“You poisoned him.” I stare at her, feeling so sick I want to vomit.
Poisonedhim.
Just like my mother’s been poisoned.
It’s been Tara all along.
She poisoned my dad with sleeping pills and she’s been poisoning my mother with mercury.
She hates my family so much. She admitted it herself—my father was abusing her, and she hates my mother for standing by and letting Cait die.
It’s her, all her, from the start it’s been her. She stayed behind to get revenge for Cait, my poor sister, and while my father deserved it, my mother did not. I can’t believe Tara would do that.
I can’t believe—
Poison—
I thought I loved her. And I thought she might love me too.
But it was all a filthy lie.
I roar in anger and throw myself sideways, mindless and heedless of anything, slamming into the guy on my right. He grunts and I grab his gun, twisting, and pull the trigger. Two shots take the guy on my left in the chest as he raises his weapon but hesitates to shoot, probably afraid to hit his friend, and the shots knock him back to the floor. The man standing to the right of the couch takes aim and I shift and pull my guard in front of me. Gunshots go off and bullets slam into my captor’s flesh, and I hear him grunt in shock and pain, and blood drenches my clothes as he dies. I topple backwards, off balance.
More screaming and yells. I shove the body off me, clinging onto the gun, and throw myself sideways, rolling across the floor. Bullets hit me, one in the leg, another in the arm. I growl in pain and scream with rage and shoot my attacker in the foot. The door slams open and a smoke cannister rolls into the room. Hugh’s moving already, dragging his father up, but Cormac’s too old and slow. I fire a shot, taking Cormac in the skull, the old man’s brains splattering against the kitchen cabinets. Hugh shouts in shock and rage. The smoke cannister pops and smoke drenches the space as Hugh releases his dead father and runs toward the back of the cottage.
Finn throws himself into the room followed by Angus and more of my guys. The smoke is thick and nobody can see a damn fucking thing. Another bullet hits me, this time in the shoulder, and I’m blinded with pain. I shoot at Hugh as he escapes into the bathroom, but I miss, and the gunshots and shouts are pure chaos as windows shatter and Tara screams. Blood’s everywhere, smoke’s filling everything, and the gunshots sound like they last a lifetime.
Finally, it ends with Finn calling for a ceasefire. I’m lying on the floor, bleeding, breathing hard. Cormac’s dead. Tara might be dead too. I don’t know and I don’t care. My eyes and lungs sting from the smoke and all I want to do is stay here on the floor of Tara’s old home and let the blood leak from my body until this pain is gone.
I don’t want this anymore. I’m tired, so fucking tired. Tara poisoned my dad and she poisoned my mom and everything’s so broken. I feel hands grab me and drag me outside into the fresh air. I cough and look up at Finn, who frowns at me.
“You alive?”
“For now.”
“You’re hit.”
“Three times.”
“How bad?”
I shrug and groan in pain. “Not too bad.”
More people come out of the cottage. My soldiers first followed by Tara limping alongside Angus. They lower her down on the ground and she hugs her knees to her chest, sobbing.
“Find Hugh,” I say, grabbing Finn. “Find him.”
“Already sent men to hunt him down. He won’t get far.” Finn looks at Tara. “I think the girl’s okay.”
I take a deep breath and roll onto my side. I suck in sharp breaths to keep myself from passing out as a wave of pain threatens to force me under. Slowly, I climb to my knees, and sit there panting as I stare at my wife, my girl, the one person I thought I could love most in the world.
Poisoner.
“I want you gone,” I say quietly. My voice sounds like gravel. She looks up at me with tear-streaked eyes rimmed red. Blood’s splattered all over her and I don’t know if she’s injured or not.
I won’t let myself care. Stop fucking caring. She poisoned your father and killed him. She poisoned your mother and ruined her.
I have to stop caring.