Page 88 of Bound Lies

It rings twice before he picks up.

“Tell me you’ve made progress.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Finn’s still mute. I’m starting to think the fucker took a vow of silence.”

“Keep at him. He’ll break eventually.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.

The sun is beating down on my neck, and my shirt is sticking to my body from the lingering sweat from my workout. I’m in desperate need of a shower, but business has to come first.

“Any word on Lorcan?”

“He can’t get out until Friday,” Ronan says.

“We really need him here. If anyone can get inside Finn’s head, it’s him.”

“I’m aware, but Lorcan also doesn’t know that Finn is in our possession. I’m going to need to debrief him first.”

“He hasn’t seen the kid in years. It won’t be easy be hard for him, considering the circumstances.”

“No. Finn was once part of this family. Bonds like that don’t just break overnight.”

My thoughts drift to Cormac. “Are you sure about that?”

“Let me deal with Lorcan,” Ronan says firmly.

“You always do.” My foot lands on a nearby metal barrel and sends it flying across the dirt path between the warehouses.

I’m about to hang up the phone when Ronan speaks. “Not so fast.”

I pause.

“What’s this I hear about you luring O’Keefe’s men into a shootout?”

I close my eyes and silently mouth a string of curses.

Of course, he heard about my little run-in. Perhaps Riley told him.

“That was a bad call, Kieran.” Ronan’s voice is sharp. “Especially with Riley in the car. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Obviously, I wasn’t. I guess you should just add it to the long list of ways I’ve fucked up lately.” I hang up before I can say something I’ll regret.

I’m so fucking tired of Ronan acting like he’s the only one capable of making real decisions. Our father didn’t leave his empire to just him; he left it to all of us. But it seems Ronan’s forgotten that little fact.

Just because he’s the oldest doesn’t mean he knows everything, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean he gets to talk down to me every time I make a move he doesn’t agree with.

I sink down onto a stack of crates and lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I try to fight the urge to storm back into the warehouse and slash Finn’s throat as a way of releasing the tension coiling inside me.

What the hell is happening to me?

I’ve never been this wound up before.

Normally, I can laser my focus onto the enemy and ignore all the noise, but ever since Riley arrived on my doorstep, everything feels blurred and messy.

Maybe it’s because I don’t understand her. One second, she’s looking at me like I mean something to her, and the next, she can’t stand to be in the same room as me.

It shouldn’t matter, considering the fact our relationship was never supposed to be real.