“I’ve been seeing her.”
Silence detonates through the room—sharp, suspended, the kind that strips the air from your lungs. You could hear a heartbeat. A pin drop. The exact second everything changes.
Da’s face goes through twenty different emotions in a breath—shock, disbelief, a kind of wounded fury that twists his features into something unrecognisable. “You what?”
“I’ve been in contact with her,” I say, and my voice isn’t steady, but it’s honest. “For months. Longer, if I’m being real. It’s always been her. I—”
“Don’t.” The word cracks like a whip. “Don’t you stand there and tell me you’ve been sneaking around with that girl—that traitor—behind all our backs.”
That word hits me like a match to gasoline.
“Don’t fucking call her that,” I snap, heat surging up my spine. “You have no idea who she is.None. And if you pulled your head out of your ass for five bloody seconds, you’d see the truth of it.”
He steps forward, shoulders tense, fury radiating off him in waves, and the distance between us feels like a challenge.
“Her mother burned this family to the ground. Her father trafficked girls like it was nothing. She’s their fuckingasset!And you—my son—have been sneaking around with her? While you’re meant to marry Gianna Salvatore?” His voice drops to a low, incredulous snarl. “Christ, Matthew, have you completely lost your fucking mind?”
Something inside mesnaps.
I don’t decide to move. I don’t think. Every lesson he drilled into me, every command I obeyed, every moment I swallowedmy own wants, it all screams to get out. My fist arcs through the air before reason can catch it.
The impact reverberates up my arm, bone-on-bone, a sickening crunch that echoes through the room as he stumbles back, colliding with the wall behind him. Seamus curses, lunging to pull me back, and Declan plants himself in front of Da before he can retaliate.
The room freezes, silence deafening. Only the soft hum of the descending lift punctuates it.
My knuckles throb, skin splitting, but I barely notice. My chest heaves, every nerve screaming for more.
“Talk about her like that again,” I growl, shrugging off Seamus’s grip and stepping forward, “and I’ll do a lot worse than break your nose. Plus, haven’t you heard? The wedding is off.”
Shock flickers across his face. Not pain, not anger, but betrayal.
Because this isn’t just defiance. It’s final.
Jonathan steps in, one hand pressing against my chest, forcing me to take a few steps back.
“That’s enough,” he says, steel in his tone.
Da straightens slowly, blood trickling down from his nose, eyes wild, burning with something volatile.
“You’ve crossed a line,” he says quietly.
“No,” I reply, voice steady, lethal. “I’ve drawn one.” And for the first time in years, I feel the weight of my own spine, straightened. Jonathan could kick me out tomorrow for all I care. In the face of losing Lily, the cost of owning my feelings for her doesn’t scare me anymore.
Jonathan interrupts before the tension can fracture the room. “We don’t have time for this, Lily is missing.Thatis our only priority. We can hash out all of this shit later.”
My Da just shakes his head, disbelief rolling through him like a tremor.
“You’re telling me you knew?” he throws at Jonathan. “You knew about this? You let him—”
“I didn’t know,” Jonathan snaps. “Not until ten minutes ago.”
Declan shifts, sliding beside Da and resting a steadying hand on his shoulder. “We need to focus on Lily. If she’s missing, we’ve got a serious problem. Think about it, Ciaran. If she were involved, why would they take her?”
Before anyone can respond, the lift opens.
Owen and Cora burst in like a storm, both clearly dragged from bed. Owen’s dark hair sticks up in every direction, his eyes sharp and stormy. In his arms, April clings to him, wide-eyed, honey-blonde hair catching the light as she buries herself against his chest.
Cora follows a step behind, half-awake but moving with lethal precision, the kind of presence that pulls gravity around her. Every step says she’ll destroy anything that stands between her and the people she loves.
