“No.” I sighed and stared around our bedroom. This space belonged to us, and I couldn’t imagine being by myself in it. I’d spent enough time like that when he was in jail. But...I also wanted to think without him around. “I might go stay at the Virtue with Terrance for a few days.”
“What?” The word fell out of his mouth in unadulterated agony, a sound I wasn’t used to hearing from Sloan, and I winced. He stepped forward, but I held up my palm, stopping him. His eyes burned into mine, begging. “Pet,damn it. Don’t. I’ll fix it. I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll have a new greenhouse built for you within a day. I’ll even make it exactly the same as it was.”
I shook my head, even though my heart shattered into more pieces than the remnants of the greenhouse. Apparently, Sloan was good at destroying things important to me. Even though I couldn’t imagine being in this bedroom alone, leaving for a few days was the best option for me so I could collect myself and my feelings. I didn’t want to say anything I couldn’t take back.
“I’ll have Ronan drive me into the city. You know where I am if you need me, but Sloan—Boss—” I allowed myself to shift in closer to him but not within reaching distance. “Let me grieve the loss. It’s gone now. Nothing can bring it back, and I needtime to process that. It was my safe space and now it’s destroyed. Just let me gather my thoughts. Alone.”
“I won’t let you go, Pet,” Sloan whispered fiercely, and I opened my mouth to argue, but he wasn’t finished. “Not for good. You’re mine. But I will let you go to the Virtue. Two days, Pet. That’s all you get before I’ll come for you myself. I love you. I said it and I’m not taking it back. I’m not letting you disappear from my life. You’re ingrained right here.” He tapped his bare chest, over his heart. “This is yours. So, come home or so help me, I will burn the Virtue down to get you back if I have to.”
Despite the grief and anger that swirled in my stomach, warmth joined in the mixture of emotions. I could be as furious as I wanted at him, but Sloan would always show me how much he wanted me.
Standing here, both naked and bleeding from the shards of glass that got us and the wound on his bottom lip, we were two men in love.
Human.
Bone and organs and veins wrapped up in a fleshy meat suit.
One who’d made a stupid mistake and another who hurt because of the stupidity. And because I was weak to this fierce, protective, and stubborn bastard in front of me, I closed the distance between us and dragged him down for a kiss. I meshed my lips with his softly, communicating a silent promise—I’ll be back.
Smiling up at him sadly, I moved back and turned to get clothes on and start packing, Sloan watching the entire time. He followed me when I carried my overnight bag down the stairs and clenched his jaw when I eased myself into the backseat of the car Ronan brought around.
I pressed my hand against the window to remind him it was only for a few days. I just hoped he didn’t destroy the house or our men during that time.
19
SLOAN
Sweat dripped down my forehead, along my temple, and down my cheek. I swiped my face with the back of my wrist and stared at the building foundation in front of me. It was the first day without Conall, and my mood had soured the moment he’d left. My fingers tingled with the urge to hurt and kill and destroy. My men steered clear of me, sensing how on edge I was. No one wanted to be in the line of fire, and I didn’t blame them. It took all my effort to keep myself together.
Being in control was something I prided myself on, but it almost seemed like I’d lost that skill in jail. My anger and frustration engulfed any restraint I had before, leaving me in a cesspit of rage, simmering right below the surface.
A night in bed without Conall had been torture. I’d kept reaching for him, only to be met with emptiness. It was worse than in jail because this wasourbed. Sleep never came, and eventually, I’d dragged myself out of the blankets at six. I’d helped the contractors on the greenhouse all day, distracting myself from the hole in my chest with Conall not around.
“Boss?” Cillian’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I turned as he and Aspen approached, Lorcan Lee clutched in their hands by his elbows as they hauled him across the yard toward me, his feet dragging along the grass. Lorcan struggled against their hold, but Cillian and Aspen were both strong men and there was nothing he could do but accept his fate, especially while his wrists were tied tightly in front of him with a piece of sturdy rope.
I’d finally decided to end this short saga with Lorcan, and if anyone deserved my wrath, it was this man. His actions could’ve killed Conall and that was unforgivable. A death sentence.
Cillian and Aspen came to a stop in front of me and dropped Lorcan to the ground. He glowered at them before his icy eyes slid to me. He was a coward and didn’t deserve to have the Killough blood running through his veins, so by the time I was done, he’d have none of that blood pumping through his body at all.
“Is this what you wanted?” I asked, gesturing at him on the ground. His suit was wrinkled and marred with dirt. “Was betraying me really worth it, Lorcan?”
His nostrils flared and a flush of anger stole across his face. “I’m a Killough, too. Do you think I wouldn’t have discovered the truth?”
I snorted. “Of course I expected you to find out eventually, but instead of doing the rational thing and asking to be part of this family, you went and tried to betray me. This was your test and you failed. You’re no Killough.”
“I deserve to sit on the throne with the rest of you,” he spat. “I deserve it.”
I growled and crouched in front of him, pinching his face between my fingers. “We neverdeserveanything, regardless of our last name. We make our own fate. Even though I was born a Killough, I had to prove my worth to my father. I bloodied myhands for that man. I didn’t only kill other men, but I murdered a part of me for him, too.” I shook my head. “You, though? You expected everything to be handed to you just because you found out our father stuck his dick in your mom.”
I rose and stretched my back, glancing at the hole in the middle of the dirt of the greenhouse. The contractors asked me what it was for and I hadn’t lied, telling them it was to bury my mistakes. They’d laughed it off and hadn’t questioned me any further, but what they didn’t know was that a body was going down there. By the time they came back tomorrow, it’d be covered in dirt again. With the help of Cillian and Aspen, I’d put a coffin down there. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it would do the job of giving Lorcanspaceto die.
I waved my hand at Aspen and Cillian, and they grabbed Lorcan again, pulling him toward the hole. The moment Lorcan’s gaze landed on it, he began to struggle.
“Boss, Boss! Please! Fuck. It was a mistake. I’m your brother.”
I laughed. “I take family very seriously, Lorcan. If you’d come to me with yourdiscoveryand asked to be a Killough, I would have considered it. I would have given you something. A real chance to prove yourself. But instead, your betrayal nearly killed my pet. That’s unacceptable and cancels out your blood. You are no Killough.”
Lorcan struggled harder, but with his hands tied, and Cillian’s and Aspen’s strength, there was no winning for him. They threw him into the deep hole, and he grunted as he landed on the hard wood of the coffin. Beside him was a silver cylinder and a handheld radio I’d thrown down there, too.
