Page 103 of Brutal Knight

I can’t let myself hope. I can’t breathe until he finishes. Part of me is still waiting to hearbut.

But, I can’t be with you anymore.

But, that changed when you lied to us.

But, he’s your father.

Connor lifts his hand. I can’t breathe.

He turns his gun on my father.

“There’s one man here who isn’t your family. Not in any way that counts. And you don’t need him in your life anymore.”

He looks at me, calm, arm steady.

I meet his eyes. I can tell he’s asking a question. He’s asking if I want him to pull the trigger or have mercy.

I have no doubt he’ll do whichever I ask him to, even though leaving my father alive would cause trouble for the O’Reilly family. If I wanted my father spared, Connor would agree. He’d lower his gun and let my father run. He’d hold back.

For me.

The reality doesn’t hit me just yet. I know he’s just pledged himself to me, just proved his love all over again. He’s done it in front of his brothers this time, in front of my father. He’s said the words out loud.

But I can’t think of that just yet. Right now, I’m thinking of my father.

I look at him and for the first time, I see realization cross his face. I see him start to reevaluate the situation. I know he’s realizing he might not walk out of here. That he might not be able to twist this to his advantage.

I’ve never seen him fall like this before. He’s always been in control or angry. He’s never been backed into a corner, stripped of every possibility, on the brink of death.

I almost can’t reconcile the man before me with the father I’ve always feared. This man is pitiful, powerless. He’s a narcissist with a hot temper, an idiot who dug himself a grave and is only now realizing he might have to lie in it.

He looks at me and I can’t bring myself to feel anything for him.

“Willow. Willow, I’m your father,” he says, pleading. “I love you. You know that. I only did it for your own good—everything was for your own good.”

I’ve never dreamed of this moment. I’ve never imagined what it would be like to turn the tables on my father or have him powerless.

Now that I have this control, I can’t help but feel disappointed. I’m disappointed that this is the way he will go—begging me to spare him, proving himself once again to be a weak, pathetic man. All he ever had to give him power was his gun and his men.

Without them, he’s nothing.

“I’m your father, Willow. I love you.”

I turn to look at Connor. I already know my answer. I’ve known it for a long time.

I nod once.

A single gunshot echoes through the warehouse.

CHAPTER39

Connor

I don’t look when the body falls.

I don’t care about the man whose life I just took. I don’t care about the bullet I spent on him. It was worth a thousand more to be able to have this. To do this for Willow.

And she’s all I see.

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