“Where the fuck is he?” Silas demands, the rage simmering under the surface almost matching mine.
“He admitted it,” Remy blinks at the screen.
“You’ve got him.” Niamh breathes, “You can end this, finally give your mother the justice she deserves.”
I watch my youngest brother’s eyes glaze, watering with tears that will never fall. I haven’t seen him cry since she died. The day we found out, he sobbed, broken beyond repair. Nothing could ease the pain we all felt, but for Remy, it was like his soul fractured in two. But then right in front of our eyes, he stopped, put up a shield, and he never cried again. He ran off to the rodeo shortly after, hiding his pain behind a smile and a joke.
My hand curls over his shoulder, trying to give him some comfort. He presses the heels of his hands into his eyes and shrugs off my touch.
“We are going to bury this fucker,” He growls.
Niamh slowly gets up from the chair and walks to my brother, her expression full of sympathy, and then she grabs him and pulls him in, her arms going around his body the best they can. She hugs him, providing a safe space that neither Silas nor I have been able to give him. It wasn’t through lack of trying; I think it was simply because we were all there with him. His eyes bounce to me, wide in panic, but I just step back, and I let him have it. He needs it.
We all fucking need it.
We’ve been left with this festering wound. It’s grown over the years into an aching, bloody mess that none of us have dealt with healthily. Remy settles into Niamh’s hug, allowing him that much as his arms band around her too.
“He shouldn’t have been able to get near her,” Silas says under his breath, watching them with me.
“No.” I agree.
“She baited him,” Silas shakes her head, “For you.”
I look to the woman I have fallen in love with, and I realize I shouldn’t be shocked. Niamh has a quiet kind of power, it’s unassuming. She’s a quiet woman, keeps her cards close to her chest, but when she shines, she’s brighter than the damn sun.
“She did that for all of us,” I reply.
Silas shakes his head. “You got a good woman, Roman. Don’t fuck it up.”
I scrub a hand across my mouth, using it to hide the excited grin that wants to come out. “She told me she loved me.”
Silas chuckles, “Good luck with that.”
“Already lucky, bro,” Niamh lets Remy go and wipes her thumbs under his eyes.
“Thank you,” He tells her softly.
“We need to get this to the police.” She steps away and taps the laptop. “Even if the confession isn’t enough, he attacked me, and that’s grounds for something.”
Remembering her earlier request, I go to the cabinet and find the drive she was asking for. She plugs it into her computer and focuses for a moment as she gets the evidence transferred over and then places the drive in my hand.
“Find peace, Roman.” She kisses the corner of my mouth.
“Think I already found it, sweetheart.”
Chapter 34
Fatigue owns me. Between the adrenaline dump and the ache in my jaw, I am wiped. I have the hard drive with all the evidence stored securely in my purse, ready to be handed in. Roman has an investigator he’s been in contact with coming tomorrow for a meeting.
Lowering onto the edge of the bed, I take a moment to breathe, the weight of tonight dragging me down. Slowly, Roman comes to me, getting to his knees as he shifts my legs open so he can slip between them. His fingers feather over the bruise on my jaw, the touch tender and light.
“You’ve given me something no one has ever been able to,” He says lightly.
“You deserve it,” I tell him, “You all do. And your mom deserves justice.”
Dropping his hand, he moves to wrap his arms around my waist, pressing his forehead to my abdomen and holds tight. My fingers thread into the dark hair at the back of his head, the ends curling up.
“When this is all done,” He mumbles against me, “Marry me for real.”
