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“James.”
She shut her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose. When she opened them once more, her green gaze was cooler than before. “I’ve decided that I’m not going to let Finnan humiliate me like this. If he thinks he can simply replace me with you, I’ll make it my life’s purpose to punish him for it.”
My mouth was suddenly dry. “What are you talking about?”
Lifting the hem of her dress, she pulled a Ruger LCP 380 from a micro garter on her thigh and pointed it at me. Aisling cocked her head to the side, her pale hair gliding from her shoulder. “Do you know how I became the Chief of this clan?”
My gaze darted between her and the gun. “No.”
“Daddy didn’t hand me this role. I had to work for it. Every. Damn. Day. Of my life. My father didn’t believe I could or should rise in the ranks of the clan. But I did. I believe a woman can do anything she puts her mind to. And I enjoyed putting each and every man who ever saidI couldn’tin the ground.”
“I get it. You’re a man-hater.” But what she’d said resonated so strongly with me. Did I want to rise through the ranks of my father’s organization? No, but I wanted what Aisling had fought so hard for. Respect. Fear. Freedom to do what she wanted. Not be used as a pawn and sold to another man as a form of payment.
She arched a brow, tossing her wayward hair back over her shoulder. “I don’t hate men, Sloane. They have their uses.” She inched a step closer, tightening her grip on the weapon.
“There’s just one thing I don’t understand.”
“And what’s that?”
“You said you didn’t want to marry Finnan.”
“I don’t. What I want from that man is power. The Mac Tíre clan is the epitome of power.” She stepped closer, the muzzle of the gun finally touching my temple. I kept my eyes on her finger as she moved it off the trigger guard. I knew this gun—I had one myself back home—so I knew she had to use a fair amount of pressure to depress the trigger.
“It’s a shame, really. In another life, we could’ve been friends, Sloane.”
No.No. Fuck this. I wasn’t going down like this.
“Any last words, Sloane Kavanaugh?” she asked.
I swallowed down on my dry throat. “Yeah,” I croaked, shifting my weight forward. “How confident a fighter are you without a weapon?”
Before she could react, I slammed my fist into her solar plexus, compressing her diaphragm. Aisling stumbled away, clutching at the top of her stomach and sucking in vital oxygen. The gun fell from her hand, smacking into the iron bedframe and clattering to the floorboards.
I lunged for the weapon, scooping it up and turning the muzzle on Aisling. Her green eyes burned with hatred as her gaze flickered between the gun and my face. With her hand still clutching her midsection, she straightened as much as she could, meeting me face-on.
“You want to shoot me?” she asked, pressing her lips together in an attempt to hide her pain. “You want to end my life?” Aisling leaned forward, baring her teeth. “Do it, and my men will take you out before you can set foot outside this room.”
“Yourmen, not your father’s?”
Her face screwed up at the mention of Mannix King. “My father is weak,” she spat. “Ever since his diagnosis and poor prognosis, he’s been letting other clan leaders steamroll right over him. He’s burying us, killing this once proud clan. But I will not sit idly by and watch it happen.”
“That’s why you want Finnan’s influence.” It all made sense now. “Joining with Finnan would provide the power you need to keep your clan alive.”
She bared her teeth again. “Yes. My father worked for years to make this clan the most powerful in the country. But his own mortality is starting to influence everything he does. It’s a weakness, and I willnothave it in my clan. When my father is dead, I will rise up to claim what was once ours.”
“Jesus. Does Finnan know you’re this power-hungry?”
The smile she gave me made me shiver. “The leaders of these clans only see what they want to see. Women are weak. Men are strong. Women stay in the background. Men lead. Well, I’ll be putting a stop to that as soon as possible.”
I tightened my grip on the gun, finger loose on the trigger. I didn’t want to kill her. I just wanted to get out of here. “What if I could promise you I’ll never marry Finnan? Would you let me go?”
She arched a blonde brow and stared at me. Hard. “You’d give him up?”
“I never wanted him in the first place. My heart…” I paused, unable to say the next few words.
“Your heart?” she prompted, dropping her hand from her stomach. She stepped closer. “Your heart belongs to who?” A new smile spread across her lips. “Someone else. Someone in the clan?” Another step until the muzzle of the Ruger was pressed to her chest. “You know, there are only three rules these men abide by.” She counted them off on her fingers. “Don’t talk to the police. Don’t rat on another member. And the biggest is… don’t get involved with the girlfriend, wife, or daughter of a member.” Her cat-that-ate-the-canary smile widened, and she continued in a sing-song voice. “I’m willing to bet someone broke that the third rule. For you.”
Fuck. I licked my top lip, suddenly anxious. “What’s the punishment for breaking the rules?”
