Bad Seed

“Actually, I was hoping you'd seen her today?”

The woman nods. “I did,” she said. “Just a couple of hours ago, actually.”

My heart skipped a beat. “A couple of hours ago?”

She nodded. “I only saw her from a distance down in the parking lot,” she says. “I thought she was with you, actually. I saw the man with the red hair and just assumed – ”

I felt my stomach plummet down into my shoes at the same time my heart jumped into my throat. A red-haired man. That could only mean one thing. Shit. My body hummed with an energy born of fear for Kara. If Killian had her – I didn't even want to think about it.

“Oh, right,” I say, trying to play it off. “My brother must have picked her up without telling me. Got our wires crossed. I'll just give him a call. Thanks, I appreciate your help.”

I turned and practically sprinted back to the room. Stepping inside, I closed the door and threw the locks before settling Jack back down in his crib. He fussed and squirmed a little bit, but soon quieted down and went back to sucking on his fingers.

I paced the room, running a hand through my hair, my stress level rising with each step I took. I had no way of knowing at that point if Kara was even still alive. I could only hope Killian had come for her himself, rather than sending Rory to get her. Killian was a prick, but he was a businessman. If there was money to be had, Kara would be okay. For now. If Rory had gotten hold of her, all bets were off. Rory was a wild card and could be unpredictable. Even if Killian had ordered him to not touch her, I couldn't be sure he'd actually obey, regardless of how scared of our brother he was.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered. “How the fuck did they find us?”

I racked my brain for a moment, trying to figure it out. Ultimately though, it didn't matter. They'd found us. Somehow, someway, they'd found us out in the middle of nowhere Missouri. We'd been so careful, I just didn't understand it.

Looking at the phone on the dresser, I knew that I could stand there asking questions of myself all day or I could start getting answers. With a long sigh, I picked up the phone and punched in Killian's number. My stomach roiling and my heart thumping hard, I pressed the phone to my ear and waited for the call to go through. I didn't have to wait long.

“Brother,” Killian's voice was anno

yingly bright and chipper. “We've been waiting for your call. How are you today?”

“Where is she?”

“What, no greeting for your big brother? Just right down to business?”

“Stop fucking with me, Killian,” I growled. “Where is Kara?”

“Oh, she's here,” he says. “Not happy about it, but she's here.”

“What the fuck do you want?”

“The same thing I've always wanted – the money I'm owed.”

I resumed pacing as I spoke. “She doesn't owe you shit, man,” I said. “She doesn't have any money. Your beef is with her father, and – ”

“That's true. But, the only way I'm going to settle my beef with her father is through her,” he says. “It's not ideal, but few things in this life are.”

“Let her go.”

“Yeah, I'm not going to do that, Declan,” he said. “In fact, I've got a new beef because of this whole melodrama. Can you guess who that beef might be with?”

“Fuck you.”

“Right on the money,” he said, his voice turning low and cold. “You certainly gave Meredith a good scare – not to mention my children – and I don't appreciate that. Not in the least. You and I have some issues to settle.”

“Fine,” I said. “I'll trade myself for Kara. When I get there, you let her go.”

“That's not the way this works,” he said and sighed. “No wonder you aren't running the family business. You're just not very good at it.”

“Then you're not giving me a lot of incentive to show up there, are you?”

He laughed softly. “I have the only incentive you need, brother,” he said. “I know you care for the girl. I know you care for her a lot, which, is surprising since the only person you've ever cared about before is yourself.”

I looked over at Jack and felt my heart swell. Killian wasn't wrong in that assessment. I knew I'd been selfish throughout my life. I was living my life for me and fuck anybody who thought to tell me otherwise had always been my attitude. But, when Jack – and then Kara – came into my life, that all started to change. Suddenly, I was thinking about other people and how what I did impacted their lives. Suddenly, I was thinking about the future. Things that were inconceivable to me just three weeks ago.