Here With Me (Adair Family 1)

He faced me sideways. Tied to a chair, blood trickling down his temple, pale and probably concussed, his hands handcuffed behind his back. A gag covered his mouth.

Lachlan looked toward me, and his eyes widened with horror. He shook his head as he shoved his body with all his might, moving the chair with the violence of his reaction.

“Stop it.” A figure moved into view and pressed a gun to the head of the person I hadn’t even noticed was knocked out next to Lachlan. “Or I kill her.”

Lucy!

Lachlan froze, but he glared at me, and I heard his muffled shout for me to run.

I couldn’t run.

Not now.

The masked man turned and looked directly at me. “Get in and shut the door or I blow her head off.”

Fergus.

It was definitely his voice.

Aware that McCulloch might be hidden behind the door, I slipped into the room with my back scraping against the wall. Lachlan craned his neck, following my every move. Seeing his despair, I quickly looked away and reached out to catch the edge of the door to shut it.

To my shock, we were alone in the small rectangular, one-room shack. There were two small windows at opposite ends that let in very little light. Except for a low-watt bulb hanging from the ceiling and an unconscious Lucy and an injured Lachlan tied to metal chairs, there was nothing else in it.

And of course, Fergus.

No McCulloch.

“You might as well take off the mask, Fergus.”

He shook his head. “Not the plan.”

“What is the plan?”

“Following orders.”

McCulloch’s.

“And those are?”

“To get rid of you.”

Goose bumps prickled over my skin. He said it so casually. “Why?”

He shrugged. “I just do what I’m told.”

“No … why?” I gestured to him. “Why would you do this to the Adairs? I thought they were like family to you?”

His strange purple contacts brightened in the dim light. “Family? Family doesn’t abandon each other.”

Lachlan grunted.

Deciding the best plan of action was to keep Fergus talking long enough for Mac, his men, and the police to get there, I pushed, “You think they abandoned you?”

Fergus scoffed behind his mask. “Treated me like a pet they could cast aside whenever they felt like it. I was Brodan’s best mate. Did you know that?”

I nodded.

“He was all I had. Growing up in a family like mine … Brodan and Arrochar were all I had. And he fucked off to Hollywood and forgot about all of us, and she broke it off with me like what we had was nothing!”

“So you want them all dead?”

He swiped his head to the side, his gun hand wavering. “I just wanted them to hurt like I hurt.”

I imagined him waiting outside my father’s home and then gutting him, just like he’d gutted McHugh. Rage seethed beneath my surface. “Why Mac?”

Fergus lifted the gun and pointed it directly at me, and Lachlan thrashed against his bindings. “Stop it, or I kill her right now,” the mechanic warned.

Lachlan desisted, but his chest heaved with panic.

Trying to block him out, I asked my question again.

“Because,” Fergus answered, “he wants what’s mine.”

Oh my God.

I squeezed my eyes closed in understanding.

No wonder we couldn’t put the pieces together. Mac’s attack wasn’t because he was close to Lachlan or investigating the case.

It was because Fergus noticed what I’d noticed.

There was something between my dad and Arrochar.

Fergus was still in love with Arrochar Adair.

Feeling so grateful that he’d failed in taking my dad from me, but so horrified for McHugh, my eyes flew open. “And Greg McHugh?”

Fergus’s breath hitched. “A mistake. He caught me unaware.” To my shock, I heard tears in his voice. “It wasn’t meant. I’m sorry that happened.”

“You’re sorry you murdered a man?”

He shook the gun at me, and my hands flew up defensively as Lachlan roared behind his gag. “Don’t judge me, bitch!”

“I’m sorry,” I appeased him. “I’m just trying to figure this out, Fergus. It doesn’t make sense to me … bringing Lachlan and Lucy here. Why hurt Lucy?”

“That’s for me to know.”

I frowned because he’d been pretty forthcoming so far. That also meant he intended to kill us—the more we knew, the more we needed to die. But I had no intention of allowing that to happen. Just keep him talking. “Then what about me? Why attack me?”

“Him.” He cut his chin toward Lachlan.

“You wanted to hurt Lachlan?”

“Not me.” Fergus shrugged. “Lachlan’s been all right to me. The only Adair to give a shit.”

“So why would you hurt him?”

“Because I made a promise.” He raised his gun again and pointed it at me. “I am sorry, Robyn. You’re a good person.”

“Do you think I didn’t tell anyone I was coming here?” I blurted out, trying to stall. “I’ve been to your apartment, Fergus, and saw the room with all the boxes. They know it’s you. The police are on their way.”