My attention is drawn from the spreading warmth of the blood when Frankie screams my name and clutches at her stomach. It’s in that moment I realize how precarious of a situation we really are in.
“For Jaysus sake, shut her the fuck up, already,” Kiernan demands.
O’Reilly prods her in the shoulder with the gun he just had to her temple moments ago. She is folded in on herself, her shoulders hunched in pain, her arms wrapped around her swollen belly. Ignoring everything, including the pain, I speak calmly but loudly to be heard over my girl’s cries. “Princess, baby. Shhhhhh, please. If he puts his hands on you again, I’m going to get us both killed. Please, for me, stop crying. Okay? I need you to stay calm for the baby,” I plead with her gently. My words must penetrate—she stops crying, her breathing coming out in short, little gasps. “That’s my girl.” Doing my best, I smile reassuringly through the pain. Somehow, someway, I will get her out of this safely.
Never taking my eyes off of her, I ask Kiernan. “What exactly are you looking for and what in the fuck makes you think that she has it?”
“Her fella was either very clever or a complete fuckin’ tool—”
“Ex—they haven’t been together for the last year,” I interject. I need to remind him of that for my benefit and also to clue him in on just how long it’s been since Andrew has had any influence on her.
“Yeah, well, her bleedin’ fiancé has spent the last couple of years building a case against us and expects us to believe that he doesn’t have a fuckin’ clue where the evidence is. What a load of ol’ bollix,” he spits, his gun now pressed into the tender flesh behind my ear. Frankie shivers, but I give her a stern look, willing her to lock it up. “We know it’s not at his gaff and that he doesn’t have it, Lord rest his filthy soul, so that leaves us with this little fine thing standing right here.” His voice has an air of merriment to it. This fucker is so unstable.
“I have no idea what you think I have, but I assure you that I don’t. He never even spoke about his cases with me,” she says earnestly.
“If that’s the truth, then we’ll have to take you, darlin’, as a pawn until we get what we want,” Kiernan says, with a flick of his wrist, putting his men into motion. O’Reilly tugs on her arm and starts to drag her in the direction of the vehicles.
“No. Take me.” I step in their path. My voice is steady, my heart is not. It’s beating so frantically at the thought of them trying to take Frankie, it makes even my skin pulse. My blood bubbling past the hand I have clamped over the wound on my shoulder with every beat. If they attempt to leave with her, I will get us killed, but not before I take down each and every one of them.
“Why the fuck would we take you?” he sneers.
“Do you know who I am? If I go missing, it will be all over every news channel in the state, hell, the country. They’ll be scrambling to get you what you want in order to look good for the media.” I have no fucking clue if that’s true; in fact, taking a pregnant woman is probably a better bargaining chip, but it’s all I have, and as long as she’s not the one they’re holding, I don’t care. “If Frankie has what you think she does, she can convince them to tell her what to look for. They aren’t gonna give me shit if you take her. They’re just going to come at you guns blazing, and I have no idea where Andrew would hide anything anywhere. She does.”
Holding my breath, I wait and hope like hell he believes my bullshit theories. O’Reilly looks ready to argue, so I hurry to ask, “Frankie, you can do this, right? You can make them tell you what he hid?” I try to keep my tone encouraging, nodding at her to agree. When she does nothing but stare at me blankly, I go on. “As soon as they catch wind that I’m gone, the Federation is going to put out a press release and contact every media source they can. You need that kind of circus to get them to act. Once they do, you can take your evidence and slink off to the hole you crawled out of and nobody will know shit.”
I can’t see if what I’m saying is sinking in since he’s standing behind me, but I know the moment he decides that what I’m saying might work by the look on Frankie’s face as she watches him over my shoulder. O’Reilly holsters his gun and gives her a shake, “Give me your phone.” He begins to drag her over to the blanket when I call out, “She didn’t bring hers, but mine is hooked up to the radio in my truck.” Frankie’s eyes widen at the lie. Hers is the one in the Rover, mine is tucked away in the picnic basket. If they’re going to leave her stranded out here, I don’t want them to know that Reggie knows where to find her, and since I texted him from my phone when we arrived, they might see that message. Plus, I have her cell phone finder on. All Reggie has to do is track her phone and he’ll know where these fuckers are.
“Get her phone and keys. She can figure out how to make it out of here on her bleedin’ own. She won’t be taggin’ along to fuck this up more than she already has,” Kiernan commands.
I stand, stoic and unmoving, trying to convey whatever strength and confidence inside of me to Frankie. She looks like she’s going to faint from all that has happened, and I need her to be strong. O’Reilly comes back with the phone and keys, a smug smile across his bastard face.
“Have fun walking, darlin’,” he sing-songs as he walks to stand beside Kiernan and I.
“We’ll be in touch in twenty-four hours. Don’t be stupid, and fuck this up. No coppers. I’ll flat line him if you betray us,” Kiernan warns a trembling Frankie.
Suddenly, I’m surrounded by his men as they move me toward one of the idling vehicles. I call out to her, “You can do this, Princess. Fuck keeping anyone but you and the baby safe. You hear me? You do what Sonny and Mav tell you to. They’ll know what to do!” I yell over her cries as they push me into the back of the SUV. It’s all too reminiscent of the night I was arrested for beating Andrew’s ass.
“I love you, Deacon!” she calls out to me on a sob that echoes off the lake.
They box me in on both sides so that I have no way of escaping before I get a chance to reply. Kiernan settles in the front seat, and as we drive away, I duck my head to look at Frankie standing next to our picnic. I reach past the sweaty fucker to my left and place my palm against the glass. I do it to reassure her. To tell her that I love her. To express that I have faith in her. I’m not sure if it does all of that, but knowing that she’s safe as long as I’m with them soothes me enough to make a promise to myself that if they harm her in any way, they all fucking die.