Page 46 of Wicked Oath
“I—I—I don’t know anything,” Olivia cries out.
Finian scoffs. “Keep your bitch quiet, James, or I’m going to finish what you interrupted.”
And I know at this moment that Finian will do anything to save his skin, even mutilating my wife.
It pains me, knowing that a man I trusted would betray me like this. But I care for Olivia, despite initially seeing her as a pawn for my plan. Her kind nature has grown on me, and I can’t lose her.
So I don’t hesitate to do what I do next.
I pull the trigger, and the bullet goes through Finian’s skull. Olivia screams, the sound sending a ripple of guilt through me. Finian’s body stills for the longest second before it falls backward, landing with a thud on the dusty ground.
My hands shake as I hold my gun up. I just killed one of my men. A man who has done good work for me over the years. And just like that, he’s gone.
I chose my wife over him.
And I don’t regret it.
But that doesn’t mean shit isn’t about to hit the motherfucking fan.
Once I catch my breath, I pocket my gun and face Olivia, who’s still crouched on the ground.
“Are you hurt?” I kneel beside her and reach out my hand to touch her face, but she jerks away. “Olivia, talk to me.”
Her chest is rising fast, her breaths coming out short and shallow. Then, tears suddenly start streaming down her face. “He was going to …” She hiccups. “He was going to cut out my …”
“I know. But I’m here, and he’s gone. He can’t hurt you.” I gently touch her shoulder, and when she doesn’t pull away, I wrap my arms around her in a hug, my hand cupped around the back of her head. “You’re ok. I’m here.”
Olivia grips my arms. “James.” The sound of her crying my name from fear and pain makes my heart ache in a way it never has before. “Why did this happen?”
I kiss the top of her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know, baby. Let me just get you home, ok? Let me do that for you.” The suffocating guilt of knowing I’m responsible for putting her in this position is starting to become too much.
She nods into my chest and lets me help her up and guide her to the car. Olivia curls into herself and stays quiet all the way home.
As I pull up to my house, I see Patrick standing outside, his phone by his ear. “Fuck,” I mutter.
Olivia lifts her head. “What’s my dad doing here?”
“When I got your message, I ran out on our meeting. I didn’t have time to inform Patrick of what was happening.”
Patrick hurries over to the car as Olivia gets out. She starts crying again, and he doesn’t hesitate to wrap her in a hug. He looks at me over her head. “What’s wrong?”
I shut my car door behind me, the sound of it making a thud that sends chills over me. I need a plan. I need an excuse. What the hell am I going to say to Patrick to make him believe Finian is not associated with me? If he finds out I’m the reason Olivia was in danger, he’s going to kill me himself. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
Patrick still clings to Olivia as we all walk into the house. “Well?”
Olivia’s in no position to talk as she cries, so I come up with a story. “Olivia called me, Patrick, and told me some man was after her. That’s why I ran out of our meeting. Well, she mentioned in the message that the man had a scar, and I did some digging after she showed me that photo Owen found of a man leaving the warehouse fire. He had a scar. I put two and two together. I thought maybe I knew him from a long time ago. He used to work with my dad, but I never liked the guy, so I fired him when I took over. I found out where he lives and rushed over there in time to save Olivia from him.”
Patrick squeezes Olivia tighter. “But why was this man after my daughter?”
I shrug. “Who knows? To hurt me, maybe? For firing him. Either way, your daughter is safe now, and I killed the man who tried to hurt her.”
He lets out a sigh. “Thank goodness.” He kisses Olivia’s head. “You hear that, Olivia. You’re safe. Honey, your safe.” Olivia just cries harder and clings to her dad.
Watching them makes me feel even more like shit. I never intended for Olivia to get hurt. My plan was always just to hurt Patrick financially. Nothing more, nothing less. Direct payback for what he did to my dad.
But now things have gone too far, and Olivia almost had her tongue cut out due to my foolishness. I should’ve known Finian would try something. He’s never been one to sit things out. I hired him because he was ruthless, but that ruthlessness came back to bite me in the ass.
And now, he’s dead because of me. And Olivia’s probably going to face trauma after that incident because of me. And I’m sure, once Owen finds out about this, he’ll try to blame me for it, which will just stir shit up.
