Dangerous Innocence (Five-Leaf-Clover)

“The car?” I silently mouthed, assuming the thing was still transmitting. We needed our tech specialist. Destroying it would only alert the police, so we needed to be clever about this.

Seamus gave a nod. I motioned at a nearby car, put the bug on the backseat then closed the door with a loud bang. That way the police would think I’d closed my car with the bug still in it.

“I’ll chat with Nollaig. I need to know exactly where he found it.” I glanced at Finn. “Finn, Seamus is going to show you our warehouse, all right?”

After a moment of hesitation, he nodded and followed Seamus. I stalked toward my car. Nollaig was cleaning under the front seats.

“Where was it?” I barked, no time for pleasantries.

Nollaig hit his head on the roof of the car when he jerked up. He flushed then pointed at the spot beneath the front seat. Someone must have attached it to the seat while sitting on the back. I doubted Finn had done it. The only people I’d transported in my car were a couple of my men, my brothers when I took them to the airport, and Aislinn.

“Get a few more guys and take the car apart. I want to make sure there aren’t any more,” I gritted out, trying to keep my rage in check. “Send a few men into my office as well. Don’t leave anything unturned.”

Nollaig rushed away and returned soon after with three more guys. “Hide the car in the warehouse. I don’t want everyone to see what we’re doing.”

Nollaig climbed behind the steering wheel and steered my car at a ridiculously slow and cautious pace through the warehouse doors that the other men held open for him. I followed them then headed into the office, where Seamus showed Finn the model of an old sailboat that he’d built a couple of years back and given to me.

My phone beeped with a message.

I’m at the docks. Where are you?

Aislinn. After what I’d just found out, I wasn’t really keen on seeing her. I didn’t know anything about the bug yet, but Aislinn was a suspect.

“Aislinn is here. Come on. I’ll bring you to her.” Finn followed to where Aislinn was already pacing around with a look of worry.

“Finn!” she said, her face lighting up. She wrapped him in his arms. Then she turned to me with a grateful smile. “Thank you for taking care of him.”

“We had fun, don’t we?”

“Yes!” Finn exclaimed.

Aislinn tilted her head, narrowing her eyes in confusion. “Is something the matter? You seem tense.”

I smirked. “The usual stuff. Nothing we should talk about now.”

She glanced at Finn and nodded. It was strange how well Aislinn could read my mood. Few were this adept.

“Can someone take us home?”

“I’ll tell Timothy to take you. He has kids, so maybe Finn will fit into the child seat in his car.”

“What about your car?” She looked around. “I don’t see it anywhere.”

“The engine isn’t running smoothly, so my men are taking a look at it.”

“Oh,” she said and smiled. “How will you get home then?”

“I’ll find a way.”

She came toward me, stepped on her tiptoes, and kissed my cheek. “Thanks again. I’ll be a very good girl tonight to show my appreciation.”

I forced a smirk. I called Timothy over who took them away. Then I returned into the warehouse.

I didn’t want to believe Aislinn was involved.

Seamus watched the boys taking apart my car.

“Anything yet?” I asked. The warehouse was a huge hall with many loud noises, so I doubted a bug would be placed here, and even if it were, it would be impossible to hear anything.

He shook his head.

“When was the last check-up?”

“About two months ago?” Seamus said with a shrug.

We usually checked all of our cars for bugs every other month.

Seamus stepped closer to me. “I made a list of people I remember being in your car. The list included himself and Timothy, five other of my men that had worked for my family for a long time—my brothers, and Aislinn and Finn.

“Well, it wasn’t you or Timothy.”

Seamus frowned. “I’m honored that you trust me, but you shouldn’t cross people off the list too soon.”

“What do you want? A meeting with Rody? You can withstand torture.”

“It wasn’t me all right.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, thanks for the heads-up. So you and Timothy can be crossed off. I don’t think it was one the other men. I know them and their families. Fuck.”

“It could be them. Maybe the police made a deal with them. You never know.”

“I want to talk to them today. Call them over if they’re working somewhere else.”

“Will do.” He hesitated. “Your brothers are out of the question too, right?”

“Right.”

“What about Aislinn?” Seamus asked carefully.

I gritted my teeth, trying to suppress my rage over his suggestion even if the same thought had crossed my mind. “Let’s cross off the others before we suspect my wife.”

I could tell that Seamus didn’t agree, but he nodded.

“I bet Desmond is involved. I can feel it. He’s been on me for a long time.”

“Could be. He’s been lying low, but we always knew he’d eventually focus on us.”

“We should get our hands on him and question him.”

Seamus’s eyes widened. “You know we can’t release him after we torture him.”

“We tortured people before and then let them go. If they’re terrified enough, it works.” I shrugged. “Or we kill him. I don’t like his stupid face anyway.”

“If a police officer disappears, things might get really tough for a while and with our new business endeavor with Sergej …” Seamus blew out a breath.

He had a point. We couldn’t be at the center of an investigation while we tried to flood the market with counterfeit guns. Sergej wouldn’t like that.

But Desmond might be the only one who could shed some light on the bug situation.

“If it was Aislinn, it’s very possible that there are bugs in your apartment too.”

“I’ll check it tonight. Get me the men on our list now.”

Three hours later, I’d talked to every man on the list, alone and eye to eye. I couldn’t believe that one of them had betrayed me. But that was the problem with moles. They were often close to you.

“I want you to grab Desmond for me,” I told Timothy and Seamus as we sat around the table in the small kitchenette of the warehouse in the late afternoon after we’d searched every corner of it.

Timothy drew in a sharp breath.

“Tonight? Or do you want to wait for what your search of the apartment reveals?”

“It doesn’t matter what my search reveals. We need to know what Desmond has heard.”

“Did you reveal anything about the Russian deal?”

“Not in the car, not in my apartment. I’m not a rookie. These things were handled in person. I don’t think I revealed anything major in the car or the apartment, but we need to know for sure. I don’t want to stay in the dark.”

“Then, we’ll grab him and bring him here.”

“Good. I’m heading home now.”

Seamus followed me toward my car that waited for me outside again. “I know this must be hard for you, but maybe it wasn’t Aislinn. Maybe someone broke into the car while it was parked at the airport.”

“Don’t worry, Seamus. My heart won’t break if it was Aislinn. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of pity fucks as a young widower.”

Seamus nodded but the worry remained on his face. I wanted to smash it in. I didn’t need his concern or pity.

I got in my car and raced away. I fucking hoped it wasn’t Aislinn, but she had reason to betray me. She hadn’t wanted to marry me, and the police might have tempted her with her sister.

Aislinn and Finn were waiting for me at the dinner table. She’d prepared a moussaka and it was absolutely delicious, but my mind was busy. I tried to find a hint of her betrayal on her face. She had been acting tense since Finn had arrived but it made sense. What if she had been tense for other reasons?

“Lorcan?”

I met her gaze. She lifted the serving spoon. “Do you want more?”

I held out my plate and she filled it with another piece of the eggplant dish. I needed to enjoy her cooking skills while I could. Bitterness spread throughout my body. Aislinn pursed her lips in confusion but continued to chat with Finn when she realized I wasn’t in a talkative mood.

When she disappeared in Finn’s room to read him bedtime stories, I let my eyes scan the apartment. Where would I hide a bug? That was probably the wrong question, though. Where would someone unfamiliar with the underworld hide a bug? I ran my palms over the underside of the table and quickly found a bump. I wedged my fingernail under it and it came lose. It was the same type of bug as in my car. I put it back. As long as Desmond wasn’t in our hands, I didn’t want to make the police suspicious.

I got up and checked a few more places in the kitchen and living room before I moved on to the bedroom. Aislinn was shy about sex in public, so for her to put a bug in our bedroom must have been hard, but if she worked with the police, they would demand it. I approached the bed and ran my palms over the underside of the bed frame. Nothing.

Then I reached behind the headboard and sure enough there was another one. I put that one back too then sat down on the edge of the bed. Though I didn’t know for sure, everything pointed to Aislinn as the mole. Of course, the police could have broken into my car and apartment to hide the bugs. It had happened to others before.

The door opened and Aislinn stepped in, dressed in an apricot nightgown with lace trim. She regarded me for a moment before she came over to me. I could demand answers from her now, show her the bugs, and see how she reacted, but fuck, I didn’t want to do this now.

“Hard day,” I muttered.

“Because of Finn.”

“No. He was good.”

She nodded. “He usually is, but he, too, has his moments.” She stopped right in front of me and touched my shoulders. My body sprang to life from the simple contact. Aislinn had placed me under a spell.

I fell back and pulled her on top of me. Right this moment, I didn’t want to talk, not just because of the bug. I didn’t want to consider the future. I wanted to enjoy my wife, maybe for the last time.

I fucking hoped she wasn’t the culprit. I kissed Aislinn harshly, and she returned the kiss with the same fervor. I’d worked her up enough that she could take my cock. “Ride me,” I ordered.

She climbed on top of me. This was the first time we tried this position. Aislinn’s eyes met mine as she positioned herself over my dick. The fire in her green eyes went straight to my cock. She lowered herself slowly onto my length, and I groaned, especially when her nails scraped over my chest as she settled on my base. Her lips parted, letting out a soft moan and her eyes rolled back in her head. She began to ride me, her hips rotating slowly, but she didn’t raise her hips. She kept me as deeply as I would go inside of her. I loved watching her, the passion on her face, the stark contrast of her red hair against her pale skin. One strand stuck to her tit and I brushed it aside, wanting to see her perky nipple. Aislinn gave me a smile. It wasn’t teasing or smug. It was honest, gentle. Why did she have to give me that look now? I sat up and pulled her in for a kiss. My hands on her hips guided her movements, keeping the rhythm slow. She regarded me curiously. I loved to fuck her like a wild animal. Hard, deep, and fast. But right now, I wanted this.

I felt hungover when I woke at five in the morning. Late last night, Seamus sent word that he got him. I’d never been this reluctant to torture someone for information as I was today. I dreaded the truth for various reasons.

Aislinn was still asleep when I left, and I was glad.

I found Desmond chained to the ceiling of a shipping container, in a part of the harbor we didn’t frequently use. When we had to torture people, especially people of interest, we made sure to change venues.

“This is a big mistake,” he muttered when I stepped inside followed by Seamus.

“You shouldn’t have spied on me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I chuckled and grabbed Rody. Seamus had already leaned it against a corner to intimidate Desmond. He and his colleagues had found more than one badly beaten body in the past and knew my trademark style.

The rage that I hadn’t allowed myself with Aislinn last night bubbled up inside of me now, hot and hungry.

“I think to get us started I’ll introduce you to Rody first, and then you can decide if you’re ready for an honest conversation.”

Before he could utter a word, I struck out with the steel rod and hit his elbow. It broke and his arm twisted at an odd angle. He screamed. Hanging by a chain wasn’t making this any more pleasant. I turned my back on him while he kept screaming.

Seamus watched everything with a stoic calmness. Even if he’d been hesitant to grab a police officer, now he was all in. I knew he was always on my side.

Eventually, Desmond’s screaming quieted to a less annoying whimpering and I finally faced him again. His skin was sweaty and pasty. “So, are you ready to talk now?”

He shuddered.

“I need an answer,” I said. “Or Rody will look at your other elbow.”

“No,” he grunted. “I’m talking.”

With Rody’s help, which led to a smashed kneecap and broken ankle, Desmond sang like a canary, and my worst assumptions were proven right.

Aislinn had planted the bugs in my car and apartment.

She had done it because the police promised to help her find her sister. They had showed her photos of Imogen and me. I could imagine how compromising photos taken from a certain angle while I talked to Imogen in Miami might have looked. Aislinn had seen it as confirmation of her worst suspicions, and she’d acted accordingly.

We could have been a good team. She trusted the wrong people. She betrayed me. She was ready to throw me to the wolves.

Seamus and I stepped out of the shipping container. “Do you think he told the truth?”

I nodded. I had no doubt.

“What are you going to do?”

“I want you to bring Aislinn here. Tell Maeve she needs to watch Finn.”

“Okay,” Seamus said slowly. “Do you want me to get Gulliver?”

“No.”

Seamus nodded then turned and left.

I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill Desmond or not.

He could be useful if we kept him in check with threats and bribes. Aislinn on the other hand …I gritted my teeth.

She’d chosen her side and sealed her fate.