Dangerous Innocence: Chapter 10

When my phone rang with a familiar Irish number, I stifled a grin. The old man. Of course, he’d already found out. My men were loyal to me but many of them were also loyal to my father. One of them had obviously taken it upon himself to inform my father of the upcoming nuptials. There was hardly another reason why he’d call, especially not given the timing.

“Father,” I said. “The manor must be burning for you to call.”

“I’d call the fire brigade if the manor was burning, or Balor. He didn’t leave the country,” he rumbled.

Balor wasn’t the only one who hadn’t left, but it was pointless to mention this fact to my father. His oldest son, his successor, had always been and would always be my father’s greatest pride.

I didn’t point out that someone needed to lead the business over here, that it was the very reason I was here. I doubted Dad missed me very often, if at all, so living across the big pond shouldn’t have soured his mood.

“For years, I presented women to you, all of them Irish, beautiful and with an excellent pedigree, but now I hear you got engaged without even consulting with me about your future bride.”

The heavy note of disappointment in his voice wasn’t news and it hardly left an impact on me anymore. The days in which I’d thirsted for my father’s approval were long gone.

“I’ll have to share a bed and my life with this woman, so you should be happy I found someone at all.”

“I’m more concerned about the reason for your choice,” he drawled. Happiness wasn’t in Dad’s standard repertoire anyway, not anymore. “The name Killeen leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Are you sure you can control the girl?”

“I have absolutely no doubt.”

“That’s what my brother thought with the mother and look where it got him. Killeen and Devaney … it’s bad blood I can tell you.”

“Dad, please don’t start with your superstitions. You know I don’t believe in this—”

Nonsense.

My father and I have had many disagreements over the years but I wouldn’t disrespect him.

“Regardless of my stance on a marriage with a Killeen, what is this nonsense I hear about marrying her within a fortnight? And in America no less!”

“Considering how flighty Killeens tend to be, I prefer an earlier wedding, Dad. I’m sure you understand.”

“What I understand is that you’re still acting like a boisterous teenager despite your age. Some decisions should not be rushed, and weddings are one of them. If your mother were still alive—” The heavy note of sadness in Dad’s voice triggered my own but I shoved it down. Mum had been dead for five years. There had been time for mourning and sadness but that had passed.

“But she’s not,” I said quietly.

“She’s not,” Dad agreed and a thick silence fell between us. After a couple of minutes, Dad cleared his throat. “You’ll have to celebrate your wedding again in Ireland, on our estate as all Devaneys in history have done. It’s tradition and you won’t be the first to break with it.”

“I won’t, Dad,” I muttered. He always managed to make me feel like a five-year-old. “But it’ll take many months of planning. I don’t have that time. How about you ask one of my cousins or aunts to get the ball rollin’? They can pick a date next summer.”

“You sure the girl will still be your wife by then?”

“If she’s not, then we haven’t wasted money on a big wedding.”

I could imagine Dad’s pinched look. “Not good to joke about the sacred bond of marriage like that, Son. Not good at all. Go to Gulliver and see what you can do for atonement.”

“Dad, badmouthing marriage is the least of my worries when I sit in confession.”

“You don’t know how God weighs your sins.”

“I’m pretty sure he weighs killing more heavily than badmouthing marriage.”

“Still the impertinent boy.”

“Till my last day, Dad. Till my last day.”

“Till mine, till mine.”

He hung up and I chuckled.

Now it was time to tell the lucky bride about our wedding date. Aislinn was a clever girl so maybe she suspected that I wouldn’t want to wait several months to tie the knot, but I was fairly sure she didn’t expect to be married to me within two weeks.

I picked up the phone and called her. When she hadn’t picked up after the sixth ring, I began to worry she had already done what Killeens do and she ran away. Maybe my veiled threat today hadn’t done the trick. Would she really make me chase her? Because I would. Aislinn would become my wife even if I had to drag her to the altar.

“You’re already being clingy,” Aislinn answered the call after the eighth ring.

I grinned. Cheeky woman. It was going to be fun to show her who was boss.

“Is there a reason why you’re calling so late or do you just want to make sure I didn’t run away?”

“I know you won’t run. You’re too clever for such recklessness.”

She didn’t say anything. “What do you want, Lorcan? I need to call my mother to tell her the good news.”

She was way snarkier on the phone than in person. Maybe it was easier to forget who I was over the phone. Maybe I should scare her a little more during our next meeting, just to make sure she wouldn’t become a runaway bride.

“I want to inform you about our wedding. I thought you might want to know so you can speed up your wedding dress shopping and whatever else women do before they marry.”

“Can’t this wait? It’s not like we’re marrying tomorrow.” There was a pause. “Right?” The hint of anxiety in her voice made me smirk.

“Even with my contacts it takes two weeks to organize a decent wedding party around here.”

Aislinn let out a nervous laugh. “Two weeks? You’re kidding right?”

“Not at all, sweet Aislinn.”

She blew out a disbelieving breath. “You can’t wait to stake your claim, can you?”

“Oh, I’ll stake my claim, don’t worry. I’ll stake it over and over and over again. With my fingers and my tongue and my cock. Your mouth, your pussy, they’ll soon be mine, sweet Aislinn. Tonight I want you to finger yourself like you did last night. I want you to remember how my hands felt on you, how your clit swelled up with need, how it pulsated as my fingers gave it what it needed.”

She hung up, but she couldn’t hide her exhilarated breathing. I leaned back, remembering how her nimble fingers worked her pussy and imagined how she was doing the same now. Damn, I couldn’t wait to claim her.

I breathed heavily as my fingers clutched the phone. When Lorcan called, I’d finally gathered the courage to tell Mum, but now I was too agitated and to my mortification, too horny to call her.

Lorcan’s dirty words had flipped a switch and now my body felt hot and needy. It scared me that he had this kind of power over me, especially because his power would only grow once we were married. He wanted to play me like a puppet, and apparently my body was ready to be put on strings.

I took a cold shower despite Gulliver’s disapproving shout that two showers a day were a luxury he couldn’t afford. If he knew why I was trying to cool down, he’d wholeheartedly support my decision.

It was late that night, long after midnight, when I picked up the phone to call my mother. I’d used my last money to buy a calling card so I could call overseas to tell my mother the news before Gulliver did. Even if they weren’t on speaking terms, I had a feeling she might call him to make sure I was alright, and Gulliver probably wouldn’t hold back the monumental news.

When I finished telling Mum about my wedding to Lorcan Devaney, leaving out the detailed reasons for my agreement, silence reigned on the other end. “Aislinn, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Don’t ruin your life because Imogen ruined hers. I can’t lose you both, please.”

“This isn’t only on Imogen,” I said then cringed because I didn’t want to make Mum feel bad.

“They blackmailed you because I ran. I should have known. It’s not like the Devaneys to let something drop. I always wondered why they never made me pay. Now I know. But, Aislinn, please don’t do this only because of me. I can hide. I know how these mobsters think.”

“Mum, how will you go into hiding with Finn? He needs medical treatment, and you need money. The Devaney clan will catch you in no time, and then we’ll have to suffer even more. I can handle this. Let me find Imogen and then we can decide what to do. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

“Aislinn,” Mum said quietly. “Don’t ruin your life.”

“I can handle it,” I said firmly, and by it I meant Lorcan. Maybe he was a sadistic sociopath—and that was very likely—given what I’d seen today, but he apparently had some interest in me. That might give me an advantage in the beginning. I just had to make sure to find Imogen before Lorcan lost interest in me.

The next morning Gulliver announced that Lorcan and I would have a preliminary conversation with him in church that afternoon. I knew these conversations were meant to implore the importance of marriage and the mutual responsibilities of the couple, which was completely unnecessary in our case. Our marriage wasn’t based on any moral reasons and my uncle knew that. Forcing me to endure a conversation like that was unnecessary, but maybe Lorcan was behind that too. He obviously enjoyed torturing me, even before I was officially his wife.

“Lorcan asked me to tell you that he thinks you should buy a couple of dresses, especially for church.”

I gritted my teeth. I still had the money from my night at the Doom Loop but the thought of using it to buy anything for myself made me feel sick to my stomach. Maybe that was what Lorcan intended, to remind me of the mortifying beginning of our bond. As if I needed reminding.

“I think Lorcan has a point. You should buy a few dresses to make a good impression in our community. They’ll soon look to you for guidance as Lorcan’s wife.”

Guidance for what? I was the wife of a mobster. I was nineteen. The only thing I was really good at was cooking, taking care of Finn, and stacking dozens of shot glasses so I wouldn’t have to run back and forth to clear tables.

I nodded, saving every kernel of my fighting spirit for my marriage with Lorcan. “Is there a nice boutique in the area?”

Gulliver gave me an empty look, and with a muttered “Never mind,” I excused myself and grabbed my purse and some money. Maybe I could use the chance to ask around a bit. There had to be people who had seen Imogen. She was tall and striking, and just had a way of drawing attention to herself, but not always the good kind.

As I meandered through our Irish community, several people I’d never met greeted me. Was there a newsletter sent out with my photo and a wedding announcement? I really wouldn’t put it past Lorcan.

I nodded awkwardly and walked faster until a secondhand shop caught my eye and I slipped in. A woman, maybe in her late twenties, stood behind the counter and her smile became tighter when she saw me. “This is all hand-me-downs. I’m sure you’d rather pick something else.”

I cocked an eye. Her shop was elegant and the dresses and skirts on display were right up my alley. Not to mention that Imogen, considering her lack of money, might have come here to buy affordable clothes to get her noticed.

“I like what I see, thank you,” I said. The woman kept watching me, and slowly I was beginning to wonder if she was so wary of me because I was the future Mrs. Devaney. Or maybe she thought I looked like someone who might try to take something without paying. My clothes today weren’t my prettiest pieces. That made my cheeks flame. I hadn’t paid much attention to my hair either. It was probably a wild mane.

“I’m not a shoplifter, you know,” I said when I couldn’t bear the woman’s attention any longer.

Her brown eyebrows inched up her heart-shaped face rose. “If Five-leaf Clover accepts it as part of my protection money, take what you want and I’ll put down a ridiculous price.”

“So you know who I am.” That made me feel better than her thinking I was a thief.

She smiled strangely. “It was in the communal newsletter this morning. I usually don’t read it but today I was stuck on the metro.”

My cheeks flamed. A newsletter? Really?

I shook my head and was tempted to leave the shop but then I kicked myself internally and took Imogen’s photo out of my purse. “Do you know her?”

The woman squinted at the photo then her eyes darted to me. “She’s your sister?”

“How did you know that?”

“Because of the resemblance. But she carries her beauty on a silver platter, and you wear it casually.”

I blinked, not sure if it was a compliment. “So have you seen her?”

“Are you asking around on behalf of Five-Leaf Clover?”

“Will my answer change yours?”

She tilted her head and regarded me for a long time. Then she gave a shrug. “Not really. Just promise I won’t get in trouble.”

“You won’t.” I said it as if my word had any impact on Lorcan or his gang, when it hadn’t and wouldn’t.

“She was in here once, but she told me she wouldn’t be back once she found a modeling job or a rich man who paid for new designer clothes.”

I grimaced. So Imogen was really looking for a sponsor, and Sodom, as I learned firsthand, was the place for that.

“She didn’t come back, so I assume it’s the latter in the case.”

“Why not the former?” I asked sharply, not liking how the woman shoved Imogen in a certain box, even if it was the right one.

She raised her palms. “This is New York. The streets are filled with pretty girls trying to make it. Some are prettier than your sister, some are more ruthless and some have the better contacts.”

I nodded because it’s what I’d told Imogen, but she’d been so full of hope and conviction. I admired her for it, for her absolute belief in herself but not her ruthlessness to get there. I sighed. “Thank you.”

I left without buying anything. Somehow it would have felt strange to keep shopping after our conversation. I went to another boutique, not uber chic, but with newer and definitely pricier items than what I usually bought. Imogen had been here too but as with the first shop, she hadn’t been seen in weeks.

After purchasing two dresses, a skirt and a blouse, I continued through the neighborhood. The area was full of Irish pubs—most of them tourist traps like Temple Bar in Dublin—but some were inviting enough that I would have loved to go in and have a pint, or pop into some shops with Irish names. It reminded me of home but it wasn’t. The scent was different, more city-like, even though Dublin was a big city in its own right. Here, the atmosphere was more erratic, people just passing each other by, while in Dublin people would actually have a chat and a drink together.

I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to find my sister, but once I did, I’d return to Dublin. Nothing would stop me, not even Lorcan and our doomed bond.