The Heart That's Meant to Love You [COMPLETED]

Chapter 30: Shark

The office hadn't changed in over a decade. Gray walls sporting cracks and water stains housed two desks and a "visitor seating" section. It sounded nicer than it looked. Four chairs upholstered with cracking plastic sat around a half-broken card table. The proprietor didn't even offer mixed coffee anymore.

Not that Kieran ever drank anything offered to him. Any act of courtesy could be misconstrued. That's why he arrived early and now waited for their return.

The plain envelope in Kieran's hands burned hotter than any other that Kieran had carried to this office. Why did it seem different this time? He had taken money from plenty of other women. They had all practically begged him to take the money. Even Naomi.

Why did Kieran feel like he had, somehow, betrayed her?

The rattle, squeal of the dilapidated office door allowed Kieran no time to dwell on his regrets. He rose to his feet to greet the proprietor.

Patrick O'Rourke, head held high like a king entering his throne room, crossed through the doorway. A wicked grin spread from one corner of his mouth to the other.

"Kieran, my boy."

"Don't call me that," Kieran huffed.

Patrick shrugged a shoulder. "You're here to pay the girl's debts again?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to give her any more loans?" Kieran threw back.

Patrick threw his hands out in surrender. "It can't be helped. You know I have a policy: never turn anyone down."

"Biggest lie I've ever heard." Kieran waved the envelope in the air, then slammed it down against the card table. So hard he thought he might actually break the poor table. "This is the interest for the month. Stop breathing down my neck."

Kieran turned for the door, intending to leave immediately.

Two of Patrick's goons blocked his path.

"You know," Patrick crooned as he picked up the envelope, "there are easier ways to fix this problem."

Kieran's fingers fisted at his sides, all his rage and frustration pooling in the way his fingernails dug into his palms. "Yeah?"

"First, you could leave the girl altogether. Let her take the responsibility."

As if he didn't know that. Sadly, leaving Tawny wasn't an option. Kieran had a responsibility toward her and he had long ago decided to resign himself to that. Besides...

"How would that help? You let her illegally put me as her guarantor on all the loans. I'd still owe you."

"I can write that off, you know."

Kieran bit his lower lip. Here it came. He knew the offer. Had heard it for as long as he could remember. "At what price?"

"Come work for me. Then I'll stop giving her money and I'll write off your debts."

As tempting an offer as it was, Kieran had a bottom line. Especially when it came to a barely-legal loan shark like Patrick O'Rourke. Kieran had no intention of putting himself on either side of the feud that fueled his pathetic life.

"In your dreams."

"It is, in fact, a dream of mine." Patrick returned to Kieran's side, resting a hand on Kieran's shoulder. "Make it come true, won't you?"

"I already have a job, thanks." Kieran refused to give in. It had taken him years to get to this level. He wouldn't give it up just because of some money issues.

Patrick frowned at him, but he nodded his head. "How's that job working out for you, my boy?"

"I said don't call me that." Kieran swatted Patrick's hand off from his shoulder. "I have nothing further to say to you. Can I go now?"

"Nothing further?" Patrick laughed softly, a sound that sent chills running through Kieran's spine. "You know that's not true."

"If I had more to say to you, you would have heard it by now."

"You're so fierce." Patrick patted Kieran's cheek patronizingly. "Is it because you take after your ma? Or because you don't trust that girl you're keeping? Ah, maybe it's because you know that she was here to borrow more just yesterday."

"She..." What? Kieran closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and willed his temper to stay in check. He shouldn't get into a fight with these guys, no matter the outcome. "Stop trying to goad me."

"Look at that educated vocabulary. Splendid." Patrick took a single step back. "You'd be an asset to my organization. We could go farther than ever before."

Kieran knew what he meant by that, but he didn't like the thought of it. Patrick had been trying to use Kieran as a high-end bargaining chip for years. "You're a liar and cheat. So no thanks."

"Come, my boy. That's no way to speak to your old da, is it?"

That broke the last of Kieran's restraint. His fingers clenched in the older man's collar, pulling him so close that Kieran could almost taste the cigarettes on Patrick's breath. "You're not my father. If you were, you would have been there to raise me, wouldn't you?"

Kieran knew how deeply the words would cut. That's why he used them. Because, in the long run, it had only been half Patrick's fault that he hadn't been around to raise Kieran. Maybe seventy-five percent Patrick's fault. But part of the blame lay on Kieran's mother's shoulders, as well. Not that Kieran could blame her. Patrick was a lowlife.

Patrick wrapped a hand around Kieran's wrist and squeezed. "This is assault. Make sure I don't sue you."

"Your security cameras have been broken for a year." Kieran shoved Patrick away from him, knowing he couldn't take the fight any farther. "And you need me too much to sue me."

Patrick waved a hand toward the door. "I'll see you next month. Bring enough."

"I always do." Kieran shoved past Patrick's goons, not leaving them any room to stop him. He had to get out quick.

If he stayed, he might return to the person he had been. If he stayed, he might also end up in jail. It made no sense to hate one's biological father as much as Kieran hated his.

Unless one had been in Kieran's shoes.