wall, he kept his eyes roving around the hall and his ears open for any strange noises.
The dusty footsteps stopped outside of Deedee’s old room. The door was cracked a small amount, so he had a pretty good idea of who he’d find behind it. Sniffling sounds confirmed his assumption that someone was there. Pushing the hard piece of wood open slowly, the sight before him broke his heart and infuriated him all in the same second.
“Deidre?” he growled angrily at her.
*****
Opening the iron gates to hell, Deidre cringed at the thought of hearing her father yell the moment the screech from the hinges was heard. When she was younger, she’d have sworn he waited just for that noise so he could vent his frustrations at her. He was always telling her how useless she was, and how he hadn’t wanted her. Which was why she never understood why he kept her with him instead of letting her mam take her.
It was a mystery she may never have the answer to, unfortunately.
Looking around at the yard, she hated how overgrown it looked. When she was younger, she would spend hours doing yard work with her mom. Weeding the flower bed, watering the grass, trimming the shrubs. It was sad to see it all looking so dead.
Nothing with the house had changed, though, other than it needed some fresh paint. The bars were still there; the door looked as unwelcoming as always, and the inside was darker than ever.
Searching at the bottom of one of the shrubs for the spare key that had been there for as long as she could remember, she had to dig for it before she finally felt the hard steel. Wiping the dirt from the metal, she unlocked the door and was startled by the groan of protest from the heavy door as it opened.
Dust flew everywhere when she finally stepped inside. Her footprints were like ghosts on the floor. Shock ran through her at how dirty the house was. She knew her da held no love for the home, but her mam had grown up here. After she had gone to boarding school, she was told that the house reverted back to her mother. Obviously, she had been lied to because no way would her mother have let it sit this way. The outside maybe, but never the interior of it.
As she slowly made her way through the house, the sheer amount of neglect amazed her. It also had her wondering about whether or not her mam was still alive. It was so surreal to even be thinking about something like that when a month ago, she had been preparing to move back home. Four months before that was her last correspondence with her mother. She knew anything could have happened in that time, but the idea stole her breath.
As she made it to her old room, everything was just as she’d left it eight years ago. The canopy bed was unmade, shelves were scattered with books and teddy bears she’d collected over the years when her Mam would take her to a carnival on her birthdays.
Going to the closet, she searched in the very back for the small shoebox she kept with all the letters they’d written back and forth from the time her mom left to just before Deidre had been sent away. Covered in dust, she opened the top only to find an envelope stacked on top that wasn’t nearly as worn as the others, still sealed shut.
Climbing out from the closet, she swept the comforter off her bed before sitting down. Taking a breath, she carefully opened the seal to reveal the contents of the letter…
My sweet a stór,
I don’t know how to even begin this letter to you. There is so much to tell you, so much you might never understand. How I wished things had been different. I was weak once, but I can never regret it for that weakness gave me you. And you my sweet, sweet Deidre are the best thing to come from my life.
There are things you’re going to find out about me, you, your father; things you’ll hate us all for.
You probably think I’m being dramatic. Maybe I am? My hope is that one day you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me for my sins. You see before you were born, Bradshaw was a mean man—meaner than you ever witnessed
. He used to beat me daily and say the vilest of things, and I was at a very low point. A point in which you should never let a man bring you. And in walked Brock. You remember him, don’t you?
Brock was sweet and gentle, kind to a fault. He treated me in a way no man ever had before. Not much time had passed and I began to develop feelings for him. And he for me.
Our love was forbidden but so consuming that neither of us could stay away. We couldn’t control our need for one another. When he walked into a room my heart would race and my face would flush in warmth. Just knowing he was around made me feel alive for the first time in so long.
I had been dead inside, and he brought me back to life. Showed me there was beauty where I once only saw dark. He made me believe in myself again.
And then I fell pregnant with you.
The moment I found out I cried out of joy and sadness.
Joy because you were a part of me. Someone I could love for the rest of my life with no limits or expectations. You were going to be someone who would love me because I loved you so completely.
But then there was sadness…never because I was to have you. However, you weren’t going to belong to who you should have. I was married to your da, but my heart belonged to Brock, and so did you. I kept it a secret as long as I could, but Bradshaw knew almost from the start that you weren’t his because I was full of so much joy.
Some days I wonder why he didn’t force me to abort you, but then I would remember he was all about appearances. He saw you as a way up, only he brought us down. Further and further every day.
I know you must be angry because of my lies, and for that I am sorry. More than you could ever imagine.
Today is your eighteenth birthday, and I knew once you arrived back in Dublin and couldn’t find me, you’d come home. At least, I hope you do.