Adam used the weight of his body to push him across the room and up against the wall and gasping breaths left McCaffrey as he struggled with Adam.
My shoulders shook at the sound of a gunshot, a sound I remembered from watching my father shoot his shotgun back in Kentucky.
The bullet penetrated the ceiling as Adam continued to keep the guy’s arms up in the air.
I swung my gaze over to two strangers now in the room, both with guns drawn. If they were here, it had to mean the place wasn’t going to blow up. But damnit, there was still a gun way too close to Adam.
One of the men, a guy with warm brown eyes, looked at me and lightly nodded as if he were telling me everything would be okay.
The strangers didn’t have a clear shot at McCaffrey, though, since Adam had him pinned to the wall.
Blood trickled down the side of Adam’s neck, but he seemed unfazed by whatever damage to his skull had occurred when McCaffrey hit him.
Adam brought his knee toward the guy over and over again, but the damn man wouldn’t relent.
And then Adam shifted his head back slightly before knocking his forehead hard against his.
I couldn’t see McCaffrey’s face, but Adam did it two more times, and then McCaffrey lost hold of his gun and started to slide down the wall.
Adam faced the room and moved toward me as if nothing in the world could keep him away. “Anna,” he whispered.
I gasped at the sight of Adam as he shook his head, opening and closing his eyes a few times as blood from a cut on his forehead hit his eyelashes.
“Oh, God. Are you okay?”
He sat next to me and anchored his palms on my cheeks. “Me?” He found my eyes without losing hold of my face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“The explosives have been deactivated,” someone said a moment later. “We swept the rest of the house and property to be certain there weren’t any more. Found another, which was why it took us so long to get to you.”
I forced my attention away from Adam to see the stranger handing him a knife. Adam freed my hands and pulled me tight against him.
“You’re hurt,” I cried against his chest.
“I’m . . . fine,” he said, his voice breaking. “I’m just so glad you’re okay. I’m so damn sorry.” He stood and lifted me into his arms, and it was then that I heard sirens wailing in the distance. “I’m gonna kill Da,” he said under his breath as we left the room.
“I don’t need to be in a hospital.” I wasn’t the one who got hurt.
“There were bombs, Anna,” my dad said in a low, gravelly voice. “What was Adam thinking charging into that home with two civilians?”
“And if he hadn’t, our baby girl would be dead!” my mom came to Adam’s defense before I had a chance to say anything. She held my hand tight between her palms, tears still gliding down her cheeks like they had been since I’d arrived there an hour ago.
“This isn’t the kind of life I want for you.” My dad rubbed his forehead, and I was pretty sure he’d aged ten years since yesterday. “A detective kidnapped you, Anna!” He cursed. “A detective!”
“She doesn’t need this right now,” my sister, Dana, said from where she sat in the row of chairs in front of the window, alongside Becca and Sheri.
I glanced at Holly who was standing next to where my mom sat. A nervous energy hit me when our eyes connected. “How are Ethan and Sean?”
“They’ll be okay.” Holly forced a small smile. “They’re relieved to hear you’re back and that you and Adam are also okay.”
“Thank God.” Relief struck me. “Uh, how long will Adam be at the police station?”
“He texted me he’ll be leaving with Da soon,” she replied.
“According to those reporters outside the hospital—your family is responsible for everything that happened.” The angry bite of my father’s words had my stomach protesting.
“I’m . . .” Holly seized a breath of air and released it. “I’m truly sorry for what happened.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” I said, knowing today could’ve turned out much differently.
One man had died, and many others could’ve as well.
I still couldn’t quite grasp what had happened, or how I’d managed not to completely break down during it all. Then again, I was in love with a man who made me feel like the strongest woman in the world, and so . . .
“Peter McCaffrey lost his family, and he misplaced his rage onto yours,” my mother finished for me when the words became stuck in my throat. At least she didn’t blame Adam’s family for everything the way my dad now did.
“Who were those men with Adam?”
“Oh, um.” Holly strode closer to the bed, and my mom scooted her chair to the side a little, but never lost hold of my hand. I was beginning to think she’d never let go. “Adam hired them to find you. Marco recommended them. Supposedly the best of the best at tracking people down.”
“Maybe you should consider coming back home after everything that’s happened.” Dad’s words had my gaze winging to the other side of the bed to catch his eyes.
I shook my head. “I am home.”
Chapter Fourteen
Adam
“The murder charges have been dropped, but given the lengths to which McCaffrey went to punish your father, we’re going to reopen the case about the car accident. To make sure McCaffrey wasn’t telling the truth about your father.”
If it was truly Da who ran McCaffrey’s family off the road, resulting in their deaths, then my father deserved whatever punishment he got.
I pressed the heel of my palm to my forehead where a bandage covered the wound. If Anna had gotten shot . . .
She’s okay, I reminded myself, so I didn’t lose it.
“I’m sorry we didn’t piece all of this together, but you should also never have gone to get her without us. I gave you orders to stand down and wait for us to get there.”
“And if we waited she would’ve died!” I dropped my hand from my face. “The psycho wired the place with fecking explosives. He was minutes from blowing her up.”
A million curses hung on the tip of my tongue.
“You’re lucky you had ex-agents with you, or things could’ve gone much differently.”
Jake and Xander had denied my request to take point, but when we showed up, they had no choice but to let me save Anna so they could deactivate the devices.
“And if you’d worked faster after I tipped you off about McCaffrey being the limo driver—we could’ve gotten to Anna sooner.” I shook my head, my blood heating.
He quietly observed me, but he knew I was right. “Go get stitches,” he sputtered after a moment. “You look like hell.” He turned and left.
Once I caught sight of Da being discharged from the room behind where I stood, I left the station and headed for where I parked my Audi.
The buzz of questions filled the air from reporters once outside, but I pushed through, never looking back to check if Da was there.
Of course, I didn’t need to look.
I could feel him. The burn of shame blowing in the wind and hitting me hard.
Was it really possible McCaffrey had been right about the accident? He’d been right about Brian Callaghan; the bastard had been a criminal, and he’d taken the blackmail without any second thoughts.
Of course, Callaghan had no clue he’d been spoon-fed the blackmail by the same man who’d led the investigation against him for criminal charges a few months back.
“Talk,” I said once we were both inside the vehicle, and I continued to ignore the lights from cameras clicking outside the Audi.
They were a hazy blur to me right now.
Da scratched at his chin before covering his mouth, and my eyes lingered on the white mark around his finger. He hadn’t put his wedding band back on after the Garda had returned his belongings.
Ma had stayed at the hospital with my brothers. She’d probably surrendered to the notion Da was guilty.
Maybe I had as well.
“Adam.”
“Shit. This isn’t right.” I waved my hand in the air. “Let’s not do this with the media just outside.”
I caught a nod out of my peripheral view, and I peeled away from the curb.
After a few minutes, I pulled off to the side of the road and killed the engine.
“I’m so damn sorry. If anything happened to you kids . . .” He reached for me, but I swatted his arm away, too bloody pissed and in need of answers. “I didn’t kill anyone, Son.” His tanned throat moved with a hard swallow. “I promise. The first time I ever set eyes on Peter McCaffrey was in Callaghan’s hotel room.”
“But you were questioned about the accident. I remember. There’s only a few red Lamborghinis in the city, and—”
“I was driving that night, but I didn’t run anyone off the road. And when I got home, I had the heart attack.” He held a palm in the air between us, as if giving me his solemn word.
A tightness stretched across my chest, and I rubbed at the achiness there. Could I believe him?
“Did you know McCaffrey was investigating you? Our company?” I thought back to what we’d discovered. Well, what Alexa had found out about McCaffrey.
“No, I had no idea. But I assume that’s how he got the photos.”
“The blackmail?” I dropped my hands to my lap and looked back at him.
“He had me followed. Got pictures of me spending time with another woman.” He sighed as if his words were more of an inconvenience than a blow to the left cheek. “I would never have sold MAC for so cheap to Callaghan because of those photos, but I verbally agreed to the sale to buy myself some time to handle the situation until after your wedding.” His eyes appeared pale. Hollow. A fraction of the titan businessman he once was. “Callaghan was going to have the photos published today, and I didn’t want to ruin your wedding for a second time.”
My stomach knotted. “You were having an affair?” The question came out as a whisper of disbelief.
My father had been a lot of things, but a cheater had never been one of them. At least, I hadn’t thought so. But was cheating better than murdering a mom and her eight-year-old daughter? Yeah.
“No, there was no affair. I didn’t . . .” He rubbed a hand over his dry lips. “Your mom and I are separated, but we didn’t want anyone to know. The company had gone public, and you were planning your wedding. Plus, my heart attack delayed your wedding the first time. I didn’t want to ruin everything again.”
His words plucked the air right out of the car, and I squeezed the skin at my throat as if I were suffocating.
“We planned to tell you kids a few weeks after your wedding. It didn’t feel like the right time.”
“I don’t understand.” My world—everything I thought I knew about my parents—felt as if it were spinning. Rotating the wrong fecking way.
“McCaffrey told me he’d kill Anna and destroy our family if I didn’t confess to the murder.” His lids dropped, hiding his eyes from view. “I’m so sorry about everything, but I promise I had nothing to do with his wife and daughter dying. He needed someone to blame, and clearly, he set his sights on me. And that’s the God’s honest truth.”
I wanted to believe him, but I wasn’t sure if I could.
With McCaffrey behind bars, all I wanted to do was be with Anna.
She was back and safe.
And so maybe I’d wait to decide whether Da was a liar and a murderer.
Chapter Fifteen
Adam
Her fingers lightly feathered over the gauze taped to my forehead; her lips were downturned. “I hate that you got hurt.”
“You’re okay, so I’m okay. If anything had happened to you . . .”
“Don’t think like that.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I love you so much.”
I swallowed the lump of emotion down my throat. “You sure you still want to marry into my family?”
“Yes, I—” She let go of her words at the sound of the door buzzer.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” I pulled on a shirt and left the bedroom to see who was outside our flat.
I checked the outdoor cameras and relief struck me at the sight of Alexa, Jake, and Xander standing outside.
I’d been high-strung for the last two days since Anna had come home from the hospital. We’d barricaded ourselves inside to hide from the press, and so I could keep her all to myself.
And most of our friends and family who’d flown in for the wedding had already left Dublin. We’d had to issue yet another rain check. But to hell with everything, I was going to marry Anna no matter what, and if the universe was trying to stop me—good luck with that.
“Hey, sorry to show up like this,” Jake had said when I let them in a minute later. “You didn’t answer your phone.”
I scrubbed a hand down my scratchy beard. “Sorry, I’ve been avoiding calls. Had it turned off.”
“I don’t blame you,” Alexa said, and her attention wandered over my shoulder, and I turned to see Anna padding our way in sweats and a loose-fitting black tee. My tee.
“Hi,” Anna said.
“How are you holding up?” Xander asked as I motioned for everyone to have a seat.
“Okay, thanks to you all.” Anna sat next to me and slipped her hand inside of mine. “I really can’t thank you enough.”
The team had visited Anna before, but I wasn’t sure if we’d ever grow tired of thanking them. I owed them everything.
“Well, we’re about to head back to London, but we had some news to share with you first,” Jake said, his brown eyes lifting to meet mine from where he sat.
I leaned forward, nervous as to what he was about to lay on me.
“Thirty minutes ago, we handed over information to the Garda about the car accident.” Jake looked at Alexa next to him for a brief moment before redirecting his focus back on me.
Anna squeezed my hand, offering the support she knew I needed.
“Peter McCaffrey was right about the red Lamborghini, but he was wrong about the driver.”
I bowed my head.
“One of the owners of the vehicle who’d been questioned had an alibi. He and his wife were out of town,” Alexa started. “But his sixteen-year-old kid had been home. In his original statement, he denied driving the vehicle.”
“But it was him?” My lungs filled from a deep breath.
“He’d been scared,” Alexa said. “There’s a sharp bend in the road where the accident occurred. He was coming from the other direction too fast and had crossed over into the other lane. He corrected his car to prevent a collision, but it was too late. McCaffrey had jerked his vehicle too hard, and he went off the road.”
“What’d the kid do after?” Anna asked.
“He was afraid of getting in trouble, and so he made an anonymous call to the police about the accident and took off.”
I was on my feet at his words, and I moved over to the wall of windows and pressed a palm to the glass.
A mom and daughter had tragically died, but it wasn’t because of Da.
At the feel of Anna’s hand on my back, I drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out, allowing a sense of calm to take over me.
“McCaffrey chose the wrong man to come after,” Jake said.
I turned to face him, threading my fingers with Anna’s again. “Thank you so much.” I stepped closer to the team, who were now all standing, and brought Anna with me, our hands still united. “For everything,” I said, emotion settling like a lump in my throat.
Anna left my side to hug Alexa, and then Xander and Jake.
We said our goodbyes, and after I locked up, I faced my fiancée, and a line etched between her brows as she eyed me. “How about no more wedding planning? Can we just run away and get married?”
I crossed the room and gathered her in my arms, relieved the nightmare was over.
“You’re sure you—”
She pressed a finger to my lips, silencing me. Her beautiful gr
een eyes grew damp. “I know with your parents’ separation maybe you don’t want to get married right now, but . . .” She allowed her words to fade as she stepped out of my embrace.
“They’re not us,” I whispered. “And nothing could stop me from wanting to be your husband.”
Her lips curved into a slight smile. “Then yes, I want to marry you, and as soon as possible.”
I nipped her bottom lip and nuzzled my nose against hers. “Then I think I have an idea.”
Chapter Sixteen
Holly
“I don’t know how you even got to this floor, but you’re not allowed to see Monsieur Renaud.”
“I don’t care if he’s the king of France. I want to see him. Now!”
“We don’t have a king anymore,” the woman bit back. “I’m calling security.”
“I came all the way to Paris to talk to him, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!” I glared at the woman as she stood in front of Renaud’s door trying to block me from going inside.
The woman nearly fell backward when Renaud opened the door, and he grabbed hold of her elbow to help her remain upright. “I’m so sorry, Monsieur Renaud. I tried to get her to leave.”
His dark eyes pinned to mine, even though he was holding onto his admin. “I heard you,” he said before pulling his attention from me to her. “Why don’t you get us something to drink?”
She repositioned herself to look at Renaud, and although I couldn’t see her face, I was betting there was a major glare or jaw-drop moment happening.
“Now.” He stepped back, and she began cursing in French under her breath before she strode away, her heels clicking angrily on the tile as she left.
I dropped my bag onto the couch in front of his desk and moved over to the window to view the Eiffel Tower in the distance, shining like a beacon beneath the rays of the sun.
When I pivoted to face him, his hands were tucked into his gray trouser pockets with his back to his desk.
Dublin Nights Series Box Set: On the Edge & On the Line Page 38