Emerald Eyes

Chapter 6 - The Rescue

"When do I get to go back to the club?" I ask with a trembling voice, savoring every bite of bacon, eggs and sausages on my plate.

The mansion cook, Nana O'Grady, nudges fried slices of black pudding in my general direction.

The sleepless night I just spent left me famished and a hearty Irish breakfast is just what I need to recharge my batteries.

The reason for my tossing and turning glances up from his respective meal: eggs and mushrooms on toast. "Ye don't."

"What do you mean I don't?"

Nico and Liam exchange glances. "Told ye, sweetheart. The dance was a one time thing. As was the visit to Angels."

"No way." I ball my fists. "You very well know it's the only source of information I have about my mother!"

Liam leans back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. "Ye won't need it anymore. Remember what's going down tonight, sweetheart. The warehouse raid."

I cross my arms in stubborn refusal. "I want to go back there one more time."

"If I say you aren't, then ye aren't going."

"You can't tell me what to do. Our deal didn't include that. I could just walk out the door right now," I threaten.

"That would jeopardize our entire plan." The corners of Liam's mouth curve down into a frown as he x-rays me with his emerald eyes. Those hardened irises pierce into the deepest corners of my very soul.

"You can't ask me to just sit around and wait!" I let out a sudden wail, my fingers tensing, every atom in my body boiling. "I'm a wreck. I couldn't close my eyes without my mom's face."

"Alex–"

"No!" I yell.

One Liam's look is enough for Nana O'Grady to leave the kitchen without asking questions.

We both stand up facing one another.

"Can you imagine what it's fucking like for me right now? My grandma's corpse has not even cooled down yet and I am already about to lose my mother, too! On top of it all, I find out I'm the daughter of an Irish mobster? I'm caught in this... this whirlwind of sadness, fear and despair and I... I just want it all to stop!"

"It's going to be alright," Liam whispers, his tone kind. His gaze is cast downwards, but his hand reaches out and his fingers graze my arm with tenderness. "Trust me."

I recoil from the warmth and pleasantness of his skin on mine.

"No! You can't know that. You could never. To have even a minuscule idea of what I'm going through you'd need to have a family. And you... You don't." I shake my head.

I know it's not fair to him, what I'm saying, but life hasn't exactly been fair to me either as of late. And it's not like I'm wrong.

"You're just... just a mobster. A right hand to a mafia lord. Stealing, drug trafficking, and murdering people are day-to-day occurrences to you. You don't care about other people unless they can somehow benefit you. Not like how I care about my mother."

Nico's gaze flits between Liam and me, but he remains as still and silent as a statue.

Liam scans my face, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows. "I'm going to rescue yer ma tonight from that warehouse if it's the last thing I do," he says, caressing my cheek with the back of his large hand.

"I want to come too!" I seeth, pushing against his firm chest.

He laughs, and so does Nico. "You'd have the Albanians up your arse in two minutes sweetheart. Do ye honestly think I'd allow that to happen? I told ye I'd protect you, and I meant it. It's a part of our deal, whether you like it or not. Even if that means I have to handcuff ye to my bed, which I'm not opposed to by the way."