That’s when I hear it—another shot, but not from Timmy.
There’s someone else.
A second man, one in the passenger seat of the car, leans out the window with a silenced pistol. He fires toward the bench, where Gráinne ducks just in time.
“DOWN!” someone screams, and I duck just as more shots ring out.
Glass shatters beside me. I cover my head. I hear the man in the passenger seat make an awful gurgling noise.
When I look up again, Liam’s at the car, yanking open the back door.
“Taryn!”
“Here,” I gasp.
“Out. Now.”
I scramble toward him, and he pulls me into his chest, one arm locking around me as he pivots, putting his body between mine and the chaos. I put my head into his shoulder as he fires his gun. A thud sounds and I turn to see the driver of the vehicle slump dead over the steering wheel.
Across the quad, Rowan fires again, and Timmy whirls toward the noise—he’s distracted for half a second, aiming toward where Rowan’s crouched behind a tree.
Too late. Luca comes from the side like a freight train. Tackles him. Hard.
They hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud, Luca’s fist already flying before they land. A gun clatters across the sidewalk.
Rowan is already there, shoving a knee into Timmy’s spine, shouting for zip ties. Two guys I don’t know are trying to pull Gráinne’s fiancé off him in order to obey Rowan’s command.
And behind us, Gráinne jogs up, blood on her thigh, grinning like she just won gold. It takes Luca seeing her bleeding to make him finally stop punching Timmy in the face.
“You okay?” she pants to me as her fiancé scoops her up.
I nod. Somehow.
“I need a fucking ambulance!” Luca roars. His wild eyes scan Gráinne’s body. I don’t think he’s impressed when Gráinne sighs and starts peppering kisses on his face.
“It’s ascrape. Really. I’mokay.” She kisses him again. “I’m sorry. I know what you’re going to say, but I couldn’t wait. I knew you’d be here. Baby, why didn’t you bring a gun?”
I don’t hear the rest of their conversation because Liam’s grip on me tightens. He presses me into him so hard, I can barely breathe. I almost don’t notice that a crowd is forming.
“You’re okay,” he whispers into my hair, his grip strong.
I don’t even care that I’m shaking. I survived.
We all did.
Barely.
LIAM
The last few hours have been chaos. Campus had to be locked down, questions fielded, surveillance footage scrubbed, dead bodies removed. Taryn and Gráinne were both cleared by the medics and sent home while I stayed behind to do damage control with Rowan. Timmy had been taken straight to Rowan’s house—to a place he jokingly calls “the workshop.” No one’s laughing now.
When we finally got back to Rowan’s place, we were met by Gráinne’s fiancé pacing on the front lawn. Luca lost his shit when Rowan refused to let him into the estate so he could finish off Timmy. I had to be the one to hold him back with help from his brotherandtwo guards. It was Gráinne who got through to the meathead when someone finally alerted her to her fiancé’s presence.
We were settled for all of a minute before Taryn’s brother Nolan showed up and came at me for putting his sister in this situation. It was Rowan who managed to talk that big guy down. So, yeah. It’s been a complete and utter shit show. The entire time, all I wanted was to get back to my wife. See for myself—again—that she’s whole. That she’s safe.
Instead, I’m forced to sit here, in the O’Toole library. I fucking hate this room. My father, Darragh, Rowan, and Taryn’s two brothers are all gathered to discuss what’s next. Tempers are running high as we wait for Taryn’s father to arrive. When he does, he’s escorted into the room by Gráinne.
She gives me a soft smile before turning to her brother. “Luca is out front with Matteo. I’m going home with him if that’s okay.”
