Page 41 of Sins of Innocence

Sliding my forefinger and middle finger over her wrist, I check her pulse. It's too fast. And her eyes are dilated.

My fiancée is showing the symptoms of delayed shock.

I dump a couple of teaspoons of sugar into her tea and stir it. "Drink."

Maureen gives Áine a look of concern. "Are you alright, a pheata?"

Áine surges to her feet. "I need to check on Sadie."

"I'll do it." I guide her back into the kitchen chair and shove the mug toward her. "Drink."

"No, I…" Áine looks around the kitchen, as if there are answers on the cluttered but clean countertops. "She needs…"

Maureen stands and rubs her daughter's back. "There, there, child. It will be alright. You've had a difficult day."

She doesn't know the half of it. Not only did Áine find out her daughter had been attacked, but she'd been steamrolled into an arranged marriage by the Underboss of the Shaughnessy Mob.

"You let your young man check on our cailín and you drink your tea." Her mom continues to soothe her, pressing the mug of tea into Áine's hand.

Strangely reluctant to leave my soon-to-be wife to the ministrations of her mother, I force myself to go check on Sadie.

I knock on the door I saw her disappear behind earlier. When there's no answer, I slowly push the door open so I don't startle my new daughter.

She's sitting in the middle of Áine's bed, her knees drawn up, her head resting on them and her arms wrapped around her calves as she cries softly.

"Sadie?" I wait in the open doorway. "Is it okay for me to come in?"

She looks up, her blue eyes awash with tears. "Kieran?"

I nod.

"Why did they do it?" More tears spill down her already wet cheeks.

The need to comfort her propels me forward a step, but I force myself to stop and I ask her permission with a tilt of my head toward her.

She wipes at her cheeks with the back of her hands and nods. "Come in."

I quickly cross the room and kneel on the floor beside the bed, putting my hand palm up on the bed, offering comfort but not touching her without her permission.

I can't tell her that we suspect it was all part of a plan to put Mick's fitness to lead into question, but I can share another truth with her. "Because they are little assholes."

Sadie looks up at me with tear wet eyes. "You really believe that? You don't think I did something to make them try that with me?"

Fury pounds inside my breast, but I don't let it show on my face. "None of this is on you, zemra e vogël."

"What does zemra e vogël mean?" she asks, butchering the pronunciation.

"Little heart. It is an Albanian endearment my grandfather used to call my mother."

"I thought you were Irish."

"Mom was half Irish, half Albanian." I don't mention my sperm donor.

"Oh." Sadie meets my eyes, her own filled with courage I'd like to see in the soldiers who work under me. "I'm not a slut. I didn't want it, no matter what they said."

"I know that, zemra e vogël."

"Other people will believe them. The principal already does."