“Where’s Gideon?” I asked
“He has his own problems to deal with,” Adrian admitted as he drummed his fingers along the edge of my bar.
“If he’s skipping out for his problems, then I don’t see why you have to be here. Lucian and I can handle this.”
Adrian turned his attention to Lucian for confirmation. The second he got it, he took off without so much as a backward glance.
“Hope he can fix things with Cora. He needs her,” I said.
“He will.”
I wasn’t so sure, but hoped for my brother’s sake that Lucian was right. “What’s up with Gideon?”
“Gideon got in his own way, but he’ll figure it out.” Without wasting another breath, Lucian stood and tapped my bar twice before he announced: “Andrew needs to take his last breath real soon.”
“I need to be the one to do it.”
“Can’t let you do that.”
“You can and you will. It has to be me. That fucker was slick enough to convince Aoife to be with him. That makes him dangerous. I want him dead and need the satisfaction of knowing I did it.”
“You won’t ever be the same if you do this,” Lucian warned me.
My brothers forgot that I was in the Army and most of my time was spent as a Ranger. “I’m long past the point of weeping over a first kill, bro.” Lucian’s eyes darted up to meet mine and a bit of shock registered there. “I’m not ready to make a secondary career out of it the way you have, but I’m not fucking innocent either. It’s about time you fuckers stopped panting me with that brush.”
“Fair enough.”
FOURTEEN
Father
AOIFE
“I haveto go take care of some business for just a bit. Make yourself at home and please, don’t leave. You’re safe here, Aoife.”
“I will be here,” I assured Logan. He leaned in and kissed my forehead before he headed out. Part of me knew he might be going to handle Andrew and maybe even my father. The other part knew he was also a busy man with his own business to run. I didn’t want to think too hard about which option may be the truth, though.
I was still half asleep. My suspicions for how I’d sleep with Logan were confirmed. It was the first time, in longer than I could remember, that I had slept through an entire night without waking. I drifted a bit more as I sunk into Lo’s bed and surrounded myself in his scent.
Was it possible to start over, start fresh, and still begin again with the foundation of our friendship that was around long before Grace’s lies and my father’s expectations ruined us?
It was a question that plagued me. No matter what, there was no turning around and hiding anymore. I’d been found and the odds of being able to hide again were astronomically not in myfavor. There was also the fact that I didn’t want to. I was thirty-three. No matter what, I still had hopes of being a mother one day, and the window to do that already felt as though it was closing in on me. If I went into hiding again, it would mean lying to whomever I ended up with, to my own future children, and that was something I couldn’t do.
I couldn’t allow myself to think about the other reason. The only person I ever saw myself having children with was my life-long best friend. If I gave that too much thought while surrounded by his scent, his things, and in his apartment it might feel possible. Hope, especially where Logan and I were concerned, was something I’d given up on a long time ago.
After lying in bed for way too long, I eventually made my way back out to his living room where I found my coat and purse lying on a couch. Someone had the forethought to get my things for me when we left the engagement party of my nightmares. I quickly reached inside and found my cell phone. It was a cheap burner phone that Drew had always chastised me for carrying. He tried to give me the most up-to-date phone before, but I refused to carry it. My cheap, dollar store phone was on a pay-as-you-go plan and I didn’t have to worry about it being tracked by anyone. I was about to yank the battery out and dispose of the phone when it started to buzz with a text notification.
Unknown Number: Check your email. It might be life or death.
My heart seized in my chest. There was nothing worse than an ominous text message to ruin the morning after the best sleep of your life. Still, I pulled up my email app and found a message from one of the last people I wanted to hear from. My father.
Princess,
I was hurt by the way you behaved last night. I thought, after all these years, you would have been as happy to see me as I was to see you. Whether you believe it or not, you were always my most cherished daughter. Your sister was never going to be the one to make me proud, even if she had lived. I knew how she treated you. It was a mistake on her part and your mother’s for allowing it. Neither of them was around to torment you for long, though.
I stopped reading there because it sounded a lot like my sister and mother’s deaths hadn’t been what I thought they were. That wasn’t possible, though. I remembered when Faye got sick again. At least, I thought I did. That was something to dig into later. After that bomb, it was impossible not to read the rest of his email.
I have always had your best interest at heart, Aoife. Since I know that you love the young man, Logan, I am willing to offer you this opportunity to save him from himself. See, some things happened this morning, and he’s not who you think he is. He’s a monster who kills indiscriminately.
