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“Sheena cut off the girl’s hands and feet and took them with her,” she choked out.
That gave me a moment of pause. “She’s a sick bitch.”
“Yeah, she was,” Mom agreed, clearing her throat. “But she’s gone now, so we don’t have to worry about her anymore.”
My curiosity got the better of me. “Ryan killed her?”
“No. He would have if he had gotten his hands on her in time, but someone beat him to it. Bain ended her.” She picked up her cup and took another sip, acting as if she hadn’t just dropped a bomb in my lap.
“Bain?” I muttered the name. “Wait, Bain O’Farrell? But wasn’t he part of the ambush?”
“I don’t know the whole story. Just what little I’ve learned from when we were in New York and random things Garret told me. But Ciana and Bain hooked up while she was on vacation. He’s the father of her babies.”
“Babies?” I parroted. “Wait, she’s pregnant? Since when? The vacation?”
“You didn’t know either? Huh, I thought she would have confided in you.” Mom gave a sad shake of her head. “She’s pretty far along by now, I think. More so than Cali, actually. I think she was about four months along when everything happened. She was showing, but with triplets, it’s hard to tell how far into the pregnancy she really was.”
“Triplets?”
“Yes. Well, multiples do run in her family. I mean, her mother had two sets of twins. It’s not unusual to have triplets when twins are already a common occurrence.” She picked up my fork and started picking at what was left on my plate. “After they found her and…what was left of who they thought was you, they took her back to the compound. Sheena had chopped off her hair and burned her. She had red, circular blisters all over the majority of her body. She was in pain and scared because the babies weren’t moving like she’d become accustomed to them doing. Her boss came to the compound personally and checked her over. As far as I know, everything with the babies checked out, but he advised her to rest for a week. But a few days later, while almost everyone was in Ireland on the hunt for Sheena, Bain attacked the compound. Your dad and I were still there at the time. Bain came for Ciana, but he wasn’t gentle about extracting her. He shot Vito and Bennie. Bennie nearly died.”
“No,” I whispered, my heart clenching. “Oh my God. Is he okay now?”
“He lost a lot of blood and had to have surgery—both of them did—but they’re fine now. While your dad and Garret came down here with the MC to confront Ramirez, Ryan and the others went up to Montreal to get Ciana back.” She took a small bite of my rice and beans and chewed slowly before continuing the story. “But she refused to leave.”
“Huh,” I muttered to myself. “So, Bain was the one who broke her heart while she was on vacation. No wonder she didn’t want to talk about it. I guess she figured Ryan would kill him for hurting her.”
“Ryan blames her for everything that happened,” Mom confided. “And I think Garret does too.”
“Ciana?” I laughed at the absurdity. “Why would they blame her?”
“Sheena and Ramirez had attacked one of the warehouses, which kept Ryan and Garret busy. They had no idea that she planned on striking closer to home and ambushing you that night,” she explained. “If Ciana had spoken up, told someone about Bain, then they might have tightened security. Maybe they wouldn’t have let you girls go out that night. None of this would have happened if Ciana had just been open about Bain.”
“But how would Ciana have known?” I defended my cousin.
“Because she knew that Bain and Sheena went hand in hand. We all know that, Nova.” She was right. I knew that Bain, although an O’Farrell, ruled over the O’Brion family. But Sheena still tried to control them all. “It wasn’t a coincidence that he showed up at the same hotel she was at during her vacation, in the room right next door. It had to have been a setup, to hurt Ciana in some way. Ryan has so few weaknesses, but you and Ciana are at the top of the list.”
“Poor Ciana.” I wanted to call her, to make sure she was okay. She was pregnant, living with a man who had used her to get to Ryan. If he blamed her, then the rest of her family might as well. It probably looked as if she’d turned her back on them, betrayed them. Knowing them so well, I figured they would have then turned their backs on her. Leaving her with no one to rely on.
But none of this was her fault.
“Maybe if you came out of hiding and showed everyone that you’re okay, they will make up,” Mom suggested hopefully. “My heart aches for all of them, especially Ryan. Losing you… I never even saw him cry, Nova. But he was destroyed. It was like he shut down. He turned everything off the moment he accepted the fact that you were dead.”
“I called him so many times, Mom.” I picked up my phone and waved it at her for emphasis. “From a hundred different phones. And every time, he refused to so much as answer. I left messages each time. But instead of calling me back, he simply blocked me. Even if he hadn’t listened to the messages, if he would have just traced the numbers, he would have known where to look for the person he thought was pranking him. He wouldn’t have just accepted someone playing games with him. He would have wanted to know why they were messing with him. He would have wanted retribution. And he would have found me.”
“Why didn’t you just go to him?” she countered.
“Cali needed me,” I said with a lift of one shoulder. “And I was too hurt to go to him. I needed him to come for me. To save me.”
“But you already saved yourself,” she argued, her eyes narrowing. “Which you haven’t fully explained.”
“And I’m not going to. The less you know, the better.” I pushed back from the table and stood. “Once the baby is born, and Cali is back on her feet, we can revisit this conversation. Until then, I’ve got too much on my plate to worry about anything or anyone else.” I started to turn away, but I paused and glanced down at her. “If you miss Dad so much, I won’t ask you to stay. You’ve already made such an impact, Mom. And I’m truly thankful for it. If it weren’t for you, Cali may never have agreed to come here, and I would have lost both her and the baby. You’re not a prisoner here. You can go home whenever you want. Just say the word, and I’ll have Guzman escort you back to California.”
“I’m where I need to be,” Mom said with a small smile. “My girls are more important than anyone else at the moment. I miss your dad, but he can wait a little longer before I let him know where I am.”
“If you change your mind, just let me or Guzman know.” I bent and hugged her. “Thank you for being here.”
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