Her paychecks came every two weeks, deposited directly into her account. On paper she worked as a security consultant with New Amsterdam Security Inc.—a global company with their closest headquarters in New York. It made most of her income legal, and any off-the-books funds were deposited in an offshore account. It had made it possible for her to leave her shit-box apartment and rent a nice condo. She owned new furniture for the first time in her life. She was also able to help her sister save money for her nieces’ education.
She didn’t feel like a fuckup anymore. Sure, if she was ever caught she’d get sent back to prison in a heartbeat, but that was a chance she was willing to take. Tracking down “bad guys” was something… No, that wasn’t it. Violence was something she was good at, and violence was pretty much the only thing the people she was sent after understood.
Her condo was on the first floor of an old Victorian house in a suburban neighborhood in New Britain. Nothing too fancy, because she wouldn’t be comfortable, and it would look odd. It was still the nicest place she’d ever lived in. Hardwood floors and trim along the ceiling. It had been freshly painted right before she moved in. No roaches and no neighbors blasting music at two A.M.
Killian unlocked the door and stepped inside. Before her fingers flicked the light switch, she became aware that she was not alone. In one swift movement, she dropped the bag of takeout to the floor, pulled the.38 from the waistband of her jeans, and aimed it at the intruder.
Light filled the space, illuminating the shocked face of her niece—her biological daughter—Shannon.
The reality of what might have happened hit like a brick to the solar plexus. Killian dropped her arm, muscles twitching and trembling. “What the fuck, kid? We talked about this.”
Wide-eyed and clutching a pillow—as if it would have done any good—Shannon stared at her. “I texted you.”
Killian frowned as she punched the combination on the safe in the closet. “When?”
“I don’t know. A few minutes ago. When I got here and you weren’t home.”
“I didn’t get it.” She put the gun in the safe and locked it. “You should have called.” It was a struggle to keep her voice calm.
“I thought you might be at Dash’s. If I didn’t hear from you I was just going to crash.”
Picking up the bag of takeout, Killian set it on the coffee table. “Lucky for you I got enough for two. You hungry?”
The girl nodded. Inside, Killian sighed. “What happened?”
“Mom and I had a fight.”
She tossed her jacket on a chair and pushed up her sleeves. “Over?”
“Dallas.”
The flavor of the month. The girl had terrible taste in guys. Killian didn’t have to wonder too hard to figure out where she got that. She opened the bag and began setting containers on the table along with napkins and plastic utensils.
“You’re going to have to give me more than that.”
“She doesn’t want me to see him anymore. She says he’s a bad influence.”
Killian dug a piece of barbecue pork out of the container with her fingers and shoved it in her mouth. “Is he?”
“Don’t you have plates?”
“You got something against containers? Answer the question.”
“No, he’s not. He’s a good guy. He’s just gotten into trouble.” Shannon dug a wonton out of a bag and took a bite. “She doesn’t understand that sometimes good people mess up.”
“What did he do?”
“He got into a fight. Hurt a guy pretty bad.”
“For doing what?”
“I don’t know.”
“News flash, good people don’t hurt other people without good reason.”
“You hurt people all the time and you’re a good person.”
“Sweetie, I am not a good person. Does Meg know you’re here?”
Shannon shook her head. “I’m not talking to her.”
Sighing, Killian stood and took the container of meat with her to the kitchen. She loved her kitchen, not that she spent much time in it. It had an old-fashioned vibe to it that she found comforting. Standing in front of the sink, she pulled out her phone and dialed her sister’s number.
Megan answered on the second ring. “Is she with you?”
“Yup.”
A frustrated sigh came through loud and clear. “I knew it. She has to stop pitting us against each other like this.”
“There’s no pitting. I’m on your side. Always.” It was the agreement she and her sister had made a few months back, after Killian rescued Shannon from an asshole who wanted to use the kid to get revenge on her. That’s when Shannon found out the truth about where she came from and that Killian had been the one to actually give birth to her when Killian was a teenager. Back then Killian had decided that Megan would be a better mother than her, and her opinion on that hadn’t changed.
“At least I know she’s safe.”
Guilt stuck hard in Killian’s heart. Ever since Shannon had been taken, Megan had become extra vigilant, worrying if Shannon was even five minutes late for curfew. Shannon, of course, felt like her mother should trust her more. The problem was, Shannon couldn’t be trusted.
“You want me to bring her home?”
“No. She’ll want to fight and I’m exhausted. I’m going to go to bed. Do you mind bringing her over in the morning?”
“Not at all. It’ll give me and her a chance to talk. I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Killian hung up and grabbed two sodas from the fridge before returning to the living room. She handed one of the sodas to Shannon. “Your mother was worried.”
Shannon snorted. Her father had been of black and Puerto Rican heritage. Mix that with Killian’s Irish and Iranian background and you got an incredibly beautiful girl who had just enough sense of her allure to be stupid about it.
“She knew I’d come here. She just wants me to feel guilty.”
“You can’t run away every time you don’t like what she says.” Killian picked up the container of beef and broccoli. She’d left the pork in the kitchen, shit. “And you can’t keep using me to piss her off.”
The kid had the nerve to look affronted. “I’m not using you.”
It was Killian’s turn to snort. “You’ve got to up your lying game, kid. It’s shit.” She dug through the carton for a choice piece of beef. “You use me to get to her and you use her to get to me and it’s got to stop. She’s your mother. Her word’s law.”
“You’re my mother.”
“Not in the way that counts. All I did was push you out. She’s been there for all the important stuff.”
“She didn’t save me from traffickers.”
“I was the reason they took you in the first place. If you’re going to be mad about that, you’d best be mad at me.” Killian sighed at the hurt look on the girl’s face. “Look, I love you as much as I’m capable of loving anybody—maybe more. But Megan? She loves you in ways I’m not capable of. She’s a better person than me. She’s better than most—and that’s why she’s your mother and I’m your aunt and not the other way around.”