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“It couldn’t be many,” Aiden stated matter-of-factly. “Most of them are scattered all over the floor.”

“That’s true,” Kyran added. “I know of people who took an entire bottle and lived.”

My stomach turned and I reached for the phone, calling one of the guards that were stationed there.

“Get into my bedroom and monitor my woman’s pulse,” I ordered, already washing off blood in the sink. My hands were shaking. “If it’s faint, call an ambulance. Whatever you do, don’t leave her alone.”

“But, boss,” said Niall, one of the recent guards—with a spot-clean record—I employed, “you said if we touch her, we’re dead.”

“You’ll be fucking dead if you don’t monitor her pulse,” I shouted into the phone. “Now get your ass into the castle and keep me on the line.”

My hands washed, I reached into the closet where we kept spare clothes and changed my bloodied shirt, then pulled on a coat.

I turned to my brothers. “Can one of you go see her parents and bring them to Ireland, and the other drive me to the airport?”

They nodded without hesitation. “You got it.”

Twenty minutes later, I was climbing the steps of my jet that would take me back to Sienna and Kyran was getting on a flight to Baltimore.

TWENTY-THREE

KRISTOFF

Two Irish mobsters sat opposite me in my downtown office, and even though all I wanted to do was lunge across the desk and strangle them both, I forced myself to remain calm.

Thank fuck they hadn’t come to the house.

I wasn’t afraid of them, but everything about the way they carried themselves screamed criminals. My wife would have been deeply concerned to see two men like these sitting across from her.

She was worried enough about her firstborn marrying a man we’d never met.

“It took two of you to deliver the message, huh?” I asked, leaning back in my chair while we watched each other warily.

If I judged it right, the older brother—Aiden Callahan—wasn’t too thrilled about this wedding either. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

“Well, Tyran wanted to make sure to offer his private jet to bring you and your family to the wedding,” Kyran, the twin, drawled. “He’s very excited.”

“And he wanted you to meet some of the family,” Aiden said. “Of course, he planned to come himself, but something came up.”

“Well, you can tell him I have my own jet, and I don’t see why we’re rushing this wedding. It’s very… unexpected.”

“You’d think a man your age would have learned to expect the unexpected by now,” Aiden retorted wryly.

“And I think we both know that this is a mistake,” I answered coldly. “I know who you are, and Sienna doesn’t belong in your world.”

“I agree.”

“I don’t,” Kyran spat back, glaring at his brother. “Is this why you insisted on coming? To fucking spoil it for our brother?”

Aiden didn’t look at his brother, instead keeping his gaze locked on me. “I think we both know there is nothing deterring Tyran from marrying this girl.”

“This girl is my daughter.”

“Then maybe you can get your daughter to stop this nonsense,” Aiden suggested.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Kyran hissed. “Tyran will stop at nothing for her, and you know that.”

“And I will stop at nothing to make sure my daughter is safe and happy.”