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I would have preferred a second gunshot wound tonight over hearing Raphael utter that reply. His single-word answer was crowded with meaning.
The rumble in my chest told me that the beast was stirring.
Raphael continued speaking, but through the haze of my mounting rage, I didn’t process everything he said. But I did hear him refer to Willa as collateral damage.
The monster inside me rattled its cage.
Was Willa another of Tiernan Brennan’s sacrificial lambs?
I refused to let the truth of Jack’s relationship with Tiernan’s first wife die with the three of them. Jack never raped Kayleigh Brennan. They’d had a fucking affair, and everyone—including every bloody Brennan—fucking knew it.
I tapped my fingers in a steady pattern across the leather armrest as I swallowed the acid gathering in the back of my throat. “Did he give you anything more?”
Raphael set his glass aside and folded his hands on his chest. “Cillian assures me that Willa has had the—what did he call it—the traitorous Callahan beaten and fucked out of her. Not that I enjoyed hearing the details, but I won’t deny that it was a relief to know that she holds no ill will against either family. She’s long surrendered to her fate. That said, tonight she was given a reminder of who she belongs to now.” He winked with a grin.
“Understood.” I got to my feet, done with the conversation. “Do we have anything more to discuss?”
Raphael’s eyes thinned. “When Grifin gets back from Providence, I’ll name him Willa’s guard. You’ll handle the Russians?”
I’d handle the Russians while simultaneously continuing my own personal exploration into Willa’s past.
“Aye.”
Raphael assessed me one final time, shaking his head at whatever he found. “When you deal with the Russians tomorrow night, take Keegan with you but send two of your best foot soldiers to Liam. I’ll need them. I’m taking Willa on a date.”
I offered him a terse nod and headed for the door.
Raphael’s final declaration ricocheted off my back. “She’s stunning.”
I froze. This wasn’t one brother asking another to congratulate him on his stroke of good fortune in landing a beautiful bride. This was a trap.
The foreboding sensation coursing through my body served a purpose. It had a message to deliver.
Inevitability.
Raphael would never let it rest. He would continue to dangle Willa between us, my reactions a barometer of my loyalty.
His weakness of character would be the downfall of our family.
Oblivious, Raphael droned on. “I’ve heard her mother was too, back in the day—when she wasn’t strung out on coke with every hole sealed shut with pay-by-the-fuck cock, that is. Which makes me curious—I wonder if Willa likes it in every hole?”
I gritted my teeth, waiting for a dismissal that never came.
He feigned a yawn. “Do you know what’s interesting, Lucifer?”
My shoulders eased down my back with a measured exhale.
When I didn’t respond, he continued, “Cillian said this marriage was Willa’s brainchild. She went to Aiden with the idea. Turns out, Jack’s daughter has a mind for the family business. She’s fucking brilliant.”
You don’t say.
Willa
I’d been stood up.
I peeked at the clock on the foyer wall for the second time in the last thirty seconds. An annoyed huff escaped my lungs. Raphael had five more minutes before I ditched the bandage dress and heels and ransacked the pantry for carbs. I’d survived on two sips of orange juice all day after trying on the dress he’d sent to my room. Sosanna had beamed when she told me that Raphael had picked it out specifically for me.
I wondered which woman had left it behind and hoped it wasn’t Katarina. That would have been awkward, especially considering she was standing directly in front of me.
