Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78773 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78773 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
All of them. The men of the brotherhood. That includes Carson.
He’s going to go into that meeting, tell them all I suspected Carson was a spy… and then what? What happens after that?
“Nolan, don’t!” I tell him.
He looks at me curiously. “Don’t what?”
“Tell them what I said.”
He looks thoughtful. “I promise, I’ll be discreet.” He gets to his feet and walks to the door. “Now, Megan, sit tight. Someone will be up to get you shortly. Please, just stay here.”
But I’m not the type that sits around and waits for someone to rescue her. As soon as he’s gone, I begin to plot my escape. I know every route to every room in this house, and have, since I was a very small child. I even know a few passages that no one else knows. If I get one of the girls to help me… it just might work.
I need to see what’s in that diary. I need to know what it says about Carson.
I need to know if I can trust him or not.
I can’t sneak past the guards, this much I know. I’ve tried, I failed at that.
I’ll need help. I pick up my phone and dial.
Chapter 15
Carson
I pace back and forth in the meeting room, waiting for the other men of the Clan to arrive. Just one day ago, everything was right in the world. I was falling in love with Megan, doing the job my Clan Chief wanted me to, secure in my knowledge that I was a Clan brother through and through.
But now.
I can’t believe she never showed me. All this time, I’ve prided myself on being astute, on noticing everything and piecing it together. I felt like the details on the O’Gregors were only just beginning to come together. Meanwhile, the clues were right under my fucking nose.
The sodden pages of the book gave way to the center, where the pages were kept intact by some miracle. I suppose they were warm enough and tight enough together that the rain that ruined the other parts couldn’t seep through to the center.
Eve’s handwriting in clear, sloping lines.
If Carson knew the secrets I hold, I’m afraid he couldn’t be with me any longer. And I’m carrying his child. I can’t risk rejection at a time like this, not when solidifying ourselves in the Clan is in everyone’s best interest.
I agreed that I would find out everything I could for the O’Gregors. I did so reluctantly, but given what I know now, it was my only choice.
Eve. Right in front of us, she was spy to the O’Gregors. What did she lift from me? Did she read my phone, read my email, tap into anything else she had access to? I’m careful, but always trusted her, so I never imagined she’d use my trust to her advantage.
I shake my head, as Tully and Boner enter. They look at me and can likely see I’m physically troubled.
“Y’alright, Carson?” Tully asks with concern.
“Aye,” I lie. Bloody hell, I’m not alright.
It’s for everyone’s good, the diary entry continued. They used the information they knew about the McCarthys as blackmail. But what they didn’t know is that I was already in love.
They told me about Carson. About his mum, and how she was violated. Raped, by the highest-ranking member of the O’Gregors. How she kept her son’s birth and identity a secret until her deathbed, then confided in Carson’s father as to who he was.
No one else knows this. Not Carson. Not Keenan. No one but Carson’s mum who’s long gone, and his father, who sits on the throne as overlord of the O’Gregors.
It’s confidential because Guy O’Gregor says once his son is a sworn member of the Clan, he can no longer touch him. Just like if one of his daughters were to ever fall in love with rival mafia, he could do nothing if they wed.
Me. Bastard son of Guy O’Gregor, current clan Chief.
Seamus knew this. My mother knew this. But they both took it to their death beds. And if my father knows I’m a sworn-in McCarthy….
I can hardly process any of this.
Eve, my sweet Eve, spy for the O’Gregors.
Seamus swearing me in as McCarthy, though I carry the blood of a rival.
Megan’s innocence in all this.
I had her brought to safety as soon as I knew what kind of danger she was in. Poor lass probably thinks I’m angry at her, but I’m not. I’ll have to make things right with her. But in the moment, all I could think about was getting the information to my brothers and keeping her safe in the meantime.
The O’Gregors are fucking deadly.
One of them knows who I am. We need to verify this.
Keenan arrives and brings Father Finn with him. Lachlan comes with Tiernan, as the two of them have grown closer in recent years, and Lachlan’s been training the boys at St. Albert’s. I wonder at first why he brought Tiernan as well, but then I remember. Tiernan lived in Stone City. He was runner for the O’Gregors when we met him.