Page 118 of Broken Lies
Riley tenses, and I silently curse Ronan for jumping straight in without any warning.
“Sean called me,” I explain to Riley.
Her eyes go wide, and the color in her cheeks fades as she looks at me, but I offer her an easy smile.
“He was just waving his dick around, don’t worry.”
“What are you going to do?” She glances anxiously over at Ronan.
“Nothing as of right now.” Then his eyes turn to me. “We don’t want to make any rash moves. But I suggest you don’t let Riley out of your sight. Sean will be waiting for an opening, and you can’t afford to give him one.”
He is talking as if I need reminding of the fact that there’s a huge red target on Riley’s back.
I turn to Riley. “I think it’s best that you stay locked down at the penthouse. Just until the threat is contained.”
“But you said?—”
“I know what I said, but right now, I don’t even want to risk having you in a car that could easily get intercepted. It’s safer for you to stay put.”
Ronan nods. “Kieran’s right. I understand it’s frustrating, but we need to put your safety first.”
Riley chews on her lower lip as she fiddles with the hem of her shirt, looking like she’s seconds away from bursting into tears.
I hate that I’m going back on our deal, but knowing that Sean is on our tail raises the stakes to a height I don’t dare fuck with.
“Sean isn’t going to back down,” I remind her.
“I know.”
Ronan leans forward. “I think we should pull Brennan from surveillance and have him start digging into O’Keefe. Hopefully, he can find something we can use against him.”
“I agree.”
“Doyle can cover him on surveillance until then, as well as Cormac.”
“Can we trust Cormac to pull his weight and actually do what he’s asked? Because if he continues to flake out, I’d rather put another guy with Brennan.”
Ronan leans back and folds his arms. “I’ll speak to him, make it clear that this is his priority.”
The fact that he even needs reminding makes my blood boil.
I wonder what will happen with Cormac after Sean is taken care of. Does he go back to doing whatever the hell he wants without any repercussions? Because that’s exactly what he has been doing for the past two years.
There’s one set of rules for me and a completely other set for Cormac, and I’m getting a little tired of picking up the slack.
I don’t bother voicing my thoughts to Ronan. The last thing I need right now is to get into another argument with him. I’ll just have to deal with Cormac’s lack of work ethic after I’ve taken care of Sean.
“You’ll be sticking close to Kieran,” Ronan tells Riley. “If Sean’s watching, we need this marriage to look airtight.”
Riley doesn’t flinch. She simply nods.
There’s a strength in her gaze that reminds me of the therapy reports I read.
Highly resilient.
Empathetic.
Mature.
