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“I…I still don’t understand what that has to do with me,” I stammered a bit.
“You killed Donaldson’s partner in crime, Ms. Valentine,” he said evenly. “I’d like to thank you for that small consolation.”
That had me rearing my head back again. “I killed Ashton in self-defense,” I lied, sticking with my story, not knowing Declan O’Brien well enough to trust him with any slice of the truth.
“Yeah, so it seems,” he murmured, his keen blue eyes regarding me carefully, letting me know that he wasn’t buying any of my bullshit.
Nevertheless, if it wasn’t for this man, I couldn’t be sure if I’d be standing here today. Everyone knew the rules, and for all intents and purposes, those rules were followed to prevent a war that neither three organizations wanted to deal with. At the end of the day, it was all about money, and a war would cost them a lot of that money before the dust settled.
“Actually, since we’re on the subject,” I said. “It’s actually me who should be thanking you.”
He arched a brow. “For what?”
“For allowing Aurelio and Nero to do what they had to in order to help me,” I answered. “We both know that this could have ended differently if you hadn’t granted them that small measure.”
“Lass, your thanks is unnecessary,” he said. “If there’s one thing that I despise, it’s violence against innocent women.”
“Mr. O’Brien?”
“Yes?”
“Is your accent real?” I asked, not being able to help myself.
The gorgeous man smiled wide. “Only when I’m angry.”
“So, you’re angry now?”
“Nah,” he answered as he shook his head. “I’m just trying to charm you.”
My lips twitched, and the rules dictated that I shouldn’t like Declan O’Brien, but I was finding out that he really was a lot more charming than I had originally given him credit for. It was easy to hate the enemy when you were raised to hate them, even without actually knowing them, but my opinion of Declan was quickly becoming complicated as he talked to me not like the enemy.
“Well, I’m not easily charmed, Mr. O’Brien,” I semi-lied.
After giving me a quick wink, he straightened to his full height, then got serious. “Tell Provenza that I’ll be taking care of Congressman Oliver.”
“Wait…what?”
“You’re safe, Ms. Valentine,” he said, making my heart skip a beat. “Tell the Sartoris that I’ll be cleaning up the remaining mess since this is my territory.”
“But…but I thought they were giving you-”
“They’ve given me more than enough on the family, so it’s my turn now,” he said, and with that, he walked away, making me wonder just who in the hell Declan O’Brien was.
Epilogue
Aurelio – (One Year Later)~
“You’d think that he would have gotten better at this.”
I looked up from my desk to see Savina walking into my office. “You’d think,” I chuckled.
Kasen was pregnant again, and Nero was back to acting unhinged. However, I could hardly blame the man anymore. Savina was six months pregnant, and while I wasn’t acting as irrational as Nero, I worried about her more than normal. It’d been hard to let her still work once we’d found out that she was pregnant, but she’d been good about calling it quits when she had reached the sixth month last week. Honestly, if I thought that she’d go for it, I wouldn’t let her leave the house until she gave birth.
“At this rate, I’m wondering if Kasen is willing to give him a third child with how he acts,” Savina said as she walked around the desk to stand in front of me.
“Kasen will get over it,” I replied. “She always does.”
Savina’s blue eyes regarded me closely as she asked, “Have you seen the news?”
