Page 86 of Weaponized

She sucks in a breath then bites her bottom lip, looking at me from under her lashes.That’s right, Angel. I know all about your ideas to take down your father.Her eyes flash with emotion as she tries to read my face.

“I’ll keep Mom here,” she finally says in a dull voice. “You should go.” She’s dismissing both of us.

She turns to her oversized chair and drops into it. She crosses her arms over her chest and rubs them as if she is suddenly cold. She’s looking out the window at nothing. Trembling.

I walk over to her and drop to my haunches. I put my hands on her knees. “Angel. Look at me.” Her worried eyes find mine. “Do you want me to stop this?” Her surprise is palpable. I can’t honestly believe I said the words myself. However, I realize I mean them. I love her more than I hate her father.

“I—I—” she stutters, breathes deep again, and looks at her mother. “No. No, you should go.” Her voice is so soft.

“Go ahead, Rowan,” I tell her brother. “I’m staying here. You’ll let my family know?”

“Luca,” Rowan says gruffly, “I think you should come with me. We’ve planned well. You won’t have another opportunity.”

I understand what he means. Cormac O’Toole won’t be alive much longer. The dumb bastard was only caught because, as Gráinne once told me, he’s a narcissist. It didn’t occur to him that his own son would turn against him. Or that his daughter wouldn’t do as he asked. He won’t walk away from this. I wanted to be the one to end his miserable life. We all knew that. Yet, at this moment, I can’t bring myself to walk out the door. “I said to go ahead,” I tell him with confidence. “I’m where I want to be.” He waits for a long, tense moment. Rowan finally gives a brisk nod and walks out the door.

“You should go with him,” my angel tells me again. “You deserve to be there. If it will help you to heal, please, just go.”

“Like I told your brother, I’m where I want to be. The only healing I’ll ever find is with you.” I’m suddenly aware that this is the absolute truth. Revenge means nothing if she’s not okay. I return to standing and then bend to awkwardly scoop her up. I change places with her, sitting on her chair, depositing her in my lap. She doesn’t fight me or help me. She’s limp. Spent.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I ask gently.

“It’s just a lot,” she murmurs. She puts her head on my shoulder and I can’t help but breathe her in. I thought I may never have the chance again. “Will you tell me what’s happening?” she asks.

“Both of your parents were sedated,” I tell her. “Anthony fixed the security cameras that are outside. He shut them off when your brother called me. Ant also looked out for when it was clear to move your father to our car.He must have alerted Matteo while we stepped out of the room. My father was to drug yours. Rowan was to drug your mother. Somehow, he’s also handled your father’s top guy and got him out of the way.”

She nods as if she knows all about Seamus What’s-His-Face. “And, my father…” she says quietly. “He’ll be killed?”

She knows the answer to this, but she must want to hear me say it. I won’t lie to her. “Eventually, yes.”

“Eventually,” she repeats slowly. She understands what I’m telling her. She breathes deep. “Okay.”

“What do you need, Angel?”

“I—I really don’t know,” she says. “I just feel so…so…empty, I guess. I spent my whole life trying to make him love me. He never could. Now he never will.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “I know what kind of monster he is, so it’s not that I’ll miss him. I’m glad he won’t be able to hurt anyone again.”

“Never again,” I confirm, but I need her to know I’m talking about more than her father. “I’ll never let you get hurt again, Angel,” I promise. I don’t plan to leave her side.

“It’s not your fault I was injured, Luca,” she tells me and then wipes at her eyes. I continue the soothing motion of rubbing my hand up and down her back. I swallow against the tightness in my throat. She sniffles, and then looks up at me, “Do you think—” She closes her eyes. Swallows hard. “Do you think you can ever forgive me? I should have told you everything.” Her voice is choked.

“Nothing to forgive,” I tell her gruffly and kiss her forehead. “I understand why you were scared, but I’m going to work hard at becoming someone you can trust.Someone who won’t go crazy when you tell me things I may not want to hear.” I push her hair out of her face. “I’ve been working on it. I didn’t want to come here until I could tell you that.”

She nods, and buries her nose in my chest again.

“You are the most beautiful person I know, Angel.On the inside. I’m humbled just to be here with you right now. There’s so much more I want to learn about you. So much I’m proud of already. I wish I had handled things differently. I should never have questioned your love. I should have treated you with the respect you deserve. Do you think you could forgive me?” I push the words past the lump in my throat. I know she loves me, but forgiveness is another matter. If I hadn’t listened to Gianni, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt, nearly killed. If I hadn’t reacted so terribly, said such horrendous things to her, she may not have experienced any of this pain.

She opens her mouth when we hear a groan from the couch. Astrid O’Toole is awake.

Gráinne

It takes Luca and I the rest of the day to get my mother settled. She awoke confused and groggy. She then became absolutely panic-stricken. She was genuinely terrified my father would escape and come after us, kill us all. I had never seen such raw fear on my mother’s pretty face before. It was Luca who sat beside her, stroked her hand, assured her that my father would never hurt her or anyone else ever again. And, finally, after hours of consolation, she actually seemed relieved. Still worried about Rowan, since she couldn’t lay her eyes on him, but relieved nonetheless.

My mother is no fool. She understood what was happening, and surprisingly, she even understood what needed to happen next. I hadn’t let myself think ahead that far. She stated that Rowan would need to take over the clan and avenge his father’s death. She looked Luca dead in the eye and told him that he’d better have a scapegoat for this.

“Slaying that dragon is the best way for my Rowan to secure his future,” she had said in the same voice she used whenever she told me to grab an umbrella because the forecast called for rain. Matter-of-fact. “Hewilllead this organization. In a better direction.”

It was when she had discussedmyfuture that things got a bit awkward. “You will need a tie to the Italians, Gráinne. This cannot come back on you, Maeve, or Rowan. If you marry Luca, the families will be tied by marriage. When you have children, we’ll be tied by blood. That’s a level of protection I’d like you to have.”

I shook my head. “I won’t marry Luca as a safety net.”

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