All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,20

but she likes it here too much. She wouldn’t want to leave the kid either.”

I wouldn’t ever leave Lips here either… or Atticus. Being the Crow means that he will always be tied to the Bay in some way and there’s no way I could see him leaving the empire he built from the ground up with nothing but blood and pain and secrets.

If only he trusted me to stand by his side.

My phone buzzes in my hand. I’m expecting a text from Lips about the meeting, or maybe a goodnight message from Ash.

I’m not expecting it to be Aodhan.

I followed the Crow back to your place. Just a heads up that he’s pissed about the meeting and he brought his bodyguard with him.

Luca.

Why do I feel like he’s now stalking me? I don’t want to think about the Jackal any more than I have to and every time Luca shows up my mind gets dragged back to my kidnapping.

“What’s happened? You look sick, what the fuck has happened?”

I clear my throat. “Atticus and Luca are at my house and Aodhan followed them there. I’m just— I don’t really want to see Luca after he found me at the Jackal’s place. I don’t want to see him so naturally he’s everywhere at the moment.”

Illi’s eyes narrow. “If you need me to kill him just say the word.”

I huff out a laugh at him. “Why does everyone keep offering to kill people for me?”

“Something bad happened to you. I might not know what it was but I can see that maybe you need some blood spilled in your name and if that isn’t what you’re up to doing right now then it would be my fucking pleasure to do it for you. That’s what family is for, right Queenie?”

We pull into my driveway to find Atticus out of his car and snarling at Aodhan like he’s the real problem here. Luca is leaning against the car and watching them both carefully and there’s something in his eye as he stares at Aodhan that pisses me off.

Nothing that happened in the Jackal’s torture chamber was Aodhan’s fault.

Illi parks up and takes a deep breath before turning to me. “You’re not yourself lately. I know it, O’Cronin knows it, your family all know it because they’re on the fucking phone to me hourly for updates, and the Crow knows it to. He’s being a fucking asshole about it because he’s a control freak in a fucking suit who can’t ease up his bullshit because the stick is too far up his ass.”

I scoff at him and shake my head. “He’s not like that with me. He’s never acted like this before, he always treated me like I was important and my opinions mattered. The reason I’m furious with him is exactly that! I trusted him and all along he was lying to me. I thought I could tell him anything… and now I don’t know that. So, you add that along to my kidnapping and I’m just— I’m finding my feet again.”

Illi nods and hesitates with his hand on the door handle. “You got ‘em right there. You just need to remember to trust them again, kid.”

The slip-up with the nickname makes my heart clench a little on my chest because I know how protective he is of Lips. I mean, he just admitted not wanting to risk leaving her anytime soon so to know that some part of him feels that protective of me too… that gives me the strength to get out of the car and face whatever it is that Atticus is angry about now.

By the time I get the car door shut, my blazer folded over one arm and my phone clutched in my hand just in case, Atticus is snarling in Aodhan’s face. I only catch the end part of what he’s saying.

“—if you knew there was shit going on. I will have you dead and buried before anyone knows you’re gone, Stag. There wouldn’t be repercussions because they’d never find you. Stay the hell away from her. Avery Beaumont doesn’t belong in Mounts fucking Bay.”

I avoid Luca’s eyes as I stalk forward, ignoring the little grumble that Illi lets out at me getting too close to the snarling men. “Atticus, I am a grown woman who can make my own decisions. If I want to go out for the night I can, with whoever I want to.”

His lip curls but he doesn’t move an inch away from