Page 38 of Redemption
“I know you said later, but I need to know what to expect.”
My husband’s nearly black gaze locks on mine. As is his nature, he doesn’t waste any time or any words. “We have to leave. It’s not safe for us here any longer.”
“Leave the safe house?” I ask, searching for clarification as the spicy scent of jambalaya wafts around us. Something in the seriousness of his posture tells me that’s not what he means.
He crosses his arms over his chest. “Leave the country.”
I inhale a sharp breath. “For how long?”
Lachlan takes a step closer to me, grasping my hand to pull me away from the stove. “I don’t know. But we have to go. Tonight.”
“What about the distillery? Our home? Our employees? My family? Our life?”
He glances up at the ceiling before meeting my eyes once more. “If we don’t leave tonight, none of that will matter.”
Heat rises in my chest as my heart thumps faster against my rib cage. For the first time, I know I can’t settle for euphemisms and half-truths.
“Tell me everything, Lachlan. What’s going on? I need to know. If I’m leaving everything and everyone behind, I deserve that much.”
He presses his lips together, and I know he’s calculating every word he’s going to speak. Lachlan Mount does nothing without measuring the effects of it before it happens.
“You deserve everything. Everything.” He pauses and takes a slow, deep breath and lets it out before continuing, “If we stay here, there’s a man and his father who don’t just want my head; they will arrest you, throw you in prison, take our daughter. And the things they will do to her will break her body, shatter her mind, and destroy her soul—in that order.”
Fear—icy-cold fear—the likes of which I’ve been feeling all too often lately, settles deep in my bones. I will not let it overtake me. I fight hard to maintain my composure and not give myself over to it. “What are you talking about?”
“The truth. The cold, hard fucking truth.” He shakes his head. “These aren’t gangsters coming for us. They’re coming out of the darkness, but with the might of the United States government behind them. That’s not something I can fight in the way I always have. Do you understand?”
“The Feds?” I ask as I realize my worst nightmares are manifesting as we speak.
“And worse. Which is why we have to go. You have to be untouchable. They can never get their hands on you or Rory. Never.”
“Lachlan—” I start to speak, but he interrupts me.
“I can only protect you until my dying breath. That’s the one thing that haunts me. After I’m gone, I have no control over what happens to you. I need to know that you’re both protected—for the rest of your lives. I can never rest in peace without knowing that.”
“Lachlan—” I start again, voice shaking.
“Keira, listen to me. We’re leaving tonight. I don’t know if you’re ever coming back. You will never know how sorry I am that it has to be this way, but this is the hand life dealt us. We have no choice but to respond. And my response is to protect my family at all costs. I don’t care if my empire crumbles. It means nothing compared to you and Rory.” He grips my upper arms, and I stare directly into his dark eyes as he continues, “I don’t care what happens to your distillery. I don’t care what happens to our home. I don’t care about anything but your safety and happiness and that of our daughter. Do you understand me? Whatever it takes to ensure that, that is what I will do. Don’t ask me to change my mind or my plans. This is how it has to be.”
Tears fight to tip over my lids, but I blink them back. I am Keira Mount. I signed up for this life. I know who I married. I knew what my choices could mean.
The piper always shows up to be paid one day, and it’s never the day you expect.
“I understand,” I say, lifting my chin as I breathe through my nose. My entire body leans toward him, as though drawn like a magnet. “I’ll pack our things. We’ll be ready quickly.”
My husband yanks me against his chest, and his arms lock around me. “My brave, fierce wife. I didn’t know it was possible to love anyone as much as I love you.”
I snake my arms around him and squeeze him as tightly as I can. I know he won’t break. Not my husband. He’s strength personified.
“Whatever happens next, we go together. That’s all I ask. We go together. Don’t send me and Rory away from you.”
His arms tighten their grip around my body as he whispers into my hair, “We go together, Hellion. We go together. That much I can promise you right now.”
Chapter Eighteen
Mount
I release Keira reluctantly when I hear the door to the bathroom open. With another kiss to her forehead, I inhale her scent and pray that I haven’t sentenced her to hell with me.
