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“Don’t care,” Ronan replies. “You scared the absolute life out of me.”
I get the girls down from their beds.
“The house needs some work,” Ronan continues, “so for now, we are heading to the penthouse in the city. It’s close by, and the girls have not been yet. I was allowed into the house to pack some bags for each of us since the fire didn’t destroy the bedrooms, but the kitchen is completely gone and so is the living room.”
“What about Sam?” Harper asks, and Ronan shakes his head.
I glance over at Van and there is nothing but guilt on his face. I hope he feels bad. This is the reason we leave no evidence—nothing can come back to bite us in the ass.
Some people don’t agree with the way we live our life, but you know what? Fuck them. We don’t force people to use their connection to us, nor force people to work with us, or borrow money, and we are very clear about what happens when you screw us over. Our world does not work like everyone else’s. Regular people who stay out of our business don’t get hurt. We are not vindictive fucks who kidnap, hurt, or murder innocent women and children. There might have been an innocent man or two somewhere along the line—after all, we are not perfect.
Thankfully, Ronan and Cian brought two cars, and we split up between them. The girls and Ronan are with me, and Harper is riding with Van and Cian. I don’t argue because it’s possible that maybe—just a bit—I feel Van needs her, and he’ll only get her for the duration of the drive.
Ten minutes into the journey, the girls fall asleep. Ronan looks over at me, but I try to ignore him. It doesn’t work.
“Are you okay?”
I shrug. If I’m being honest, I don’t know. “Everyone is alive, so I should be fine, right?”
“It’s okay if you’re not. I’m still a little shaken.”
Being vulnerable isn’t something I ever do. “For a split second when we pulled up, I thought I lost them. I just found them, Ronan. Promise me if anything ever happens to them, you will kill me.”
“I’m not the man to ask for that promise.”
I nod in acceptance. He’s right, it will need to be Cian. “What will happen to Celia?”
“She is being questioned by the police. They will let her go, since I didn’t hand over the video surveillance.”
“Good, the bitch is mine.”
A small hand slaps me. “Daddy, no bitch is yours. If you leave Harper, we’ll go with her,” Sadie threatens.
“Yeah, Dad. We will all go with Harper,” Ronan mocks.
“Don’t worry, Harper isn’t going anywhere. Otherwise, who else is going to plan your birthday party?”
Sadie squeals. “Yay, you’re the best dad ever!”
“Thanks, kid. You’re not too bad yourself.”
Eloise starts crying. “We’ve never had a birthday party before. Can we have ponies?”
“You can have whatever you want, as long as you talk to Harper about it first, and she agrees.”
Ronan shakes his head. Celia was supposed to throw the party and now I’m going to kill her for what she has done. I figure Harper is a girl, so surely she will know how to throw a kid’s party.
By the time we reach the penthouse, Ronan has had dinner sent up and we all eat before the girls bathe. I then read them a bedtime story, check for monsters under their beds, and tuck them in for the night.
Searching the penthouse, I find Cian flicking through his phone in the living room, and I lean down to whisper in his ear. “Keep an ear out for the girls. I need to show Harper how bad she is for putting herself in danger.”
Cian nods, knowing what I plan to do to our girl. While I’m so grateful and owe her my life for saving my daughters, for role-playing purposes, she has been a bad, bad girl and needs to be punished.
I haven’t told the others, as Van would bitch me out saying she has been through enough today and doesn’t need my bullshit, and Ronan would throw his weight around because he’s the boss. I plan to beat them to it.
Padding back down the hall, I spot Harper quietly standing outside the girl’s room, watching them through a crack in the door. Walking up behind her, I wrap my arms around her waist and rest my chin on her shoulder. “They sleeping?”
She nods. “Yeah, I just wanted to make sure they were okay. They still have nightmares about monsters.”
