Page 88 of Guilty as Sin

I don’t want to bring my wife. Her closeness to Connor throws her under suspicion as well. I barely slept last night, too aware of the potential threat lying in my bed beside me.

I need to be more involved, she’d demanded.

And I’d agreed. More fool me.

She’s too much like myself. It’s what made me believe in her, but it should’ve made me wary. I should’ve chosen distrust over love, whatever the fuck that word means. But she outplayed me. Which heightens my suspicions all the more.

She has no true reason to be loyal to me or my family. She’s proven, time and again, that her only loyalty is to her brother.

I can’t tell my family about Connor yet. I don’t present problems without solutions. When Liam and Finn asked how the fake drop went, I told them I have the situation under control. Which is true. Connor has no contact with our family apart from Cora, so for now he has no other source of damaging information.

And I’m keeping a very close eye on that source.

She changed the lock on her phone, but it was easy enough to hack while she was asleep. Her texts with her brother appear innocuous. Appear being the operative word. Their straightforward-seeming conversations involve no O’Sullivan business, though Connor doesn’t hold back about insulting us.

When I scrolled up, I found an unsettling exchange from a few days ago.

Connor: They’re thugs. You say you hate Dad but the O’Sullivans are just as shitty.

Cora: You’re wrong. Whether or not you admit it, the O’Sullivans treat their women with respect. There’s a thousand other reasons why they’re better than Cormac, and the most important one is that I’m one of them now.

She’s part of us now, I’d thought. Part of me.

Then I shook my head clear and got my fucking priorities straight. Distrust over love.

If she’s a threat, then my feelings about her don’t matter. And if she turns out to be the enemy, then I will show her no mercy. My rage will be all the greater for having been duped. And she will feel every ounce of it.

Fuck love, and fuck feelings. It was a liability to have them in the first place. A weakness.

It’d be weak of me to continue following her demands. Involving her. But, infuriating as it is, I can’t cut her out just yet. I need to keep her close, and now I need to bring her to this goddamn meeting.

Any order from Mam has Da’s power behind it.

Cora perks up when I tell her we’re going to the pub. I know she’s sensed my suspicions. She’s smart, and she can analyze me disturbingly well.

“I’ll go get changed.” She dashes off, her shortened yellow skirt flying behind her.

She’s taken to wearing her extravagant dresses around the penthouse, the ones I purchased for her. When I saw how much she enjoyed her sexy red number, I bought her one in every color. And had them all custom tailored short, of course.

Now I feel like even more of a fool for showering her in expensive gifts.

And I do not enjoy feeling like a fool.

* * *

We use the back door to bypass the main pub. Mam, Da, and Liam are already here, and the room is tense. For now, Cora’s place is at my side, so I pull out the chair next to mine, and she sits. It’s Finn’s usual seat.

When he joins us three minutes later, my younger brother isn’t happy about being usurped. But at least he flares his nostrils at me rather than at Cora. It’s an unpleasant look with his broken nose. Keeping his mouth uncharacteristically shut, he thunks himself down in the chair next to Liam.

As soon as Finn’s seated, Da begins without preamble, looking directly at me.

“Seven’s planning an attack on the high-rise. Full assault before dawn.”

Cora’s in danger. It’s my first coherent thought. Because no, my priorities are not in fucking order. She could be a traitor, and still, my wife’s safety means too much to me.

Our greatest enemy intends to eliminate me and devastate our family’s strength. My focus cannot be on a single person. No matter how stupidly important she is to me. I need to be at my most ruthless.

Cold metal pours over my body, encasing me in hard resolve.