Page 130 of The Defiant Curse

That hit close to home, and Michael knew it.

“You’re right. She should have had him there when his child was being born. That was pretty shitty, but no one said Duncan was a good guy. He had his sister-in-law, and his ex-wife, who were the same person drawn and quartered. He also killed her baby, so…”

Finn went there.

“Yeah, after she tried to get him killed so she could get all of his money. I think the whole lot of them is bad,” he admitted. “This family has been a non-stop death match all the way through their lives. Dad killed her, sister killed dad. Then, sister tries to kill ex-husband for the money, only to get killed by him and dumped in a lake. Then, he goes on a rampage and kills all the people who hurt his lover, including a child, and finally, we think, offs himself to be with Ciarán Begbie after death. He didn’t seem to give a shit about anyone, including his son.”

Yeah, that was a lot.

Michael could see Elizabeth’s eyes, and she was taking all of that to heart.

She’d just killed someone to avenge dead family. Michael had to get them off this trail before it went bad. This was beyond dangerous territory.

Plus, he was worried about Elizabeth’s well-being. Her mental state was shaky over all of this.

Graham went there.

“It was justified.”

Finn stopped that.

“Killing is never justified. Then, you become just like the person you kill. It’s evil, and it eventually destroys you as a human being. You become that monster you chase.”

As soon as he said that, Elizabeth put her fork down and felt the room closing in on her. It felt like a panic attack, and all she wanted to do was run.

FURTHER.

“Excuse me,” she said, grabbing her sunglasses and getting up from the table.

Then, she was gone.

As she evacuated the space as quickly as she could, Finn watched her leave.

“Uh, what’s wrong with her?”

Graham sighed.

“Sometimes, Fineas, you’re good at stepping in it. Read the room,” he said.

The man still didn’t get it.

Only, no one was filling him in. The two men needed to go after her to ensure she was safe.

Michael tossed some money down, and he and Graham got up to go find Elizabeth.

When they were gone, Finn lifted a brow.

“What did I do?” he asked, genuinely confused.

She kept her voice down. Now, she was beginning to think she should have given him a heads-up earlier. Only, Gene had told her to keep it on the DL, and that had been the plan.

This was on her, just as much as it was Finn.

“Elizabeth just came off a bad case. The killer took out one of her Marines, her secretary, one of her Marine’s girlfriends, and his father. He caused all of their deaths. Plus, he’d been planning to hurt her children.”

He still didn’t get it. That was all horrible, but Elizabeth dealt with this kind of a thing all the time.

What changed?