Dangerous Innocence (Five-Leaf-Clover)

Two weeks after Christmas, I finally found a temporary job in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant as a dishwasher and general maid. It was hard work and I was poorly paid, but I wanted to contribute to our rent. And I badly needed to be busy. Since the attack, I hadn’t stopped watching my back. At least now the guards who watched me on Lorcan’s orders always showed themselves so I knew they were close by. It helped with my anxiety.

I had to admit I was disappointed that Lorcan didn’t keep his promise to tell me about his questioning of my attacker. Instead, he sent one of his brother Balor’s men. When the alarm had woken me the morning after the attack, I jerked up in fear, disoriented and out of breath. It took me a while to realize where I was: in Lorcan’s temporary apartment so he could watch me.

I’d been on autopilot that day, because I had to function for Finn’s sake.

I’d longed for Lorcan’s presence. With him by my side, I would have felt safe. The other guards were only a small consolation. Our night together had reminded me of the longing I’d tried to suppress. I missed Lorcan, and his actions made me hope that he missed me too. But he’d returned to New York without another word. Maybe that really meant it was over. Maybe he’d wanted a last fuck.

Life had to go on. I’d have to figure out a way to return to Dublin in body and mind.

My arms buried in hot water when my phone vibrated in my back pocket, interrupting my wandering thoughts. I ignored it, but when the person tried three more times, I knew it was important. I wiped my hands on the apron.

The moment I picked up, someone said, “Your sister is in a hospital in New York.”

“What?” I barely understood what the person was saying. The voice was muffled, so I couldn’t say who it was. I thought it might be a man but it could have been a woman imitating a male voice too. After a moment, the words sank in. “My sister? Where? Why? I don’t understand.”

The person gave me an address then hung up. I blinked, completely stunned. My sister was in a hospital in New York? Since when? And why hadn’t Lorcan called me? I knew why. What if this was a trick?

Too much had happened in the past for me to believe a strange voice. It could be the people who attacked me, or the police trying to lure me to their side again. Since I married Lorcan seeing police on the streets didn’t evoke the same sense of protection I’d felt in the past. I’d been dragged into his shady world.

After I’d tossed my apron aside and grabbed my purse, I left the restaurant without a word and ran home. Even if I mistrusted the voice, I needed to find out more as soon as possible. I would have lost the job in a couple of weeks, when they’d realized who I was.

Mum wasn’t home and Finn was with our neighbor.

What was I supposed to do now? I needed to find out if it was true. But whom could I call? The police were out of the question. The hospital probably wouldn’t give me information over the phone either. And word might spread to Lorcan if I called the hospital.

Maeve. Or Gulliver. Those were my only options.

I chose Maeve. Gulliver was loyal to Five-Leaf-Clover, and he’d tell Lorcan.

Maeve picked up after the fifth ring.

“Maeve, it’s me, Aislinn.” I hadn’t called her since Lorcan sent me away. She was married to Seamus, so I assumed she wasn’t allowed to stay in contact to me. Now, I wondered if I should have given it a try sooner. I’d loved spending time with her and I knew if given time, we’d have become best friends.

I quickly told her about the call I just received.

She was quiet, then she murmured. “It wasn’t me, if that’s what you think.”

I had thought it might be her. “Do you know if it’s true? Seamus talks to you about business.”

She released a small breath. I knew I was asking for a lot. Seamus trusted her and Maeve loved him. “She is.”

I released a shuddering breath. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m sorry I didn’t call.” I hung up.

I needed money to fly to New York. I needed money really quickly. I rushed downstairs into the Merchant’s Arch, where Mum was doing the afternoon shift.

After some back and forth, Sean refused to give me the money. I wasn’t sure what had happened between Mum and him but it seemed he finally realized he didn’t have a chance with her.

I was desperate and so I called Gulliver. I didn’t have much hope, but I couldn’t call Lorcan. Not after everything that had happened.

Gulliver answered almost right away and again the words just bubbled out of me. “I need money for a flight.”

“If you agree to talk to me about your marriage again,” he said.

I swallowed. “Lorcan sent me away. You said it yourself, I’m lucky he didn’t kill me.”

“I’ve had time to reconsider.”

Had Lorcan said something to him confessional? Maybe about our reunion in Dublin? How he’d saved me and still made sure I was safe? My thoughts whirred in my head like a tornado. I tried not to think about Lorcan’s motives too much because it just rekindled my own longing.

“I’ll talk to you, all right?”

“I’ll give you my credit card details. No business class.”

I laughed. I wouldn’t have dreamed of it. I was just so happy he was helping me. An idea struck me. Was it Gulliver who had called? It seemed unlikely, but my life had become a string of unlikely events.

An hour later, my flight was booked and it was scheduled to leave tomorrow morning. I dreaded my goodbye with Finn, especially because I couldn’t tell him why I was leaving.

He was more understanding than I anticipated. “Will you make up with Lorcan?”

I blew out a breath. He hadn’t stopped mentioning my husband. The kid missed him, and I did too. Lorcan was brutal and cocky, but our interactions made me feel a spark that I’d missed in my life before him, and he’d been good with Finn.

“I’ll talk to him, okay?”

“Okay,” he whispered and snuggled up to me for the night. “Will you take me to New York soon?”

I could hear his wistfulness. I hadn’t realized just how much he liked it there. “I’m doing my best.”

And now I had to because I promised him. I wasn’t sure if it was really clever to talk to Lorcan, especially because I was pissed at him for keeping Imogen from me and unreasonably because he’d left me alone in that bed after our reunion. Now wasn’t the time to fret about it. I needed to go to New York and see my sister.

I drove straight to the hospital from the airport. I managed to sneak past reception. I didn’t want to explain why I was there. I knew the room number from my secret caller.

When I rounded the corner to the corridor where the room was, I froze. One of Lorcan’s men, easily recognized by the five-leaf clover tattoo peeking out from under his shirt sleeve, sat on a chair beside the door. He was reading something on his phone and hadn’t noticed me yet. My heart began racing and I sped up, clutching my purse against my chest. He finally looked up and recognition followed by uncertainty crossed his face. He got up and stepped in front of the door.

Dread settled in the pit of my stomach. I had a sinking feeling about this. “Mrs. Devaney,” the guard said. “What are you doing here?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Who is behind this door?”

“No one of interest.”

“If she weren’t of interest, Lorcan wouldn’t position a guard in front of her door,” I growled. “Let me through.”

“I can’t.”

“What’s your name?”

“Corbin.”

“Let me through, Corbin, right this moment, or call my husband, because I won’t leave until I’ve seen who’s behind this door.”

He called Lorcan. I didn’t expect any less. Lorcan’s men would never go against his direct orders, and he obviously ordered good old Corbin to keep me out of my sister’s hospital room.

“Would you like to sit down?” Corbin motioned at the chair he previously occupied. A new wave of anger washed over me but I squashed it. He followed orders because the harsh rules of the Five-Leaf-Clover clan dictated it. He wasn’t the person I wanted to lash out at. That person would arrive soon enough, and then he’d see how much of a fury I had inside of me. I knew I should restrain myself. Lorcan held a grudge against me, and his temper was more dangerous than mine.

Ten unbearable minutes later, Lorcan rounded the corner, broad shouldered and suit-clad, as if I’d ripped him away from a business meeting. His expression was impossible to read. I balled my hands into fists, stifling the urge to rush toward him and pummel them against his chest. My heart also did a little jolt that I preferred to ignore.

Lorcan gave a dismissing nod at Corbin who took his cue and left. “Aislinn, what are you doing here? Didn’t I make myself clear when I sent you away?”

I scowled at him. “We both know why I’m here. And your signals aren’t as clear as you might think. Our night together in Dublin might lead to some misunderstandings. Will you let me go in or will you try to stop me like Corbin did?”

He ignored my comment about our night, not even batting an eyelid. Either it didn’t matter to him, or he tried very hard to make it seem that way. I didn’t have the emotional capacity to analyze him. “It wouldn’t be trying. I would stop you,” he rumbled in that deep voice that always sent a shiver down my back, especially when it talked dirty.

“Imogen is behind this door, isn’t she?”

Lorcan peered down at me with furrowed brows. “Some doors should remain closed.”

I jabbed a finger against his chest, overwhelmed by anger and worry. Restraint seemed impossible. “Not if my sister is behind it.”

Lorcan released a long breath then stepped forward and opened the door. “I did it for your own good.”

Did he now? He was obviously pissed at me. I ignored his comment and stepped into the room where a single bed was in the center, surrounded by machines that were attached to a pale figure. Deep down I knew it was Imogen, but I hardly recognized her. She was a shadow of the sister I last saw. She was thin, much thinner than I’d ever seen her—and she’d tried every diet on the planet in her quest of becoming a model. Her hollow cheeks were stretched wide because of the breathing tube disappearing between chapped lips. Her blond hair was matted and had been shaved on her left side, where a long scar now marred her skull. Tubes were coming out of it, draining some sort of liquid from her head. Nausea washed over me. The hint of bruising was still visible all over her body. I crept toward her, completely distraught at the sight of my ambitious sister being so lifeless, a bare shell.

I grabbed one of her hands. Even though she looked dead, she was warm. Her chest was rising and falling slowly. I swallowed past the lump in my throat.

“What happened?” I croaked. “You said the man she was with wouldn’t hurt her because he knew you were Imogen’s brother-in-law. You said he wasn’t the violent type. This doesn’t look like it.” My voice had taken on a hysteric edge, but I couldn’t help it. The last twenty-four hours had been too much. I hadn’t slept at all.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Lorcan coming closer. Part of me wanted to send him out again, but I needed answers. And I didn’t want to be alone. Imogen wasn’t really here.

“I did my own investigation. Nothing points to her original sponsor being the culprit. It seems she found a new sponsor with even more money in St. Barts. She moved to his yacht and that’s the last thing I could find out. Somehow, she ended up ashore on a beach in Miami.”

It could have happened that way. It wasn’t unusual for Imogen to leave one man for a better option.

“They beat her severely before they dumped her in the ocean. She was lucky a hooker found her in the early morning hours. She was about to give a john a blowjob on the beach.”

Sickness rose in me when I imagined Imogen floating lifelessly in the ocean, dumped there like garbage, as if she was something you could just dispose of.

“Your sister was lucky the hooker didn’t just turn a blind eye. Most of them want to avoid trouble and a half-dead woman always means trouble. Her john took off, but she called the police and an ambulance.”

I could hardly breathe past the lump in my throat.

“Due to her head injury, they needed to cut her open to relieve some of the pressure. She’s been in a vegetative state since then. She was admitted as Jane Doe. They thought she was a hooker who was beaten by her john. It was a lucky coincidence that one of my contacts in my Miami kept an eye out for unknown females. I prefer to be prepared.”

“When did you find out?” I stroked my thumb along Imogen’s dry hand. Maybe she could feel my presence. She wasn’t dead, so she still had to be in there somewhere.

“About ten days ago. She was found a couple of days before I got the call.”

I stroked Imogen’s skin once more before placing her hand gently down on the bed. I left the room without a word. Lorcan followed and closed the door. I was close to tears, on the verge of losing it completely. How would I tell Mum about this? She suspected the worst and so had I. This wasn’t that, but it was close. And Finn.

Oh Finn. Should I even tell him?

He stopped asking about Imogen. Maybe I should just allow him to move on.

Lorcan

I knew what was coming when Aislinn left the room. I could feel her anger rolling off her in waves.

The moment the door was closed, she rounded up on me. “You had no right to keep the truth from me! Imogen is my sister. You knew I’ve been searching for her for months, and you never bothered to tell me that she was in a hospital right around the corner from you fighting for her life!”

“She’s not fighting for her life, Imogen. She’s on death’s doorstep. The doctors made it very clear that her chances of ever waking up are slim, and even if she wakes, she won’t be the sister you last saw in Dublin. They beat her to a bloody pulp.”

Aislinn flinched and her face turned even redder, her eyes flashing with rage. “You had no right to keep this from me!”

“I wanted to protect you from the harsh truth.”

Her green eyes brimmed with unshed tears. I almost reached out for her, but I knew she would just have shove me away. I shouldn’t even consider consoling her. When Corbin called, I had been caught off guard, and seeing her this close up did things to my body and heart I despised. I knew nothing good would come from having Aislinn back in New York.

“I don’t need nor want protection from the truth! I can handle it. It’s better than the uncertainty.”

“But there’s still uncertainty, Aislinn. Now you’ll be stuck, just like your sister, because you’ll have hope even though it’s futile. You’ll put your own life on hold to help your sister, even if she’s beyond saving.”

“You don’t know me. But even if you’re right, and I spend the next few weeks or months at my sister’s hospital bed, then that’s my decision, not yours. You shouldn’t have taken this decision from me.”

“Maybe.”

“Don’t sound as if you actually care,” she hissed. “You hate me for betraying you. Shouldn’t you be gloating over my pain?”

I smiled tightly. “Oh, I should, and trust me, I’m pissed that I don’t feel that way, but you somehow got under my fucking skin, and I can’t scratch you out. Maybe you forgot that I went to Dublin to save you. If I wanted your pain, then I wouldn’t have done it.”

She stared at me in a mix of hope and dread. She took a step back, not from fear. “I can’t deal with this now. I’m exhausted, I’m sad, I’m desperate, I’m so scared. I can’t deal with you now, with your games, with the back and forth. I don’t want to. I need to care for Imogen. I need to figure out what to do now. I—” She fell silent, tears shining brightly in her eyes.

“What about Finn? And your mother? Don’t they need you? You should return to Dublin. I’ll make sure Imogen is protected and taken care of.”

“They’ll understand. I won’t leave. I can’t. I don’t care if you want me out of your city. I don’t care if you threaten me or beat me or do whatever it is you want to do to me, I’ll stay until Imogen can be transported.”

There were many things I wanted to do to Aislinn, but she’d enjoy them. And fuck, I didn’t want her to leave. I wanted Aislinn in New York. I wanted her in my apartment, in my bed. I didn’t trust her, but I was willing to give this doomed marriage another try. Trust could be built, on both sides. She’d refused the Irish police when Eddy had approached her. This was a first step. I was willing to take one small step after the other. My father said marriage was work.

I was such an idiot when it came to Aislinn.

“She’s not stable enough to fly over the pond, Aislinn. Be reasonable. It could be years before she dies. She has top-notch medical care here. Moving her would only pose an unnecessary risk. And she wanted to be in New York, so maybe you should just let her be.”

“She wanted to be in New York to become a famous model. She didn’t want to be beaten half to death, fighting for her life. Don’t pretend you know what she wants, and don’t pretend you care.” She swallowed hard and met my gaze. “Will you allow me to stay?”

My heart sped up but I hid my elation. “Yes, but only under one condition.”

She tensed.

“I want you to stay in my apartment. You’re still my wife, as such you should stay with me.”

She let out a rushed breath. “You chased me away as a traitor. Won’t people be confused that you’re allowing me back?”

“Only very few people know about your little deal with the police. For everyone else, I just grew tired of your antics.”

She tilted her head as if she was trying to understand my reasoning. I worried she might be able to. “All right. If that’s what it takes, I’ll stay with you.” She quickly looked away before I could read the emotion in her eyes. “I need to call my mother. She needs to know.”

“She and Finn can fly over. I’ll pay for the flight and their hotel, or they can stay with us. We’re family.”

She shook her head, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. “I doubt Mum sees you as family. She fought so hard to keep our family away from the Devaneys. My marriage to you didn’t have her singing hallelujah, trust me.”

I smiled harshly. “She doesn’t have to like me. I’m not everybody’s darling. But we’re family, and nothing will change that, sweet Aislinn.”

She regarded me curiously. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear you call me that name again.”

Neither did I, but Aislinn had me wrapped around her little finger. “Tell me if I’ll need to book flight tickets once you’ve talked to your mother. I’m sure Finn would like to return to New York.”

I felt the urge to kiss her, to feel her body against mine, but I stepped back. I needed to get a grip. “Corbin will keep an eye on you. If you need me, I’m just a call away.”

I turned when Aislinn’s voice rang out again, quiet but firm. “What about the men who did this to Imogen? Will you try to find them?”

I paused and glanced over my shoulder at my wife. “I’m doing what I can, not just because of your sister, but whoever did this to Imogen might also be linked to the attack on you. But I fear only Imogen can shed light on her attackers.”

Aislinn’s eyes flickered with hesitation, but her voice didn’t reflect it. “I want them to be punished for what they did to Imogen.”

“I’m not in the habit of working with law enforcement,” I said, though I knew it wasn’t what she meant. Aislinn was a good person, but even a good person had a line that if crossed could make them do bad things.

“That’s not what I mean, Lorcan,” Aislinn whispered harshly. She crossed the distance between us and came to a stop right before me. “I want you to punish them for what they did. I want them to pay with their lives.”

I touched her cheek. She didn’t pull away. I’d used all my contacts to gather information, but St. Barts was definitely out of my reach. I’d have to rely on Sergej’s information, and it had been sparse. Either because he didn’t know more or because he was protecting someone high up. It would mean major trouble with the Bratva if I started torturing people under their protection. “If I ever find the culprits, I’ll give them their just punishment if that’s what you want.” If they were linked to the attack on Aislinn, they’d get a special treatment from me.

“I do.”

“Let’s hope Imogen wakes, then. She holds the secrets to what happened.”

Aislinn nodded before she stepped away and headed back to her sister’s hospital room. I rounded the corner where I found Corbin out of earshot. He straightened, ready for my orders. “Stay and keep watch. I don’t want Aislinn to leave on her own. I’ll send someone over to pick her up.”

“All right, Lorcan.”

I headed out of the hospital and called Seamus, even if I knew what he’d say. “And?”

“Aislinn’s back and pissed at me.”

“I told you she would be. You should have told her. Will you send her back to Dublin?”

“Not yet.”

“That means never.”

“If you say I told you so, I’ll kick your ass.”

I hung up before he could unload his advice on me. I snatched the parking ticket from my windshield, tossed it away and climbed in behind the steering wheel. It was time to Sergej’s office for a personal conversation. Maybe he’d be more forthcoming if I personally showed up. Our business relationship had been surprisingly good. I had a feeling the events with Imogen might turn it sour soon. For Aislinn, I was willing to risk it.