But he’s my brother. My boss. The head of this family, since Da retired.
I swore an oath.
So Ilethim choke me.
“Is there an update?” I wheeze out. “Anything?”
“No,” he growls. “We’ve got nothing. No fucking recording at the graveyard. Nothing.”
“Boys.”
Mam walks into the hallway, tall and regal as always.
“Let him go, Seamus,” she says, cool and firm, the voice we obeyed before Da ever raised his.
Seamus drops his hand, and I drag in air that burns going down.
“Mam,” he mutters. “You don’t?—”
“You may be the acting head, but I saiddrop him.”
There’s blood on my collar… on my hands.
Then her eyes cut to me. “Where’d you go?”
I grit my teeth. “I can’t tell you, but I swear to Christ, I was doing something for the family.” I pause. “I’ve got nothing to hide. You know I don’t. But if I tell you, you’re all at risk. That’s all I can say.”
She studies me, silent. Then, finally, one sharp nod.
“Has Cavin ever lied to you, Seamus?”
Seamus steps back, his jaw ticcing. “Not that I know of.”
Then all our phones buzz at once.
“Text from Bronwyn,” Seamus mutters.
I pull out my phone and stare.
I’m in the garden.
Relief slams into me, and my knees buckle. I lock them before anyone notices.
It worked. It fuckingworked. I paid the tribute, and they brought her back.
What the fuck did I just pay for? Why her? Why now?
WHO did I pay?
Silence for one blessed beat, then chaos erupts.
Mam drops her phone with a little gasp. Seamus bolts for the door, and I’m right behind him.
We tear down the front stairs, gravel crunching under boots, past the hedges, down Mam’s winding path to the garden.
“Where is she?” Seamus shouts.
But none of that matters right now because, somewhere in the garden, my sister is alive.
