Page 30 of The Endless Want

“Not yet. But it will if we don’t act fast. That was their issue, why this happened tonight. They wanted to hurt you, scare you, and make you do something that would be irrefutable to Liam.”

Her eyes close in relief at the honesty. She doesn’t want comforting lies; she wants the truth, even if it hurts. It’s one of the things I like—no, admire—dangerously much about her. Which chafes at me because of our history.

Because of the way she betrayed me with Liam and lied about him being alive.

When she opens her eyes again, something softer appears beneath the fear. Something she rarely shows because she knows this position requires strength and resolve.

“Declan… I don’t know how to beat an enemy I can’t see.”

“You don’t have to see her,” I say. “You just have to stay alive long enough for me to.”

She doesn’t argue this time. Ailish draws a sharp breath. “Nadia’s friend. I think she’s involved. It just makes sense.”

The thought hits her like a stab—hope, fear, recognition, grief tangled together. I see the way her eyes flicker with the story Nadia once told: two girls surviving horrors together, one escaping, the other swallowed by the machine that created her.

“If it’s her,” Ailish whispers, “then she didn’t want this assignment.”

“No,” I say. “She didn’t.”

Her gaze lifts to mine, steady despite everything. “Then what do we do now?”

“We find shelter,” I say. “Somewhere no one in the Irish ranks knows. Somewhere the Russians can’t triangulate. After that, we look for cracks in their operation. The woman tonight—she didn’t hide her silhouette. She wanted you to see her. She wanted you to know she was close.”

“You think it was her.”

“I think it was someone in her circle. Someone trained like her. And someone who knew watching you was more effective tonight than killing you.”

Her eyes lock on mine, searching for something—assurance, direction, maybe a reason to believe she hasn’t already lost the fight.

Whatever she sees softens her expression. “Where do we go?” she asks.

“There’s a place,” I say. “A safe flat I’ve kept off every record. Not even Liam knows about it.”

That’s when her eyes narrow. “I was talking about waiting a day out, not being forced into chains like Nadia,” she spits out like a venomous snake.

The way she flips on a dime, harsh and protective of herself, it’s attractive and incredibly infuriating at the same time.

I stop walking, gritting my teeth. “I’m trying to keep you safe. You nearly died.”

“I was handling myself. Besides, if you’re going rogue on Liam with me, won’t that confirm his suspicions? If I just disappear?” Her voice raises along with the hairs on the back of my neck.

We can’t afford a scene. Not after what just happened. And she needs medical care if I have any say in it. At the very least some damn sleep.

And as far as I’m concerned putting her back out there is just handing her to the Russians until I can get all the answers.

“I can handle Liam. And trust me, he’d rather me take you somewhere on my terms and be pissed at me than lose his precious strategist and pet.” I shouldn’t have said it that way. I know it instantly. But I spoke from deep inside. I feel that all the time now.

I know Liam is with Nadia and has never touched Ailish, but what are Ailish’s feelings given that she lied and schemed for him over her loyalty to me and to the Irish, allowing the Italians to get a foothold over us?

She shakes her head and lets my hand drop. Anger rises in the heat of her cheeks. At least she isn’t scared anymore.

“You think you just know everything, Declan. You know what’s best and deserve control over everyone’s lives. But under you things were floundering. We would have lost people because you wouldn’t be a team player.”

I take a step closer to her, my lips nearly on her forehead. “This is not the place or time, and you’ll come with me like it or not. In this instance, I do know what’s best for you.”

Despite my deadly tone, she laughs at me. “You watch me get attacked, and now you’re threatening me? Why even bother saving me, then?”

Did she seriously think that?