Page 11 of A Merciless Husband
I pull my phone away from my face, looking down at it like it’s betrayed me before lifting it back to my ear. “Well, that’s just great. Can’t even trust my own phone to have a bit of privacy.”
“Do you need privacy from me, leannán? So you can talk about how notbaldI am with your friend Lily? Perhaps so you can inform her that I am, in fact, handsome.”
Shock splashes over me like a bucket of ice water. “Youknowabout that? Shit. Oh, double shit! Lily! She’s gotta be so worried about me. But she hasn’t texted me…I’ve been so preoccupied and overwhelmed that I didn’t even think of it.”
There’s a pause on the other line. "She hasn’t contacted you? I haven’t looked at your messages in a while, leannán, I promise. But it seemed like, beforehand, that you two talked constantly.”
I exhale softly. “We did. We always have.”
There’s another beat of silence. “I’ll have someone look into it.”
Relief fills me, and I can’t help but be thankful for Kerry and his resources in this moment. “Thank you. I would be eternally grateful.”
“Leannán, you are mine. And I take care of what’s mine. Including people that mean something to you and have been good to you. Lily seems like she’s been exactly that.”
“She has been. She is,” I say softly, anxiety gripping me once again. I feel awful for not noticing her silence. Lily wouldneverghost me like this, especially after telling her I was being forced to marry a stranger. Something iswrong.
“Mm. Then we’ll make sure she’s okay. Don’t let your mind go away with the fairies, yeah? Our imagination can be unnecessarily cruel. Just…stay there. I’m already on my way, and I’m not too far. I’ll be there soon, and we’ll deal with everything together, okay?”
His reassurance comforts me more than I thought possible. “Okay. I’ll wait here. Please…hurry. I need you.”
“Fuckin’ hell.” I hear Kerry mutter under his breath, making me grin. “I’ll be there as soon as physically possible, leannán.”
He hangs up, and I keep pacing the length of Kerry’s suite. There’s a couple of sounds down the hall outside of the hotel suite, making me jump. I swear I hear my grandfather’s voice echo at one point, but all is still.
The silence rings through the hotel suite, making me even more jittery.
So, I almost pee myself when the door flies open and Kerry walks in. His eyebrows raise when he sees my reaction. “Sorry, leannán. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I let out a long breath, placing a hand over my racing heart. “It’s all right. I was convinced my grandfather was going to storm in here and take me captive. You know. Like always happens in the mafia romance books.” My face flushes as I realize what I’ve just told him.
Kerry’s eyebrows raise and a grin spreads over his face. “You’ve read mafia romance books?”
My cheeks feel really hot now, but I’m determined not to be embarrassed about it. “Well, yeah. But I’ve also read about alien cowboys, so…I never imagined it’dcome true,of course.”
His eyebrows raise even higher, which I’m almost impressed is possible. “You read about alien cowboys?”
I huff and turn away from him back towards the view of the city. “Yes! My reading is diverse.”
Kerry opens his mouth to reply, but is interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. “One moment, please, leannán.” He pats my cheek, and turns a bit. “Yes?” He listens for a moment, and I watch his facial features closely for any clues on what might be going on. “Grand, we’ll be there shortly.”
I raise my eyebrows when he hangs up. “That was Jack. They’ve got my plane ready for us.” He pauses and slowly reaches up to cup my cheek. “Are you ready to go to my home, leannán? To the beautiful country of Ireland?”
I take a deep breath, mind racing. This entire week’s events have been happening too rapidly for me to properly process. My brain feels fuzzy, like there’s static making it buzz and clouding my thoughts. “What about Lily? I’m worried. I don’t want to leave the U.S. without knowing she’s okay. And she needs to know where I’m going and that I’m okay, too.”
Kerry nods. “I’ve got Liam and Jack on it. But…they’re rather occupied with their own duties and we’re about to leave. I’m considering asking for help from some of my…collegues. But I wasn’t sure if you’d want that, or if Lily would be okay with that. I know from your messages that she isn’t really a fan of my world.”
I chew on my bottom lip and turn to look out the window. He’s right, Lily would be upset if she knew I was considering telling mafia men to dig into her life. But if she’s actually in danger…then they would be the least of her worries. Especially if it was her dad, whoever he is. If he’s involved, then no one would be better to save her than Kerry’s colleagues.
“Let me call her.” I take out my phone and Kerry nods, sitting down on the couch and looking at his own phone. I look at our last texts. It was several days ago, after the ordeal with my grandfather. I’d texted her to tell her the horrors I’d witnessed, and that I was struggling and overstimulated.
She hadn’t responded. I didn’t think much of it that night, sometimes it takes time for either of us to respond when we’re doing various things. But I’d expect a response by the next day, but nothing came. Only, I hadn’t noticed because that was the day that Kerry took me out.
It’s been such a whirlwind the past few days, I haven’t been able to keep up with it all. And maybe that failing hurt Lily.
I feel like I’m going to be sick at that thought.
I click the call button and take a deep breath as I hold up my phone to my ear. The phone rings.
