Blake
The relieving breath I let out as Hugh makes his descent down the steps from the jet has me feeling as if I've been holding onto it these last weeks.
It's not just seeing that he's upright and very much alive but because in all honesty from the way he moves gingerly it's obvious he's still not quite at 100%. But it does mean the weight of all this shit doesn't solely rest on my shoulders anymore and for that I thank my lucky stars.
It's been days since he woke everything is so much more organised than it was with me at the helm.
Leaving Cian back home was to both keep a watch over Hugh especially with Ashley still out there somewhere but also I needed someone to keep control of everything back there too which he's been struggling with.
It's not just everything back down in London, it's the shit ton of work we've now inherited in Birmingham too and didn't even have a chance to try and attempt to manage our take over.
With Hugh in a coma, Ashley awol and me and Finn in Russia, everything back home has fallen on Cian.
Whereas I've had the daily battle of trying keep Finn level and stop him from storming into where Stasia is without a single logical thought in his head. He's reckless and single sighted right now which has been no use to me at all.
I have no idea how Hugh managed to get him to fly back home but he fucking did it and now with the twins there I can breathe a little easier.
"You have no idea how pleased I am to see you upright" I sigh embracing him as soon as he's close enough my shoulders sagging straightaway. "I take back everything I've ever said about you bossing us around" I say meaning every single word.
"It's not so fun being the responsible one is it" he chuckles even though I can sense that mask of his slipping into place.
The one he wears that says 'I've got everything handled'.
As expected he slips straight into work mode as soon as we pull away from each other.
"Alexi call?" He asks.
"Yeah" I say, "somehow she's managed to convince Volkov to let her go out shopping today" I then inform him but the way his brows shoot up I know we're both aware that isn't exactly the best news.
"Convinced?" He asks going exactly where my mind is going.
I know what he's thinking because I've had the same thoughts going through my head ever since Alexi told me.
It hasn't completely gone over my head that she's there because she's set to marry Irvin Volkov.
With that there's bound to be expectations from him. Expectations she's had to meet before when she was with Dimitri.
"Do you think she..." I begin to ask but trail off as the thought of her with him flashes through my mind.
"I think she'll do what she has to do to survive Blake" he says confirming my thoughts and it makes me sick to my stomach. "So let's get a move on and get her out of there before it's too late" he then says and stalks towards our waiting car.
———
I thought having Hugh here would ease my anxiousness but as we sit down the way from a parade of high end stores waiting for Stasia to turn up I can practically feel the tension oozing from him.
And it's not just because we're putting our trust in Stasia's brothers to feed us information because despite the fact they seem to be on our side there's no way we're going to fully trust everything they tell us.
For some reason they've decided to finally protect their sister properly, well they'll have us do the dirty work so they can keep their involvement quiet but either way they're still helping.
Like how Alexi informed us that this is where she'll be for the whole afternoon giving us a shot to somehow get to her.
As we wait in silence the only sound between us is Hugh consistently drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.
He hasn't said a word since we left the airfield and I have no fucking idea what's going through his head right now.
"You're quiet, like unnervingly quiet" I note breaking the silence between us.
His drumming halts briefly then picks up again.
"I'm thinking" he grumbles and that was fucking obvious I didn't need him to tell me that.
"About?" I ask, hesitant to hear his answer.
"Nothing" he mumbles then shakes his head his eyes going distant yet again.
After a moment of silence the only sound his fingers still drumming on the steering wheel he finally speaks.
"I watched as one of them beat the crap out of her" he says quietly and the image of that flashes through my mind straightaway and if it was anywhere near what I've envisioned then there's no surprise he's fucked over it.
"I couldn't move all I could do was watch as he pounded his fists into her face" he sighs his eyes closing for a moment as if he's reliving the memory.
"Look man you were pretty banged up" I note trying to ease his guilt even though I know it's pointless.
"I know that but it doesn't stop it all from replaying up here" he says tapping the side of his head.
I don't even know what to say or how to fix any of that in his head. I knew he wouldn't be totally okay when he got here, especially not after what they did to him. Hell Cian is still fucked for how they tortured him but with Hugh it seems different.
More about what Stasia went through.
"She took that beating because of me Blake because she tried to stop them even after everything I did, after the way I fucking treated her" he say clear guilt in his tone.
"Well I guess she's not a raging asshole like you then" I scoff trying to break up the misery with a bit of humour because fuck do we need something right now.
"Nah she's not" he says and then goes on to add "she's so much better than me"
"Where do we go from here man, you know when we get her home?" I ask and turn to look at him. "With you and her because it can't be like it was"
He doesn't answer me instead he nods ahead and says "There she is"
I follow his line of sight to the shop and yep there she is getting out of one of three SUV's.
There's three others in the one she exits, a woman and two men dressed in suits with weapons strapped to them.
From the other two SUV's out step eight for men all the same as the other two, all of them on clear on high alert as they check their surroundings. Me and Hugh both let out a long breath. Both of us clearly realising getting to her isn't going to be easy at all.
Ten fucking body guards for two women.
YOU ARE READING
Irish Deception
Romance🔔Book 2 in the O'Leary Brothers Series. Read book 1 first if you haven't already - Irish Luck With the magnitude of the events that have happened since arriving in Birmingham Blake, Cian and Finn attempt to comfort Stasia. With Hugh supposedly k...