"So you made a deal with the Bratva?" My voice rises. "You fed them intelligence about the Murphys?"
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this." He's shaking now. I've never seen my brother shake. "The plan was simple. Viktor would eliminate William at the contract signing. Before you were married. Before you were tied to them. You'd be a widow before you were ever a wife. Free."
I think about the signing ceremony. The contract on the table. My father beaming.
The window shattering.
"The contract was signed." Reilan's voice drops to barely a whisper. "You were protected. William was supposed to die, Aoife. Not Da. Viktor's man was supposed to take one clean shot and end this."
"But Viktor didn't follow your plan." William's voice is ice.
My brother's face crumbles.
"He changed the target." The words scrape out of me. "Viktor's man was aiming for William, and Viktor changed it to Da."
"He said it would cause more chaos. More instability. He said—"
"He betrayed you." I cut him off. "You gave him everything he needed to destroy us, and he used it to hurt our family instead."
"I didn't know." Reilan's voice breaks. "Aoife, I swear I didn't know he would—"
"You didn't think Viktor Tarasov might have his own agenda? You trusted the Bratva to keep their word?"
"I was trying to protect you!"
"By getting Dad shot?" I step toward him. William shifts, but I ignore him. "I held his hand, Reilan. I sat beside his bed, watching him struggle to breathe. I didn't know if he was going to live. And the whole time you were there, pretending to care, knowing you were the reason."
Reilan's face is wet now. Tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I was covered in his blood." I hear my own voice, distant and strange. "I sat in that hospital with it still on my dress, and you knew. The whole time, you knew it was your fault."
"Aoife—"
"Don't say my name."
The room is silent. Everyone watching.
I look at William.
"What happens now?"
William pulls a gun.
The click of the safety freezes the air in my lungs.
"On your knees." William's voice is empty. The voice of a man who has already decided.
"William, wait—" I start forward, but Matty is there, his hand closing around my arm, pulling me back.
"Don't," he says quietly.
Reilan doesn't move. He's staring at the gun like he can't quite believe it's real.
William crosses the space between them and presses the barrel to my brother's forehead. "I said knees."
Reilan drops.
"William." Aidan steps forward. "Think about this."
